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Guilin Expects More Tourists
Guilin, one of China's most famous tourist cities in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with a history of more than 2,000 years, is hosting an increasing number of tourists and expects to receive 10 million tourists this year, including 1 million from overseas.
The earnings from the tourism industry will exceed 3.6 billion yuan (US$434 million) this year, said a local official.
The official attributed the booming tourism industry to the pains-taking efforts Guilin City has made to improve its environment in the past several years.
According to the official, local authorities have specially invited domestic and overseas experts to give advice on tourist development and have adjusted the city's existing tourist routes to meet the demands of different tourist groups.
In the meantime, the city has also launched large scale urban construction in an effort to build itself into an international tourist Mecca. The efforts include dredging of local rivers and stopping the random discharge of sewage into rivers by erecting pipelines to divert the sewage to treatment centers, and the construction of more cultural facilities to entertain tourists.
In accordance with the demands of a modern international tourist city, Guilin has expanded its major streets and built more urban civil works, so that cultural and commercial atmosphere are well blended.
The city has also paid attention to the implementation of a sustainable development strategy. Along the valley of the famous Lijiang River, or the "soul" of Guilin, farmers are encouraged to grow trees and use methane gas.
Up to now, 210,000 methane gas ponds have been built in the city and 20 percent of the rural households no longer resort to the felling of trees in the mountains for fuel. Rural households along both banks of the Lijiang River have fully abandoned the traditional way of using timber as fuel for cooking. The rate of afforestation on both banks of the river is 99.2 percent.
The city has pulled down a great number of buildings blocking scenic views to give way to the building of more parks. The city's vegetation coverage now stands at 38.3 percent.
Guilin has been placed at the top among 46 major Chinese cities for three years running in terms of comprehensive urban harnessing, the official said.
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