Mountain that inspired Avatar draws global visitors

Hunan province's Zhangjiajie, one of China's most picturesque tourist areas and home to Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, is planning to build itself into a magnet for global sightseers, with tailored services and more convenient transportation, a senior local official told China Daily on Saturday.

The surrounding breathtaking views inspired the floating mountains in the 2009 sci-fi blockbuster Avatar, and the area has emerged as a global tourist hub over the past few years, receiving more than 5.6 million tourists from 117 countries and regions last year.

"That's a year-on-year increase of 58 percent," Liu Gean, mayor of Zhangjiajie and a national legislator, said in an interview during the ongoing session of the National People's Congress.