Interior of Shanghai Pudong International Airport
CHINESE agents say the blast which took place at Shanghai Pudong International Airport earlier on Sunday will have limited impact on tourism there.
The blast, set off by a man who threw a homemade explosive device at a ticketing counter at the airport’s Terminal Two, injured a total of four others. The perpetrator then subsequently slashed his own neck, sustaining serious injury.
Seeing no cause for worry, Oliver Ou, general manager of Century Holiday International Travel Group, said: “It’s just an isolated incident with few injured. Based on local news reports, it’s not related to terrorists and we haven’t had any enquiries from our overseas agent partners regarding this blast so its impact to us is minimal. Shanghai is a safe destination.”
According to a spokesperson at Pacific World China, while they have not seen any requests for trip cancellations, they are advising clients to arrive at the airport four hours before departure time for stringent checks as security is now very tight.
Also sanguine about the situation is JoJo Zhuang, director, China Travel Service Head Office (Shanghai) Outbound Tourism HQ Hong Kong & Macau department. She said: “There isn’t any impact to our inbound traffic at the moment. For sure, it’s hard to tell if it will re-occur in the future but I reckon the chance is low given such high levels of airport security.”
