More tourists discover unique Xinjiang

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has seen a rapid and steady development of tourism in the past three years since the region mobilized all resources to maintain social stability, Xinjiang's top tourist official said.

The region plans to attract 300 million tourism visits annually by 2020. The money spent by tourists is expected to surpass 1 trillion yuan ($145.7 billion), more than 5.4 times that in 2017, said Hou Hanmin, Party chief of the regional tourism development commission.

"Stability is the foundation of attracting tourists. We must seize the opportunity of having a continuous stable social situation to boost the tourism industry, which will become a strategic pillar industry in Xinjiang," she told China Daily in an exclusive interview in the regional capital of Urumqi.