SHANGHAI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai plans to improve tourist services to attract more overseas travelers, local tourism authorities said Wednesday.

In 2017, Shanghai welcomed 318 million domestic visitors and 8.7 million overseas tourists, according to the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration.

The city aims to attract 9 million overseas visitors in 2020, said Xu Weiwan, head of the administration.

From 2013 to 2017, the annual growth rate of the number of overseas visitors to Shanghai was 3.6 percent on average.

Xu said Shanghai would upgrade its public services for tourists. Tourists centers will be made more convenient for overseas travelers, and there will be more free Wifi for users, and services will be multi-lingual, he said.

According to the city's long-term plan, Shanghai aims to attract 14 million overseas visitors by 2035.