To counter the looming fierce competition brought about by China's World Trade Organization membership and possible negative effects from the gargantuan Three Gorges dam project to the tourism industry along the Yangtze River, Europe's leading travel agency is busy fine tuning measures to prevent a drop in business.

"Foreseeing the intense potential competition in the Chinese market, we joined TUI AG, the world's leading tourism group, as early as 1998, and now we are part of the group's global presence," said Rolf-Dieter Scheerer, East-Asia area manager of Gebeco (Gesellschaft der internationalen Begegnung und Cooperation Mbh).

"It is a strategically important step for us since TUI AG is one of the world's strongest tourism powerhouses and we can take full advantage of the firm's widely presented global networks and resources."

Of course, Gebeco's long and successful presence in China and the products the Germany-based company has been offering in China for years will secure an upper-hand in future contests, triggered by the opening of the local market to foreign tourism agencies.

"What we have achieved here over the past two decades made our agreement with TUI AG a win-win deal and will surely help us fend off any possible challenge in the future," Scheerer added.

Gebeco, one of Europe's veteran tourism agents based in Germany, was founded in 1978 and started offering a China-bound tourism service 20 years ago.

Last year, the German travel agent served 20,000 China-bound tourists, many of whom cruised the Yangtze -- China's longest river.

"The Yangtze River business is very important to us and we will continue to bring Germans to China to tour the country's longest river," Scheerer said. "Until now, the booking for March and April is quite good."

Although there is a prediction that the tourism industry may be affected by the building of the Three Gorges dam, Scheerer is optimistic about the business prospects after the flooding of the Three Gorges areas in June.

"We are planning to invite agents from Europe and press people to see how the scenery will change after the flooding," Scheerer said.

However, because of concern over a possible war on Iraq and a widely-talked expectation for some scenery to be damaged by the Three Gorges dam, Gebeco has to be far-sighted to prepare preventive measures.

"If bad circumstances really come, we can do nothing but provide more better quality products to keep customers. That is why we have opened new routes to Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to divert risks brought by some inevitable happenings," Scheerer said.

Gebeco has always been interested in providing Germany-bound travelling services for Chinese.
After Germany gained the Authorized Destination Status (ADS) from China late last year, Gebeco seized a golden opportunity to be listed among the first bunch of agencies in Germany.

"We will resort to TUI's developed business networks in Europe to give the best service to our future Chinese customers," Scheerer added.