Members from a Yunnan Province delegation stage minority folk performances at the China International Travel Mart, which opened yesterday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong. [Shanghai Daily]

A city travel agency is offering tours to Tibet Autonomous Region specially tailored for the over 55s.

The tours, which start on Monday, will be accompanied by doctors, who will send regular health updates to relatives back home, the Xuhui District Travel Promotion Office and Odyssey Travel Agency said yesterday at the 2006 China International Travel Mart.

"Before starting the journey, every group member will go to Zhongshan Hospital to have a health examination," said Ni Jun, the agency's chief operating officer.

"We also have a special 12-day itinerary for the elderly, which is two to three days longer than that of other groups, to give them more time to recover from tiredness.

"Besides, Nam Co Lake, which is at an altitude of 4,700 meters, will not be included in the journey."

The trip will cost about 6,000 yuan (US$750), almost twice the price of an ordinary tour to Tibet, said Ni.

Overseas tour organizers are also taking the opportunity to attract Chinese tourists at CITM - an international exhibition for the travel industry at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong.

Los Angeles unveiled its Chinese Website, seemyLA.com.cn, during the event to give prospective Chinese visitors a taste of the city's sunshine, sand and Hollywood stars.

Mark Liberman, president of the LA Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he was confident of attracting more Chinese people to LA.

"We had 85,000 visitors from China last year, up 15 percent than the previous year," said Liberman. "We expect to have 12 percent more this year, and 10 to 15 percent more the next year."

Liberman said LA combined pop culture and history, adding: "Everyone will find what they want in LA."

"We have more opportunities to cooperate with our Chinese counterparts," said Liberman.

Also at the exhibition, Visa International released a report saying that last year, foreign Visa card holders spent up to US$2.7 billion in China, up 29 percent on the previous year.

Half of that money was spent in the country's smaller cities, such as Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province.

The report said this showed that more foreign visitors had ventured away from larger cities such as Shanghai to smaller cities, bringing them opportunities in tourism, catering and transport.