Bureaus Exclusive

Anhui holds conference on tourism development

By Zhang Yue (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-02-28 18:42

HEFEI -The conference on tourism in Anhui was held from February 25 to 27 in Hefei, Anhui province. It was emphasized during the meeting that in the following five years, the province will make efforts to build dynamic tourism destinations and attract visitors from overseas.

Performers from Anqing perform local opera Huangmeixi after the meeting. [Photo by Zhang Yue]

Hu Xuefan, director of the Anhui Tourism Administration, said in the meeting that during the past year, the province has welcomed 1.98 million tourists from overseas, which is a 27.1% increase on the previous year. He also said that the province succeeded in attracting foreign tourists during the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

Hua Jianhui, vice-governor of Anhui province addressed the meeting, saying that the tourism industry has become one of eight major industries in Anhui province. She said that tourism industry in Anhui should focus on building a diversified tourism market and making efforts to standardize tourism services so that Anhui would become a major tourism destination in China as well as in the world in the coming five years.

In 2010, the tourism industry brought a total of 115 billion yuan to the province, making up about 9.38% of the total GDP of Anhui. Hu said that the province aims to raise the percentage to 9.5% in 2011.

Anhui is a popular tourist destination because of its beautiful landscape and rich cultural heritage. One of the most popular tourist attractions is the Huangshan Mountain, which hosts millions of tourists from home and abroad every year. The province also has a variety of folk arts such as Huangmeixi, a type of Chinese opera.

Representatives of tourism bureaus and service industries from the 17 cities of Anhui as well as scholars in tourism management attended the meeting. The three-day meeting held a series of training courses on how to develop the tourism industry in conjunction with the features of Anhui province.

A one-hour performance on displaying the cultural and regional characteristics of the 17 cities of Anhui was held on Friday evening. Zhang Mingmin, a well-known singer from Hong Kong performed one of his most popular songs, My Chinese Heart, at the end of the show, receiving huge applause.