SHANGHAI - A Shanghai government delegation promoting the Shanghai Expo will arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow to drum up local interest in the show, scheduled to open on May 1.

The Expo mission, led by National Tourism Administration, will visit Hong Kong and Macao from March 25 to March 31 to showcase the event at numerous public functions. It has invited more than 200 Hong Kong and Macao enterprises in the media and travel industries to participate in the tour.

Highlights of the tour include a gala show in Plaza Hollywood in Mongkok on March 27, said Chao Xiaohui from the International Department of Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration. "We expect 800,000 visitors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to come to Shanghai during Expo months from May to October," he said.

The expected big increase in Shanghai visitors from Hong Kong has not gone unnoticed by Hong Kong hoteliers and its airline.

Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, controlled by the Kadoorie family interests in Hong Kong, opened its first Peninsula hotel on Shanghai's Bund last week with the pomp and circumstance that befits its grand flagship property at home. The company, one of the oldest hoteliers in Asia, owned and operated 4 hotels in Shanghai in the colonial times before World War II.

"It's like a homecoming for me and the company," said Sir Michael Kadoorie, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels' chairman. "We have waited patiently for some 60 years before returning to Shanghai and the Bund," he said.

It's not by chance that the timing of his return has coincided with the Expo. "We planned our opening with regard to the timing of the Expo," said Clement Kwok, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels' chief executive. "As the Expo is going to open on the first of May, we think it would be perfect timing to have our grand opening in March," he said.

Since the soft opening late last year, more than 35 percent of the guests at the hotel have been from Hong Kong, according to Paul Tchen, Peninsula Shanghai's general manager. He expects to receive many more guests from Hong Kong during Expo months. But Peninsula is not the only company to hitch a ride on the Expo.

"The number of star-rated hotels in Shanghai will be increased to 500 before the opening of Expo from 325," said Dao Shuming, director of Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration. "These star-rated hotels along with the city's 4,000 non-star-rated hotels will be able to provide a total of more than 500,000 beds."

Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific is showing its support to the Expo by including the event's promotional materials in its in-flight magazines on all flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has also agreed to show Expo video promotion clips on its flight screen.

The six-month event will likely be a big draw for both domestic and international tourists. Shanghai is gearing up to host more than 70 million visitors during that time, including about 3.5 million from overseas.

Starting from May 13, some 30 to 50 Hong Kong businessmen will be invited to Shanghai for a five- to six-day Expo trip by the Hongkong Chinese Industry & Commerce Association (CICA) each month. Their tours, apart from visiting the Expo sites, will also include visits to cities in nearby Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to explore business opportunities.

"We want to use the Expo as a platform to promote business activities between Shanghai and Hong Kong," said Peter Cham, China general manager and vice secretary-general of CICA.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong can expect some spillover benefits because some domestic and foreign visitors to the Expo may want to take a side trip to Hong Kong, which is conveniently connected to Shanghai by a large number of daily flights.

"Different from Shanghai's promotion that solely focuses on the Expo, we launched the tourist theme of 'Festivals of Hong Kong' in 2010 to attract travelers through the year," said Leo Ni from Hong Kong Tourism Board's Shanghai office.

(HK Edition 03/24/2010 page2)