Tourism on rebound with 6,000 arrivals daily, official says

Tourism in Xinjiang is back to where it was before the deadly July 5 riot in Urumqi, Xinhuanet reports.

Regional tourism bureau director Inamu Nisteen said yesterday at a tourism conference held in Xiamen , Fujian , that Xinjiang was welcoming 3,000 to 6,000 visitors a day. The increase comes following the introduction of nine policies to revive the industry. According to official figures, Xinjiang welcomed 9.85 million visitors from inside and outside the country in the first half of the year.

After the riots, numbers dropped by 90 per cent, to only 300 to 600 tourists per day. Nisteen's office said that 200,000 people had dropped plans to travel to Xinjiang.

The director said the policies involved giving travel agencies a 10-yuan (HK$11.50) reward for each tourist they brought to the region.

Nisteen insisted Xinjiang was a safe place in which to travel and said the bureau would roll out a series of activities including a photography festival and a skiing event in the coming months.