Northwest China broadening tourist appeal

Booking volumes to region have surged this summer, with growing number of flights linking cities

Small cities in Northwest China, with their cooler temperatures and ethnic diversity, have seen significant growth in booking volumes of travel products this summer, with the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region becoming a particularly popular tourism destination.

In the past few years, the period between late June and October has been the peak travel season for Altay in northern Xinjiang. Since the airing of the hit, eight-episode miniseries To the Wonder, Altay has seen a growing number of visitors and is set to attract more travelers.

As of early June, Altay received 2.67 million person-times of travelers, up 80 percent year-on-year, and the region achieved a tourism revenue of 2.2 billion yuan ($303 million), surging 93 percent year-on-year, data from the local cultural and tourism department showed.