350 million yuan to support tourism in Xinjiang

China will spend 350 million yuan, or some 56 million U.S. dollars, on tourism development in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region before 2020. [File photo]

China will spend 350 million yuan, or some 56 million U.S. dollars, on tourism development in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region before 2020.

China's National Tourism Administration says 200 million yuan will be used for tourism in Southern Xinjiang.

Li Jinzao, China's top tourism official, says new measures will be taken to make Xinjiang a tourism hub on the Silk Road Economic Belt, as well as an important tourism destination on the Silk Road.

Those measures include developing more tourism projects, enhancing business promotion and opening more tourism air routes.

According to statistics, over 5 billion yuan, or over 800 million U.S. dollars, have been distributed to support Xinjiang by tourism departments in different parts of China for the past 5 years.

The investment of tourism companies in Xinjiang has also surpassed 20 billion yuan, creating over 150 tourism plans to the region.

Domestically, over 15 million tourists have visited Xinjiang during the first half of this year, a 15.8 percent increase compared to last year.

Xinjiang has also received 670 thousand tourists' visits from abroad, a 7.8 percent rise compared to last year.