2011 Sichuan Int'l Culture Tourism Festival opens
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The 2011 Sichuan International Culture Tourism Festival opened on Tuesday in Shuimo Town in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, in observance of the third anniversary of region's catastrophic 2008 earthquake.
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Sichuan provincial Party chief Liu Qibao announced the opening of the 2011 Sichuan International Culture Tourism Festival on April, 19, 2011 in Shuimo Town, Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province.[Wang Zhiyong/China.org.cn] |
Around 600 international and local guests attended the opening ceremony, including officials from the World Tourism Organization, World Travel & Tourism Council and Pacific Asia Travel Association. Travel agents from Japan, the United States, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Germany, Britain, France, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan also attended.
Performances at this year's festival will highlight Sichuan's multi-ethnic cultural heritage, including the Qiang minority sheep skin drum dance and bamboo flute performance, Nanping folk songs, and Tibetan Guozhuang dance.
Shao Qiwei, chairman of the China National Tourism Administration, said that since the earthquake, tourism has been Sichuan province's fastest developing industry and a main driving force for the province's reconstruction efforts. Sichuan provincial Party chief Liu Qibao expressed gratitude to domestic and foreign communities for their assistance in disaster relief, post-quake reconstruction and economic development.
On April 8, 2011, the plan for post-disaster reconstruction of Shuimo Town, designed by Professor Chen Keshi of Peking University's Urban Design Center, was awarded the "Best Global Implementation of Post-Disaster Reconstruction" by United Nations Human Settlements Program.
A magnitude-8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 80,000 people dead or missing.
Following the disaster, Sichuan Province's income from tourism declined by 10.3 percent in 2008, but rebounded 28.1 percent year-on-year in 2009 and 2010. Since the disaster, Sichuan has seen a 20 percent annual growth rate in inbound domestic tourists.
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