Tourism festival scheduled for Silk Road

LANZHOU - An international tourism festival to promote tourist attractions on the "Silk Road," an ancient trade route linking Asia and Europe, is scheduled to open in northwest China's Gansu province in August, local authorities said Wednesday.

The month-long event, set to open on August 1, is expected to draw 13 million tourists from around the globe and bring in revenues of 10 billion yuan ($1.59 billion), the provincial tourism administration said in a press release.

The event will promote 40 popular tourist attractions in Gansu, including the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and several sections of the ancient Great Wall.

The festival, the second of its kind, is being co-sponsored by China National Tourism Administration and the Gansu provincial government.

"We will stage 47 theme activities during the event, including a wine festival, a cultural festival in Dunhuang, a series of Tibetan-themed cultural events in the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture and car rides along the Silk Road," said Huang Zhouhui, chief of the provincial tourism administration.

Huang said the administration plans to distribute 10 million entrance fee vouchers for the 40 tourist sites being promoted at the festival, allowing visitors to receive a 50-percent discount on entrance fees from August 1 to Dec 31.

The vouchers will be printed on postcards or attached to "Reader," a popular magazine published in the provincial capital of Lanzhou.

The first Silk Road tourism festival was held last year, drawing 10.75 million tourists and earning 6.4 billion yuan in tourism revenues.