URUMQI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Duku Highway, deemed one of China's most beautiful roads, on Saturday opened to tourists after completing its yearly "hibernation."

The 560-km highway, connecting Dushanzi in the northern area of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Kuqa County in the south, runs through various landscapes including glaciers, forests, and grasslands.

Due to snowy weather and road icing, the Duku Highway has a "hibernation period", which generally begins in October and ends in June of the following year.

The tourism take-off in Xinjiang in recent years has brought more self-driving tourists, bikers, and hikers to the highway. According to statistics from the regional tourism department, the highway logged the passage of 596,000 vehicles and 1.79 million tourists last year, both up more than 85 percent year on year.

To ensure better service for self-driving tourists, the Duku Highway Tourist Service Center has recently been put into use to receive queries about travel routes, weather, and road conditions, as well as requests for emergency rescue.

This year, Xinjiang will also carry out an upgrade program on the highway by repairing roads, upgrading tunnels and adding parking areas and traffic security facilities.