NE China's Liaoning attracts one million overseas tourists

Northeast China's Liaoning Province, a traditional industrial base, has attracted more than one million overseas tourists so far this year, a local tourism official has announced.

Ying Zhongyuan, deputy director of the provincial tourism administration, said the number of overseas tourists to the province has increased drastically over the past several years, rising from 600,000 in 2000 to 900,000 in 2002 to the current more than 1 million.

Ying attributed the increase to the launch of the central government's strategy to rejuvenate the northeast rusty industrial belt, local rich tourism resources which include six world heritage sites and icy and snowy scenes.

Tourists from Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia make up the majority of overseas tourists to the province due to geographical vicinity.

Occupancy rates of hotels in major cities such as the provincial capital of Shenyang and coastal city Dalian have exceeded 60 percent.

Ying said the number of overseas tourists to the province has increased at an annual rate of 15.87 percent since 1979. The province has hosted an accumulated 7.56 million overseas tourists since then.

Source: Xinhua