Tourists pose for photos at the Bund after a rainstorm with the skyline of Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai. (Photo: IC)

The 2020 Shanghai Tourism Festival will run a week shorter than its usual duration due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the municipal government announced on Friday.

In addition, the annual festival, which is set to take place from Sept 12 to 27, will not feature the traditional float parade for its opening ceremony this year, but the opening of the newly extended east section of the Nanjing Road pedestrian street.

New routes, including the Huangpu River tour and Country Park tour and products related to food, shopping and cultural and tourism experience will also be launched during the festival.

According to the organizers, the event will be extended to neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta region with promotion activities scheduled to take place in Nantong in Jiangsu province, Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, and Huangshan in Anhui province.