A travel agency in northeastern China planned a package tour next week to visit the collapsed Lotus Riverside apartment building in Shanghai's Minhang District.

Fenghuang Travel Agency in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, said it had received hundreds of phone calls about the trip, but no customers had signed up yet.

The company pulled its online advert on Monday after state media interviewed it earlier that day. However, the travel agency received numerous phone calls on Tuesday and decided to resume the package.

The package tour covers five cities, a riverside town plus a visit to the collapsed building in Shanghai on the last day of the trip.

Minhang authorities said no limitations would be imposed on the trip, but added it had no plans to develop the ruins into a scenic site.

Li Yang, deputy manager of the travel agency, told Southern Metropolis Daily they might launch the tour next week as many customers had shown interest in the trip.

Li said the idea was based on talk among colleagues after the incident made national news. Someone proposed visiting the scene, which later evolved into the idea for creating a tour package with the collapsed building as the highlight, according to Li.

An official from Minhang travel information center, who was identified as Yang, said tourists could visit the site and that no one would stop them.

A 13-floor residential building under construction in Shanghai's Minhang toppled over almost intact on June 27, killing one worker.

Construction procedure errors were blamed for the accident, according to the official explanation.

Negotiations between the owners of the toppled building and the developer over compensation are continuing.

(Shanghai Daily July 24, 2009)