Gansu promotes 'Silk Road' tourism in Osaka

OSAKA - China's Gansu province held a tourism promotion session in Osaka Monday to boost tourism in the northwestern Chinese province.

The session, held in a hotel in the western Japanese city, aimed at promoting sightseeing opportunities in the province, which holds about 1600-km section of the "Silk Road" and highlight points of the ancient Great Wall.

Nearly 100 representatives from travel agencies and tour operators, members of non-governmental organizations which are based in the Kansai region were invited to learn the province's tourism resources featuring a full of ancient cultural heritages rooted in various ethnic or religious origins, and the histories. They were also shown a video program that introduced the region's rich natural landscapes ranged from a glacier in the Qilian Mountains to tropical forest or wetland in the south.

Liu Yaling, head of the Gansu provincial delegation, told the session that the province saw a rapid development in infrastructure construction in recent years. Gansu, which is located on the golden section of the ancient corridor between Asia and Europe, has a network of 2400 km of motorways and six main railway lines plus seven airports now, tourists can choose itinerary of their own depending on the purpose of visit and length of the stay, she said.

Liu also introduced a planned international tourism festival to promote tourist attractions on the Silk Road. The festival is slated to be held from August 1 to 31.

"We hope the number of Japanese tourists visiting the province, currently placed as the second largest group of foreign tourists, will increase as a series of special promotional campaigns, including that visitors can receive a 50-percent discount on entrance fees for tourist spots, are arranged during the tourism festival," she said.