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Mark O'Neill

Zhang Jing and her two colleagues, spic and span in their blue and white uniforms, sit at the counter of Jinjiang Tours, waiting for customers.

'Sorry, we cannot offer you anything,' she said with a smile. 'We have cancelled all our tours and do not know when they will resume.'

So why do they keep the office open? 'We believe Sars will be temporary so we stay open. In the meantime, we have nothing to do.'

Shanghai's tourism business is the most prominent victim of the city's Sars outbreak. No one is going away for the scaled-down Labour Day holiday that began yesterday, normally  one of the busiest seasons of the year.

'Who dares to take a trip out of the city during this holiday?' said Liu Jing, a bank official on his way to work. 'First, the government encourages us not to go. Then who knows where you will catch the illness?

'Those provinces that have reported only a few cases may be lying. So I am staying at home, as are my colleagues and family.'

One of the most popular tourist spots in the city is Xin Tiandi (New Heaven), an area of up-market restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques and galleries south of Huai Hai Lu, Shanghai's top commercial street.

'Business is down by 60 to 70 per cent,' said Wang Jun at the Latina Grill in Xin Tiandi. 'We used to have many tour groups from Guangdong and Beijing but now we have none. The number of foreign tourists has also dropped sharply. So we close early to save electricity.'

The area is full of cleaning staff  scrubbing the floors and tables with disinfectant, with notices on the windows informing customers of anti-Sars measures.

At La Maison, a troupe of French women dancers is still performing every night, to raise the spirits of such customers as there are for Penguin's Sexy Comic Magic Vegas Show.

According to figures published yesterday  by the Shanghai Food and Drink Association, the revenue of its members has fallen by more than 60 per cent since April 21, the day after a news conference in Beijing in which the government admitted for the first time the seriousness of the problem.

The association urged its members to provide takeaway meals and encourage customers to have meals in separate rooms or eat outdoors as ways 'to get through this difficult period'.



Shanghai's tourism sector suffers during outbreak