In Guangyuan, Sichuan, a group of 12 neighboring cities in Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, and Ningxia have signed a framework agreement on strategic cooperation in tourism development and they will collaborate to promote barrier-free tourism among those cities.

The cities involved are: Guangyuan, Mianyang, Nanchong, and Bazhong in Sichuan; Hanzhong and Baoji in Shaanxi; Tianshui, Pingliang, Qingyang, and Longnan in Gansu; and Wuzhong and Guyuan in Ningxia. Under the agreement, the 12 cities will allow qualified travel agencies to organize group tours to other cities directly and without having to go through local travel agencies or tour companies.

Besides information sharing, the cities will also make it easy for tourist buses to get to the other 11 cities. Agencies will also be allowed to set up subsidiaries and branches in other cities.

The 12 cities are reported to have rich tourism resources. As well as attractions such as the birthplace of the legendary emperor Yandi, the ancient battlefields of the Three Kingdoms, the Tang Dynasty Silk Road, they are also places for Buddhist and Daoist culture.

(China Hospitality News September 8, 2009)