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City on "Silk Road" Eyes Developing Tourism
A 2,600-year-old city near the world famous "Silk Road" will be revived by taking advantage of its tourism potential, but transportation seems to be a major obstacle toward achieving such a goal.
"As a city of rich historical and cultural resources, Tianshui will spare no effort to tap into its tourism potential," said Vice-Mayor Sun Weixi.
Located in the eastern part of China's northwest province of Gansu, Tianshui has been known as the starting point of the "Silk Road" and one of the cradles of the Chinese nation. It has over 245 sites of historical and cultural relics.
However, the rich tourism resources have not brought much wealth to Tianshui, whose poor transport facilities are deemed as a major barrier to the tourism boom in the city.
It is estimated that only about 800,000 visitors tour the city each year, and an overwhelming majority of them come from neighboring provinces.
The local government has come to realize the importance of good transportation, and lots of effort has been put into improving the city's infrastructure.
According to Sun, a high-quality road connecting the city with the northwest transportation hub, Xi'an, will soon to be finished and a large airport is scheduled to be completed in four years.
The city will also build a highway exclusively for tourists, which will link downtown Tianshui with the Maijishan Grottos, a major tourism resort with equal fame as the renowned Dunhuang Grottos, Sun said.
"Once the problem of transportation is solved, we will certainly witness the booming of Tianshui's tourism," Sun said with confidence.
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