Huangshan City in East China's Anhui Province, which is part of the Yangtze River Delta Tourism Region, has been promoting tourism.

The tourism region, covering East China's Shanghai Municipality, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, is a concept that was worked out at the "Summit Forum of '15+1' Tourist Cities in the Yangtze River Delta," held last July in Shanghai.

At the forum, 16 cities in the region jointly signed the "Declaration for Cooperation of the Tourism Cities in the Yangtze River Delta." Huangshan City is the only city in Anhui to have signed the declaration.

Since then, the city has been promoting its rich tourism resources, including two world heritage sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in concert with the other cities on the Yangtze River Delta, economically the most vigorous area in the country.

The new Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi-Nanjing-Huangshan-Jiuhuashan itineraries, "Shanghai - famous city, Hangzhou - famous lake, and Huangshan - famous mountains," have been introduced to the market, said Wang Qimin, the mayor of Huangshan City.

"Through cooperation with the other cities in the region, we hope to get rid of administrative barriers and upgrade Huangshan into a world-renowned tour destination," he said.

With a history of more than 2,200 years, Huangshan City is named after Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), one of the most famous landscape attractions in the country. The mountain lies in southern Anhui. Known for its pine trees and strange rock formations, its cloud sea, hot springs and snow scenery, it has been listed by UNESCO as both a world cultural and historical site and is one of the 48 National 4A Scenic Areas in the Yangtze River Delta.

The city's other world heritage site features the ancient residential buildings in Xidi and Hongcun villages in Shexian County.

In addition, more than 5,000 relic sites are scattered around Huangshan City, of which 10 have been put under State protection.

Last year, 5.85 million tourists visited Mount Huangshan, bringing in a revenue of 1.8 billion yuan (US$217 million) to the city.

To meet the needs of the booming tourism industry, the city will launch 69 important projects and undertake preparatory work for such key projects as the two expressways that will link Huangshan with Hangzhou, and with Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, and Tongling this year.

(China Daily March 25, 2004)