The algae outbreak in Taihu Lake has been good news for some and bad news for others as far as local businesses in this industrial city are concerned.

With people generally refusing to drink the discolored and foul-smelling tap water, sales of bottled water have rocketed.

Huang Jianhua, deputy director of the municipal economic and trade commission said that although the condition of the tap water had improved over the past few days, people were still clamoring to buy bottled supplies.

On Wednesday, local retailers sold 100,000 boxes of bottled water, and on Thursday 84,700, Huang said.

Another 93,000 boxes went on sale on Friday, "which we believe is more than enough to meet the demand," he said.

To prevent shop owners from profiteering from water sales, the city has placed a ban on price hikes and threatened to fine those who flout it, commission sources said.

In contrast, travel companies, restaurants, barbershops and bathhouses have all been hard hit by the tap water contamination.

A manager, surnamed Liu, at the Wuxi branch of China Youth Travel Service told China Daily on Friday: "Some tour groups cancelled or postponed their trips to the city after hearing about the situation.

"And many of the groups already here have decided to cut short their trips," she said.

"It's a huge blow to the local tourism industry as June and the following months are usually the peak season,.

The hospitality sector has also been suffering.

The manager of a local budget hotel said: "Our occupancy rate has been cut almost in half since the algae outbreak."

Many people had cancelled or rescheduled their bookings, the manager, who asked not to be named, said.

As for the matter of personal hygiene, some residents are going as far as traveling to nearby cities such as Suzhou, Jiangyin, both of which are about an hour's drive, just so they can have a bath.

"Some of my relatives and neighbors have gone to Jiangyin or Suzhou to have a bath," Tan Yun, a taxi driver, said.

"More people will follow if the smell of the tap water does not improve dramatically over the next few days," he said.

"It's endurable to go without a bath for one or two days, but how long are we supposed to last in summer?" Tan said.