The World Health Organization's (WHO) recent removal of SARS travel warnings for Guangdong and Hong Kong has yielded immediate results for local businesses.

And Friday's dismissal of the warnings has also had a positive impact on residents.

Despite heavy rainfall at the weekend, many restaurants in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, enjoyed brisk trade.

According to the manager of the Baiyun Hotel's restaurant, the daily business volume jumped by about 80 percent on Saturday and Sunday.

The Guangzhou Friendship Department Store is another outlet breathing a sigh of relief as the number of visitors at the weekend doubled compared with previous days.

In addition to having dinner outside and going shopping, many residents visited local scenic spots and parks at the weekend. Guangzhou, the Baiyun Mountain Scenic Spot, Yuexiu Park and other major attractions all reported more visitors.

Despite the progress made in fighting SARS, Yao Zhibin, the director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Bureau, said his province would continue to work hard to prevent SARS from rebounding.

Guangdong Province has reported no fresh cases in the past seven days. It has only recorded 11 suspected cases in the past week.

By 10 am yesterday, Guangdong had detected a total of 1,513 SARS cases. Of them, 57 people had died, but 1,429 had completely recovered and had been discharged from local hospitals.

Huang Huahua, governor of the southern province, welcomed the WHO's decision, saying Guangdong would seize the opportunity to revitalize its tourism, catering and transportation industries.

Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, also welcomed the lifting of the travel advisories.

On Saturday, Tung joined crowds of residents shopping and having afternoon tea to get people used to spending once again.

"Hong Kong had no new SARS cases today," Tung said, adding "we must remain vigilant."

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2003)