The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination is considering supervising the rates and occupancy of Shanghai hotels for the 2010 World Expo half a year ahead of its opening.

It is reported that the rates and occupancy will be published in a timely way to discourage price-inflation in the Shanghai hotel market during the World Expo.

Currently the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination has signed an intention agreement of 30,000 rooms per day, including 45 four- and five-star hotels with a total of 5,000 rooms, and the budget hotels with about 6,000 rooms, as well as the service apartments with 2,300 rooms.

Published data indicates that as the end of April 2010, Shanghai hotels are expected to provide 500,000 beds, of these 380,000 beds could be used for the World Expo.

The bureau added that it plans to arrange some World Expo events in neighboring cities to drive the development of local hotel industry, aiming to fulfill resource sharing with the hotels in the Yangtze River Delta region.

(China Hospitality News October 30, 2008)