Beijing will renovate and erect more conference and exhibition halls in the next five years to expand its earnings from the sponsorship, according to a development plan for the capital's tourism and conference economy on Saturday.

The plan, issued by the municipal tourism bureau, said in the next five years, Beijing will focus on building three major conference and exhibition zones in the downtown Dongcheng and Xicheng districts, the outer Chaoyang and Haidian districts, and the northeastern suburban of Shunyi.

According to the plan, Beijing will complete the construction of three large conference and exhibition centers by 2010, including a 30,000-square-meter conference center in the Olympic Park in north Beijing, a 200,000-square-meter exhibition hall in Shunyi and another 100,000-square-meter exhibition hall in the city's east.

The plan said Beijing will hopes to host more international conferences and exhibitions in the next five years.

The bureau said they expected a direct annual income of 15.1 to 22.6 billion yuan (about 1.9 to 2.8 billion U.S. dollars) from conferences and exhibitions by 2010.

Currently, Beijing has 12 conference and exhibition halls, with a total floor space of some 237,000 square meters.

The metropolis hosted 174,000 conferences and 2,367 exhibitions last year, with a direct income of 6.1 billion yuan (about 762.5 million U.S. dollars), up 20.3 percent year-on-year.

Source: Xinhua