Xinjiang receives over 180m tourists in first nine months

URUMQI - The number of tourists to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region exceeded 180 million from January to September this year, up 40.9 percent year-on-year, local authorities said Monday.

The regional culture and tourism bureau said tourism revenue in the three quarters reached 304.64 billion yuan ($42.62 billion), up 40.8 percent from the same period last year.

The region vowed to build Xinjiang into a popular destination for tourists from home and abroad.

The number of tourists to Xinjiang exceeded 150 million last year, up 40.1 percent.