Shanxi province promoted four of its tourist routes at the 2011 China • Shanxi Tourism Expo, the provincial tourism bureau reported on Feb 17.

The four routes are: a two-day tour of Mount Wutai; a two-day tour of Datong; a one-day tour of the old town of Pingyao, and the Qiao compound; and a half-day tour of the Jin ancestral temple and the coal museum.

In the first half of 2011, Shanxi had 669,700 overseas tourists, a 23.5-percent increase year-on-year, with revenues of $242.6 million, a 25.1-percent increase. Overseas tourists spent about $190 per day in Shanxi, on average, in 2010, which was higher than average in the rest of China.

The expo’s organizing committee said that the event would introduce four special tourist routes in response to increasing overseas tourist demands. And the industry will integrate cultural and natural sightseeing elements, and allow overseas tourists to participate more to personally experience local cultures.