A Shanxi tourism promotional event targeting foreigners living in Beijing was held in the capital Oct 27.

There are more than 100,000 foreigners living in Beijing.

The promotion was aimed at attracting more overseas tourists to Shanxi by introducing, showing and promoting Shanxi’s long history and natural scenery.

More than 300 people from embassies, chambers of commerce, companies, international schools and organizations from 50 countries such as the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan and Greece attended the event, seeing cultural and folk handicraft displays from Shanxi province.

Shanxi is committed to developing a holistic tourism demonstration zone by continuing to promote three major tourism brands – Mount Wutai, Yungang Grottoes and the Ancient City of Pingyao – and tourism themed around the Yellow River, the Great Wall and Taihang Mountains.

The province has held major tourism promotions in countries such as South Africa and Kazakhstan to explore possibilities in overseas markets. Air routes to Bali and Russia have also been opened this year to encourage overseas tourists to travel to Shanxi.

Various regular tourism activities such as Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao Chinese New Year and Yuncheng Guan Yu International Tourism Festival have been organized to attract foreign tourists.

With such efforts over recent years, Shanxi has become one of the favorite destinations for overseas tourists. From January to September, it received 537,700 overnight foreign visitors, an increase of 6.65 percent year-on-year, and earned $299.46 million in foreign exchange, up 7.78 percent.