| JINAN: Tourism in Shandong Province benefited greatly from the
International Labour Day holiday early this month, according to Chen Xiangqun,
vice-director of the Shandong Tourism Bureau. About 5.68 million domestic and foreign
tourists visited Shandong between May 1 and 7, bringing in US$333 million in foreign
exchange to the province.
Twelve per cent of the country's domestic tourists chose Shandong as their destination
during the holiday, but they accounted for 15 per cent of money spent by domestic tourists
nationwide during the holiday..
"Tourism has become a pillar industry in the province," Chen told Business
Weekly.
Tourism has developed rapidly in recent years in the province. Last year income from
tourism soared to US$3.7 billion, 16.4 per cent higher than 1998, and it was ranked ninth
in the country in tourism income.
Chen said Shandong enjoys two advantages in developing tourism, the legacy of Confucius
and the presence of the mountain called Taishan.
Qufu, Shandong, is where Confucius was born and entombed. Many of his descendants still
live there.
Known as one of the top 10 famous historical cultural masters of the world, Qufu
features historical relics centreing on the life of the sage and his legacy. The United
Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has cited Qufu as a
"World Cultural Heritage" site.
Taishan Mountain, near the province's city of Tai'an, has a breathtaking landscape and
is a cultural treasure. Seventy-two emperors of ancient China visited the mountain.
Local sources said more than 30,000 people visited Qufu each day during the May
holiday. Chen did not provide the number of visitors to Taishan Mountain, but stairways
from the bottom to the top of the mountain were crowded with visitors.
Shandong's tourism industry also benefits from its long coastline, Chen said.
The cities of Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai are well-known areas that attract tourists.
Qingdao is known as the "Pearl on the Yellow Sea". Laoshan Mountain in the
city is where Taoism originated. |
