2013 Shanghai Tourism Festival Opens

SHANGHAI, Sept. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- 2013 Shanghai Tourism Festival opened on the evening of September 14. The Opening Ceremony Grand Parade, a legacy of the festival, gathered 32 performing teams from 23 countries and 21 sleek floats, providing tourists with a spectacular visual display on Shanghai's Huaihai Road. It was the first time that teams from Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and the Bahamas participated in the parade. Over 80 percent of the performing teams came from outside China. The 2013 Shanghai Tourism Festival with the tagline "Tourism makes your life richer" included a wide variety of events with a focus on sightseeing, food tasting and leisure.

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In addition to the series of traditional events -- including the Floats Parade and Evaluation Awards, the Huangpu River Cruise, the Shanghai International Musical Fireworks Festival and the Nanjing Road Carnival -- the 2013 Shanghai Tourism Festival, now in its 24^th successful year, showcased for the first time the 2013 Shanghai Limo and Cruise Tourism Festival, offering tourists an opportunity to enjoy a ride in a limo and a cruise on a ship. The Global Harbor Tourism Culture and Shopping Festival held at Yuexing Global Harbor, a recently completed large commercial complex designed to be an ideal blend of businesses and tourist attractions, gave visitors the opportunity to enjoy sightseeing, shopping and a leisure experience, all in one locale. The Rose Wedding Ceremony, which defines a new model of regional cooperation in tourism, offered new couples who participated in the event an opportunity to travel to Changbai Mountain to experience the charm of a new style of wedding ceremony branded "Vows of eternal love -- Make a promise at Changbai Mountain," sponsored by the tourism authority of Jilin province. During the Shanghai West Bank Music Festival held at Binjiang Greenbelt in Xuhui district, an event that combines culture and tourism, the audience enjoyed the music while taking in the amazing new look of the reconstructed venue.

Over 40 events are scheduled to take place during the 2013 Shanghai Tourism Festival, which will close on October 6.

SOURCE Shanghai Tourism Festival Organizing Committee