The Xinjiang Tourism Administration has launched a series of measures to help tourism recover (XINHUA)

Local tourism in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has suffered in the wake of the July 5 riot that killed at least 197 people. Though there are various tourism resources in Xinjiang, the number of visitors has fallen and local tourism is facing a predicament.

In order to reduce the incident's impact on local tourism, the Xinjiang Tourism Administration, with the support of the local government, has launched a series of measures to help tourism recover.

According to Chi Chongqing, Secretary of the Xinjiang Tourism Administration, the regional government has allocated 5 million yuan ($735,000) for tourism agencies. From July 6 until the end of August, the Administration is offering rewards of 10 yuan ($1.5) per tourist per day to tourism agencies that organize sightseeing groups of up to 10 people, and to local tourism agencies that first receive the sightseeing groups. The Tourism Administration will send the first reward in mid-August. Meanwhile, it has allocated another 4 million yuan ($588,000) to reward chartered flights, chartered trains, large sightseeing groups and MICE tourism.

The preferential measures also include tax exemptions for Xinjiang tourism enterprises, hotels in Urumqi and scenic spots in the second half of this year. Financial institutions are providing Xinjiang tourism enterprises with short-term liquidity loans; extending payment deadlines for prior loans; maintaining the credibility level of enterprises; and lending funds for small and medium-sized enterprises to tourism enterprises.

Xinjiang tourism grew rapidly this year prior to the riot. By the end of June, it had increased 20 percent over the previous year. Statistics show that Xinjiang received more than 9 million tourists in the first half of 2009, and tourism income reached 9.341 billion yuan ($1.39 billion); each increased by 12.6 percent, and 20.5 percent against the fastest-growing year.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency, translated by LIU YUE)