Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has wrapped up a record-breaking summer travel season with over 130 million tourist visits, fueling a surge in local jobs and consumption.
Official data shows tourist visits rose 11.15 percent year on year, with travelers spending 142.56 billion yuan (about 20.04 billion U.S. dollars), up 11.59 percent across the region from the previous year.
In Urumqi, the region's capital, the International Grand Bazaar has emerged as a vibrant epicenter of the travel boom, where singing and dancing performances, and packed storefronts are driving both consumption and employment.
"Business's pretty good, we do about 1,000 to 2,000 yuan a day. Especially in July and August, there are many tourists, and the evenings are especially busy. We're tired, but it's a good kind of tired," said a vendor at the International Grand Bazaar.
"Tourism has really boosted spending, created jobs, and helped hotels and restaurants grow. Take the International Grand Bazaar area where we are now, it's a clear example, here alone, cultural tourism has created jobs for more than 10,000 people," said Wang Juan, deputy director of Urumqi culture and tourism department.
Visitors said they were impressed by the city's classic, cross-civilizational blends of cuisine and picturesque sceneries.
"I spent 14 days in Xinjiang. It's so beautiful, the food was great, it was a lot of fun, and the scenery was amazing. I'll definitely go back to explore more," said a visitor.
Patently growing in popularity with domestic tourists, the next goal for this frontier city is attracting more international visitors, said officials.
"Our goal is to build Xinjiang into a world-class hub on the Silk Road Economic Belt, attracting more overseas visitors through innovation and new infrastructure," said Wang
Xinjiang summer travel season breaks records, boosts economy
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
