Renowned for storing the veritable finger bone relic of the Sakyamuni Buddha, the Famen Temple in Fufeng county is a holy place for Buddhists nationwide.[Photo by Zhang Yanlin/Asianewsphoto]

Great potential

Silk Road tourism has great potential, cities along the route should work together to develop ideas, products and activities to make it into a world-class tourism destination, said Zhu Yuhuai, professor at the Northwest University in Xi'an.

Only by doing so will tourists from all over the world will be interested in the Silk Road culture, he added.

The tourism market of Shaanxi province has maintained a high-speed growth in the recent years.

According to the local government, the province's total tourism revenue for the first two quarters of this year was 126.37 billion yuan ($21.1 billion), with an increase of 21.3 percent compared with the same period in 2013.

In addition, the number of tourists in the first two quarters was 170 million.

Xi'an, as the capital of the province, is a globally renowned tourism destination due to its glorious history and numerous ancient sites.

Known as Chang'an in ancient times, Xi'an was the capital of 13 dynasties in the Chinese history.

The city possesses attractions such as the Terracotta Warriors, the Ancient City Wall, and the Bell Tower and Drum Tower.