Xinjiang offers cash to revive slumping tourism industry

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region plans to offer a 500 yuan ($80) subsidy to each tourist coming to the region in a bid to revitalize a tourism industry recently wracked by terror attacks.

"The subsidies, which total 20 million yuan, have been given to tourists from 19 provinces and regions," said Inam Naiserdin, director of the Xinjiang Tourism Bureau.

Tourism to the region has suffered since a March 1 attack at a railway station in Kunming, Yunnan province, conducted according to local authorities by Xinjiang separatists, as well as a stabbing spree and explosion on April 30 at a railway station in the regional capital of Urumqi, Inam Naiserdin said.