Sichuan quake sites to open to tourists

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-24 09:08

BEIJING -- Sections of streets, schools and bridges destroyed during last year's massive earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan will soon be open to tourists, the Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.

Ruins from the May 12 quake centered in Sichuan province that left almost 90,000 people dead or missing have become a draw for visitors, especially during national holidays, Xinhua said.

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"There is a huge tourism market in the ruins," Wu Mian, deputy director of the Sichuan provincial tourism department, was quoted as saying.

"We cannot block the tourists out," he said. "We also hope the tourists watch their behavior and not hurt the quake survivors' feelings."

He said the sites will include "schools, bridges, factories and streets" in devastated areas such as Dujiangyan, Pengzhou, Mianzhu and Yingxiu, a town in Wenchuan county, the epicenter of the magnitude-8.0 quake.

The report did not said whether the plans meant that some ruins would be preserved rather than repaired or demolished. It also did not say when the sites will officially be open.

The report said Beichuan, a town so badly hit that it has been relocated, was not included on the list. The ruins of Beichuan have been open only to former residents and relatives.

Xinhua said the Donghekou Earthquake Relics Park, the first memorial park dedicated to the quake, has had more than 260,000 domestic and overseas tourists since it was opened last November.

The park contains the ruins of Donghekou village, where only 300 of more than 1,400 villagers survived a landslide triggered by the earthquake.

According to figures from the National Tourism Administration, revenues for Sichuan's tourist industry dropped 10 percent last year but should reach US$17.5 billion in 2009, the same as before the quake, Xinhua said.

The disaster zone has slowly been recovering in the past year, with nonstop reconstruction and repairs and the relocation of residents from tents to temporary homes.