The story appears on

Page A3

July 10, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeNation

Harbin to offer cooler holidays

ALREADY well known for its winter tourism, Harbin in northeast Heilongjiang Province is trying to tap its reserve of wetlands to develop a summer tourism industry, local authorities said.

Harbin's 125,000 hectares of wetland along the Songhua River features rarely seen animals and aquatic plants amid biological and mineral resources, said Yang Jie, head of the Harbin Tourism Administration.

Yang Yongxing, a professor with Tongji University College of Environmental Science and Engineering, describes the area as one of the few original urban wetlands in China with profound ecological and economic significance.

The harmony between natural wetlands and modern cosmopolis makes Harbin unique, therefore, the development of wetland tourism must be guided by protection and preservation, said Gai Ruyin, secretary of the Harbin City Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The protection will also contribute significantly to the improvement of the city's overall environment, said Zhang Jichun, director of the municipal environment protection bureau.

Tourism in 2010 made up 10 percent of the city's gross domestic product, with the majority of tourists coming for the abundant snow and ice. But its is also a choice destination for a summer getaway, as it has cooler temperatures while most of the country endures scorching summers.

The wetlands could serve as primary attraction to worldwide tourists in summer and the development of a summer tourism industry would also enable the millions of people who live across the Songhua River to improve their quality of life, Gai said.



 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend