North China's Shanxi Province, home to such renowned scenic spots as the Wutai Mountain, a Buddhism holy land, earned more than 29.2 billion yuan (3.65 billion US dollars) in tourism revenue in 2005, up 41.39 percent from 2004.

According to the Shanxi provincial tourism administration, the province received a total of 65.45 million visitors last year, up 17.32 percent from the previous year.

Shanxi Province received 421,458 visitors from overseas in 2005, up 42.5 percent over 2004. They spent 116.22 million US dollars of foreign exchange, up 43 percent.

The number of travellers from elsewhere in China reached 65 million, who spent a total of 28.2 billion yuan (3.5 billion US dollars), the administration said.

In 2005, Shanxi launched a series of tourist activities during China's "golden week" holidays and held tourism promotions across the country and in some foreign countries to attract more visitors, according to the administration.

Shanxi is famous for tourist attractions such as prestigious Wutai Mountain for prestigious Buddhism temples, ancient town site in Pingyao City and Jinci palaces located in its provincial capital, Taiyuan.

Source: Xinhua