Yuan Xinhua (R), head of
Hunan Provincial Tourism Bureau, held a press conference on Sept.
11 in Changsha to address the start of the 2007 Hunan Tourism
Festival. (photo: CRIENGLISH.com)
The 2007 Hunan Tourism Festival will start on Wednesday Sept. 12
in Yueyang, a famous historic city in the northeast of central
China's Hunan province.
This year's tourism festival is the sixth since 2002, and the
one with the largest scale ever, said Yuan Xinhua, head of Hunan
Provincial Tourism Bureau at a press conference on Tuesday.
More than 150 reporters from home and abroad have been invited
to the grand event.
Meanwhile 220 foreign tourist agents have come to Hunan for a
general preview. They are from eleven countries and regions
including the United States, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, South
Korea and Hong Kong.
Hunan is renowned for beautiful natural scenery and abundant
cultural relics. During the festival, a dragon boat contest will be
held on the Dongting Lake in Yueyang. Besides, promotional events
will be staged in a number of scenic spots around the province,
such as Mt. Hengshan and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
In 2006, Hunan received over 90 million domestic visitors and
970,000 foreign tourists, who together have spent 58.8 billion yuan
or about 7.8 billion USD, accounting for 7.9% of the provincial
GDP.
(CRI.cn September 12, 2007)
