Foreign tours to Beijing fell 0.3 per cent in March from the year before, according to the municipal tourism authority. China International Travel Services recorded more than 10,000 inbound cancellations and postponements in March due to fears of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), said the company's vice president Zhang Jianhua.
The World Health Organisation urged travellers to consider postponing all but essential visits to Hong Kong and Guangdong province because of the spread of Sars.