The Disney effect helps boost tourism in Nantong

With the Shanghai Disney Resort slated to open in mid-June, tourism companies in Nantong, Jiangsu province, have designed a variety of routes to the park for its residents.

The city’s residents can take a round-trip bus ride to the resort for 88 yuan ($14) that will take around two hours, said Tang Ganfeng, an official with the Nantong tourism center, about one of the various products launched by the center and the Nantong Youth Travel Service Co.

Travelers can also buy a package that includes bus tickets and entrance passes to the resort.

Tang revealed that his center has seen a rising number of bookings of Shanghai Disney-related tourism products, many of them from universities and companies.

One-day entrance passes to the theme park cost 370 yuan, with tickets for children and the elderly costing 280 yuan, on its official website and authorized vendors on March 28.

On travel portal Ctrip.com, nearly 1,300 tickets were sold by 5 pm that day.

Tang predicts that the center and the Nantong Youth Travel will bring about 50,000 to 100,000 visitors annually to the resort.

Currently, the center is designing two-day trips to the resort that will include other major tourist destinations and hotels in Shanghai, he said.

New tour packages still under discussion will be tailor-made to young travelers and families in Nantong at a price of less than 1,000 yuan per person, he said.

To better promote Disney’s new opening and local tourism, Nantong authorities have invited tourism agencies from other regions as well as travel portals including Ctrip and Tuniu to create partnership deals.

“As crowds of visitors from across China are predicted to flock to Shanghai, some of them will go to nearby cities for accommodation,” said Li Cheng, an official from the Nantong Tourism Administration.

Through a series of promotional events, local authorities are trying to persuade tourism agencies from other regions and travel portals into including Nantong in their travel products.

And with the local airport accelerating its number of overseas and domestic flights, authorities said they are confident that a growing number of travelers destined for Shanghai will stay or dine in Nantong.

Qidong, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Nantong and which is a 45-minute drive from Shanghai, will invest at least 2 million yuan into promoting its tourism brands in Shanghai and nearby markets this year, according to its government.

Local attractions include a walking tour of a 1,000-year-old town, experiencing the village life of fishermen, fishing at sea, driving, cycling or camping at its coastal parks, said Chen Juan, deputy director of the Qidong Bureau of Commerce.

The city government has rolled out favorable policies to encourage tourism and plans to award at least 1 million yuan to tourism companies tapping into Qidong this year.

Contact the writers through dingcongrong@chinadaily.com.cn