Shanxi mounts a tourism promotion event with the theme of "Shanxi, a Land of Splendors" during the first World Tourism Development Conference held on May 18-21, in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

Shanxi, well known as a major coal production area in North China, is working hard to present its new image as a beautiful and cultured tourist destination to the world.

The province held a tourism promotion event with the theme of "Shanxi, a Land of Splendors" during the first World Tourism Development Conference held May 18-21, in Beijing, with 600 representatives from abroad, entrepreneurs, and scholars in attendance.

"Shanxi boasts a close relationship with two famous cultural signs of Chinese culture—the Great Wall, which winds through northwest Shanxi province, and the Yellow River, the mother river of Chinese civilization, surrounding the west and south of the province," said Wang Yixin, vice-governor of Shanxi province.

Shanxi holds a tourism promotion event with the theme of "Shanxi, a Land of Splendors" in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

The province is one of the birth places of the Chinese people with 157 of China's 200 early Paleolithic ruins located there. It is also home to 53,875 immovable cultural relics and 28,027 existing old buildings, the highest numbers across the country. In addition, Shanxi has three world cultural heritages—the Wutai Mountain, Yungang Grottoes, and the Ancient City of Pingyao.

Wang said foreign tourists need remember only two things about Shanxi if: one is that it's China's major coal production area, and the other is that as the birth place of Chinese civilization as it has a rich historical culture.

The booming tourism industry has boosted Shanxi's global image over the past few years, leading to increasingly frequent and energetic cooperation with other countries and regions, including the United States, France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, and Mexico.

Local annual international tourist events, such as an international photography exhibition in Pingyao, a cultural tourist festival in Yuncheng city with the theme of Guan Yu, a famous historical figure in the Three Kingdoms period, and the Wutai Mountain international tourist event, continue to attract large numbers of visitors.

A Shanxi local folk cultural performance at the promotion event. [Photo/Xinhua]

Last year Shanxi welcomed 848,000 international tourists, indicating that the province has become one of the most favorable tourist destinations in the world.

Huang Haiguo, vice-director of the World Tourism Organization's East Asian Regional Committee, said that Shanxi's rich cultural features and amazing natural scenery offer great potential: many tourists are looking for destinations like Shanxi.

The remarkable growth of the tourist sector in Shanxi can't be separated from the development of infrastructure and the tourist environment. In fact, as the tourism industry advanced, it enhanced construction of required infrastructure.

Shanxi has enjoyed an increasingly convenient transport network over the years. The province has seven airports and 19 flight routes to ten countries and regions, and will add flight routes from Taiyuan to Russia and Belgium in June. A high-speed rail and expressway network also cover the entire province, making it easy to reach anywhere in Shanxi.

The Shanxi government and local tourism department are establishing a regular cooperation and exchange system with equivalent offices in different countries to boost common prosperity in the tourist sector, Wang Yixin said.