Prefecture in Yunnan offers incentives to winter tourists

Diqing Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province is introducing incentives to encourage visits by tourists this winter, its vice-governor, Wang Yuxiu, told a news conference in Beijing on Friday. 

She said they will include discounts and allowances for spending on hotel accommodation, airline tickets and admission to attractions, and will start on Dec 1 and end on Feb 28. 

As an example, she said, the cost of a stay in a hotel rated as four-star or above should be reduced by at least 50 percent compared with the same period last winter. 

"We will make efforts to offer quality service in catering, medical care and infrastructure improvement, and ski resort construction, for example, to travelers during wintertime," Wang said. 

The prefecture in Yunnan's mountainous northwest, whose seat is Shangri-La city, welcomed nearly 23 million visitors in the past nine months, with 22.13 million of them from the Chinese mainland, according to its Tourism Development and Reform Commission. 

The commission said tourism-related revenue earned in the same period hit 24.5 billion yuan ($3.54 billion).