China Border Tourism Industry Mounts upSuifenhe City, located in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia, has seen 120,000 overseas people visit the city, while 25,000 left China for overseas trips so far this year.The number was only 30,000 less than the total figure in 1999, according to local sources. Global economic downturn over the past few years used to dampen border tourism and only 60 Russians went shopping in the border city a day during the hot season in 1998. However, Things have turned for the better since the beginning of this year. To lure more Russian travelers, the city has also expanded tourism routes to Harbin, Dalian, Beijing and Shanghai. The city has benefited well from the country's holiday economy. The number of tourists during the World Labor Day holiday increased from 300 a day to 1,700. Suifenhe allocated 1 million yuan (about 12,000 US dollars) to build another four Customs passages. China and Russia also agreed to extend exit and entry time to 12 hours. Dandong, a border city to Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), also expects an increase in border tourism. Travelers to DPRK is predicted to be more than 40,000, and overseas travelers to China some 28,000, realizing tourism income of some 1.5 billion yuan, 20 percent more than that of last year. Dandong, China's easternmost city in Liaoning Province, is constructing highways to Shenyang and Dalian. It has also set up new tourism routes to mountains, nature reserves, forest parks and islands. |
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