Sanmenxia, Yuncheng, Linfen and Weinan promote tourism integration

The Yellow River Golden Triangle consists of the neighboring parts of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces on both sides of the Yellow River, namely Yuncheng, Linfen, Weinan and Sanmenxia cities. The four cities have preserved their profound culture heritage and cultivated core culture ecology to build a Chinese historical culture and tourism destination through integrated tourism development.

To combine the advantages and charm of the tourism resources of the Yellow River Golden Triangle, the cities of Sanmenxia, Yuncheng, Weinan and Linfen established a new regional tourism cooperation framework this July.

The framework integrated excellent tourist routes of the four cities under the theme of “Root of China, Soul of the Yellow River” in an effort to cultivate a regional brand for tourist destination in the Yellow River Golden Triangle and realize the goal of regional integrated tourism development.

Visitors enjoy watching white swans paddling about, foraging and resting peacefully in Sanmenxia, Central China’s Henan province, on Nov 15, 2014. [Photo/smx.gov.cn]

Sanmenxia, dubbed the "City of Swans," welcomes a large flock of white swans from Siberia to the Swan Lake State Urban Wetland Park each winter. Swans paddle about, forage and rest peacefully in the beautiful landscape, attracting watchers from all over the world.

Every May, when the flowers bloom, Samenxia attracts large numbers of tourists and guests from home and abroad to the China (Sanmenxia) International Yellow River Tourism Festival and Investment and Trade Fair, promoting the development of Yellow River tourism.

Samenxia also advocates "Sports Tourism" and hosts many sports activities every year, such as the Yellow River Crossing Campaign and the 10,000 Tents Festival, attracting more and more people each year.

Driven by regional tourism cooperation, the grand tourism strategy has been moving forward and the tourism industry has been developing rapidly in Sanmenxia. Total annual tourism revenue reached 17.65 billion yuan ($2.85 billion) in 2013, 25 times the number in 2008. The number of received tourists from home and abroad totaled 20.54 million visits, 5.7 times the number in 2008. The total tourism revenue in the first half of this year was 11.36 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 16.7 percent.

Located in the Yellow River Golden Triangle, one of the origins of Chinese civilization, Yuncheng, Linfen, Weinan and Sanmenxia share the same cultural roots and have abundant tourism resources. It has become a consensus of the four cities to realize win-win development through comprehensive cooperation.

Yuncheng is warming up in advertising for the imminent tourist season. Loyal people can visit the Temple of Guan Yu (a loyal general that lived in the Three Kingdoms Period AD 220-280), and those who are looking for beautiful love stories may come to the Tower of Yingying (a heroine in the Chinese romance novel The Romance of the West written in the Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368).

According to Zhao Junhu, section chief of the marketing division of the Yuncheng tourism bureau, Yuncheng has launched an "all-purpose" card service that will be expanded to the three other cities in the golden triangle area.

Since the opening of the Datong-Xi’an high-speed railway on July 1 this year, the tourism cooperation of the four cities in the Yellow River Golden Triangle has also stepped into the fast line.

Linfen has some famous scenic spots, such as Hukou Waterfall, Guangsheng Temple, Yao Temple, and Gushe Mountain Fairy Cave. The construction of the "Hundred Miles of Cultural Tourism Corridor along the Fenhe River" is the city’s top agenda in transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry. On June 18, Lingbao county of Sanmenxia took the lead in organizing a tourism promotion in Linfen, where Lingbao signed a cooperation agreement with the Linfen tourism authorities.

In Weinan, Huashan Mountain has made a large fortune for the local tourism industry. On Aug 20, Zhang Ze, deputy director of the Weinan cultural relic tourism bureau, talked about the integrated tourism development of the Yellow River Golden Triangle.

"We are forging a cross-regional brand that could unite tourism development of the four cities. The Yellow River Golden Triangle will be our leading brand. Major scenic spots will be supporting tourist attractions. We are determined to combine resources of the four cities and build a classic tourist route with a vivid tourism character so that people can enjoy different types of views on a single route. Only in this way can we keep attracting tourists from afar," Zhang said.

Zhang Jianhe, director of the Yuncheng municipal standing committee of the National People’s Congress, indicated, "As the cooperation produces endogenous power and the national policy provides unprecedented opportunities, it is the national strategy requirement and goal of the four-city cooperation development to develop tourism integration and build a Chinese cultural tourism base."

Deng Weihua, deputy director of the Sanmenxia municipal tourism bureau, said, "The Yellow River Golden Triangle is rich in tourism resources, but it is bordered by tourism hotspot cities like Xi’an in the west and Luoyang and Zhengzhou in the east. In joint efforts, we can turn ourselves from a transit spot to a destination."

"If we combine the high-quality resources of the four cities in the three provinces, put forward the same brand, and establish two-day or three-day classic tourist routes, we will gain great success and reputation," said Deng in a resolute voice.

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