Shanghai's tourism authorities plan to include bilingual services such as tour booking and souvenir sales at the city's tourist information centers, most of which only offer free maps and tourism information at present.

The city has more than 40 tourist information and service centers at airports, railway stations, hotels, tourist attractions and shopping plazas. They offer free multilingual maps and information on scenic spots, shopping, restaurants and tours.

"We have learned that there is big demand for such new services from both domestic and foreign tourists, and we plan to introduce tour packages ranging from one day to several days operated by licensed travel agencies at tourist information centers," Zhang Qi, deputy director of the Shanghai Tourism Administration, told Shanghai Daily.