With the improvements to infrastructure that I just mentioned, China was able to greatly boost its acceptance capacity. In 1980, 5.7 million tourists from abroad entered the country, this being the 17th highest in the world, while 600 million dollars US were earned in foreign capital, the 34th highest in the world. However, in 1997, we had 57.6 million foreigners visiting the country, ranking us number 5 in the world, and foreign capital revenue jumped to 12.1 billion dollars US, or the 8th highest in the world. In 1997, the gross revenue of international travel in China was 311.2 billion RMB or 4 % of China's GDP.
According to a WTO forecast, China will welcome more tourist to its borders than other nation in the world, and will have the 4th highest number of residents traveling abroad in the year 2020.
Through the promotion of the tourist industry, we have gained the following benefits .
1. Through the promotion of the tourist industry, we have promoted mutual understanding between people of differing countries, deepened feelings of friendship and contributed to world peace.
2. Promoting the tourist industry further promotes openness of the country, which creates more opportunities to earn foreign capital and acts as propulsion for economic development.
3. The tourist industry has a comparatively large number of spin-off functions which are useful towards the development of related industries.
4. Tourism is a labor-intensive industry and offers increased opportunities of work. As of 1997, 1.34 million persons were working directly in the tourist industry, whereas 6.7 million had some sort of indirect involvement.
5. Development of the tourist industry can promote economic development in poverty-stricken areas, thus helping to correct the disparity between rich and poor areas of the country.
Shiga Prefecture's sister-province is Hunan. The western part of Hunan Province is woodland and there is a rock forest of more than 3,000 quartzite outcroppings. This scenic landscape was discovered in 1984 and named "Wulingyuan", It was designated a world natural treasure in 1992. The area was very poor before, but now it has an airport, roads, cable cars and modern hotels, and it has been made into a national park. Next year, the tourist industry will be developed on the theme of eco-toursim, of which Urinyuwan features as a key area of promotion. By developing the tourist industry, we are attempting to bring this area out of poverty.
China is very rich in tourism assets . Through infrastructure development, more than 1,000 areas across the country will be transformed into tourist spots capable of luring tourists from abroad.
1. Places of historical and cultural importance
Civilization in China dates back 5,000 years. There are many, many cultural sites preserved in the 7 ancient capitals of Beijing, Xi'an, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Anyang, Nanjing and Hangzhou, and the 99 historically and culturally important cities across the country. Of the many museums exhibiting cultural properties from these areas, a few of the more renown ones include the Imperial Place of Beijing Historical Museum, the Shaanxi Museum of History in Xi'an, the Shanghai Museum of History, and the Henan Museum of History in Zhengzhou. Moreover, there are the 4 great ancient projects in the Great Wall, the Great Canal, the Dujiangyan Headwork Project and the Karez-well.
