It is a festival to introduce tourists to old Silk Road culture, announced by provincial authorities of Gansu in Beijing on March 20.

Jointly organized by China National Tourism Administration and Gansu provincial government, the festival featuring the old Silk Road culture as represented by that of Dunhuang and folk customs along the Yellow River is to be held from June 16 to 30 in Gansu. It indicates that Gansu has set about to develop tourism following the strategy of opening up China's west.

Centering on old Silk Road culture, Dunhuang culture and Lanzhou-centered customs of the Yellow River, the festival will be on with a series of rich colorful activities to be launched in such places as Yongjing, Lintao, Jiangtai, Maqu and other cities and counties apart from Lanzhou and Dunhuang. Tourists will be introduced to a 10-day travel route along with several itineraries on south and east routes and a car tour to Dunhuang through Gansu Corridor on the old Silk Road. This shows that Gansu has developed its tourism from a single Silk Road tour to exploitation of variegated tourism products.

According to Jia Xiaotian, director of Gansu Tourism Administration, there will be a phase of monthly tourism, a seasonal climax and special tours by every city and county in Gansu. In the past, Gansu had by an obsolete tourism infrastructure restricted its tourism. But things have been very much different from the past in recent two years. Tourists have come to be provided with various conveniences by enlarged airports and new constructions of double-track highways and new highways throughout province of Ganxu.