Longmen Grottoes' tourism revenue grows 24 pct year on year

Tourists from Africa pose for pictures in front of the huge Vairocana Buddha statue in this file photo taken on April 11, 2012 at the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, central China's Henan province. According to the administration office of the Longmen Grottoes, 1.6 million tourists visited the grottoes in the first six months of 2012, rising by 30 percent on a yearly basis. The revenue of the same time period reached 125.74 million RMB yuan (19.72 million U.S. dollars), growing by 24 percent year on year. The Longmen Grottoes are one of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art.[Photo/Xinhua]