Deserts become valuable tourism resources in Gansu

Chinanews, Lanzhou, July 12 – Gansu provincial tourism department has decided to attract more city dwellers from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, to visit the deserts in the province.
During its recent promotional campaign, local tourism department set the Pearl River Delta region (including Fujian), the Yangtze River Delta region (with Shanghai as the center city), and the Circum-Bohai Ring area (with Beijing as the center city) as the three main tourism resource regions for Gansu.
The above three regions are all located in or near the coastal areas. People living in these regions are accustomed to the green grass and coastal scenes. However, few of them have seen the Gobi Desert, and frontier passes along the Great Wall. So places like these will surely remain as a tourist attraction to them, some tourism analysts say.
According to international experiences, when the per capita GDP in a certain region exceeds 3,000 US dollars, people are likely to make long-distance travels. The per capita GDP in the above three regions has already exceeded 3,000 US dollars, so Gansu sees in this a golden opportunity to attract more people from these regions to come and visit Gansu, the tourism analysts say.
Located in northwestern China and along the ancient Silk Road, Gansu boasts abundant tourism resources. In Gansu, the Mogao Grettoes and the Jiayuguan Pass, the western terminus of the Great Wall, are listed by UNESCO as world cultural heritage sites. 72 tourist sites in Gansu are listed as the state-level relic protection sites. The natural scenes in Gansu are gorgeous and colorful. Apart from desolate land, there are the Gobi Desert, Yadan landform and Danxia landform in Gansu. In addition, in Gansu, there live 45 different ethnic groups. The different ethnic groups have their unique living styles and festivals to celebrate.
In recent years, the number of tourists that come to Gansu from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou has been fast on the rise. Many large, mature tourism agencies are also located in these three cities. With their mature operational experiences, it is expected that Gansu’s tourism industry will have a great prospect.