2010년 10월 31일 일요일

Shanghai Expo to give Korea W7tr boost

Korea is expected to see increases in exports and tourism worth 7 trillion won ($6.22 billion) over the next three years following its participation in the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, a report showed Sunday.

The $44 billion World Expo closed Sunday after China’s richest city hosted arecord number of visitors during the six-month event. 

By running a three-story national pavilion during the biennial event, Korea’s exports to China are expected to increase by 6.37 trillion won over the next three years, according to a report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. This is equal to 6.6 percent of Korea’s exports to China registered in 2009.

The number of Chinese who will visit Korea over the next three years is expected to grow by 450,000, benefiting the local industry by 631.9 billion won, it added.

The report said mobile phones topped the list of wish-to-buy products, followed bycosmetics and clothing.

KOTRA said the Korean pavilion has attracted a record 7.25 million visitors during the fair, exceeding the agency’s target of 6 million. The previous record number of visitors that Korea has attracted through fairs was 3.5 million during the 2005 Expo held in the Japanese city of Aichi.

Korea built the 7,680-square-meter pavilion at a cost of about $24 million, equipped with various facilities to host cultural events and sideshows.

The report came as the Shanghai World Expo comes to an end on Sunday after a six-month run under the theme of “Better City, Better Life,” with Korea and 190 other countries and 50 international organizations participating.

A ceremony was held in the evening along the city’s Huangpu river, with leaders including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and United Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon in attendance. 

The Expo has attracted almost 73 million visitors since it opened to the public on May 1, according to its website, surpassing the 64 million people that attended the 1970 expo in Osaka, Japan. 

Authorities in Shanghai campaigned against spitting and littering, expanded the subway system and built two new airport terminals to prepare for the biggest event to be held in the city. The exhibition, with pavilions from about 190 nations from the U.S. to North Korea, may lift Shanghai’s economic growth to more than 8.5 percent this year from 8.2 percent in 2009, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences estimates. 

“The Expo was a turning point for Shanghai as the city now moves up the ranks of the world’s metropolises,” said Tu Qiyu, head of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’s urban research center. “The Expo has been a huge education for Shanghai and many Chinese in modernization.” 

After winning hosting rights in 2002, Shanghai allotted 28.6 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) for construction and operating costs and 270 billion yuan for infrastructure, including the airport terminals and a three-year renovation of The Bund waterfront area. Shanghai’s growth last year was at the slowest pace in 18 years.

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