Shenzhen will put its tourist center, aimed at assisting individual travelers, into operation Jan. 10.

The purpose of the center is to help travelers undertake day-long tours of Shenzhen, and tours of Shenzhen¡¯s neighboring regions.

The center will be an effective tool to push illegal travel agencies and tour guides out of the market, local newspaper reports said yesterday.

The center will operate under the supervision of the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau, and offer services including hotel reservations, transportation and ticketing and so on.

According to the bureau, the center will develop in three phases. In the first phase, it will operate within Shenzhen. The second phase involves setting up offices in Shenzhen¡¯s neighboring cities to lure tourists to Shenzhen. The third phase will promote a package tour centered around Shenzhen with Hong Kong and Macao as options.

The center will have offices at the local airport, the railway station, the checkpoints and the Window of the World theme park. The offices will provide various services to travelers who require information and assistance.

The center will have a call center for people to check for various types of information, and sign for tour groups. According to the bureau, the center may set up service stalls along the Shennan Thoroughfare and in various hotels in the future. It will also set up offices in those Chinese cities whose residents are permitted to travel to Hong Kong and Macao individually, so as to help people book tours to the two special administrative regions and Shenzhen.

With the slogan of ¡°quality guarantee and trustworthy¡±, the center is supposed to counteract the city¡¯s prevalent illicit tour agencies and guides that make money through cheating travelers. (Wu Yan)

The center will recommend six tour lines. The first will be a one-day tour of Shenzhen including the main tourist spots in central Shenzhen and the city¡¯s eastern coastal area. The second will be a night tour of the city. While the third will be a tour of Zhuhai and a sea cruise around Macao, the fourth will be a two-day tour of Hong Kong including the Disney park. The fifth and sixth will both one-day tours focused on Hong Kong and the Disney park there.

Editor: Yan