A news conference is held by the State Council Information Office on Guizhou's poverty relief efforts in Beijing on Aug 9, 2019 [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Better transport system has made the mountainous Guizhou province a gateway in Southwest China, boosting tourism and investment in one of the country's most impoverished regions, the top official of the province said on Friday.

Sun Zhigang, Party secretary of Guizhou, said more than 90 percent of the province's landmass are covered by mountains and hills, and its poor connections with outside had long obstructed the regional development.

But the decades-long effort to bolster infrastructure in the province has reversed the situation and made it a crucial transportation hub in the southwestern region and new passageway connecting land and sea, he said.

"The progress has contributed greatly to Guizhou's economic growth, and lifted its strategic status in the regional economic cooperation," he said at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.

Sun Zhigang, Party secretary of Guizhou, speaks at a news conference on Guizhou's poverty relief efforts in Beijing on Aug 9, 2019 [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Government figures show that Guizhou's highway mileage topped 6,453 kilometers last year, seventh longest nationwide. It is now home to 47 of the world's top 100 highest bridges, and known as the "global center of bridges".

The province has also become a major hub for high-speed trains in Southwest China, and its 11 airports handled more than 20 million passengers last year, according to official data.

Sun said that changes have led to a surge in flows of people, goods and information, and driven the growth of investments and tourism.

Guizhou brought in 7,317 programs from outside the province last year, with an actual investment of more than 1 trillion yuan ($141 billion). It also saw 567 million visits by individual travelers on driving tours, a year-on-year growth of 21.6 percent, Sun said.

A model of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, or FAST, in Guizhou is displayed at an exhibition of Guizhou on Aug 9, 2019 [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]