With the Shanghai 2010 Expo just around the corner, an event dubbed 'Expo Travel Cruise Float' has just launched in downtown Shanghai's Nanjing Road on Thursday. The event aims at further promoting the upcoming Expo while showcasing rich tourism resources along the way, Xinhua News Agency reports.

Hosted by the National Tourism Administration and the Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui Tourism Administrations, the event has been warmly echoed by many cities and provinces including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Henan.

The cruise floats are made of four colorful buses with Expo-themed artwork. It is reported that the floats will start at Nanjing Road of Shanghai, and continue on through Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin, with the last stop at Beijing's Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest.

The event will last 18 days, passing 8 provinces and cities, and covers a journey of 5,500 kilometers before arriving at the final destination in Beijing. During the journey, 18 Expo-promoting events are going to be held along the way.

A celebration ceremony will be held at Bird's Nest on April 3rd when the float arrives, marking the official launch of an Expo tourism promotion week across the country. In the following week, an array of various tourism promotion events are to be held in hundreds of cities across the country, further fueling excitement towards the highly anticipated Expo.

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo is going to kick off on May 1st with an expected target audience of 70 million visitors from around the world.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2010)