This year's Golden Week holiday, saw tourism in Shanxi province making a great leap forward in sheer numbers, including revenues and benefits.

Its major scenic spots had new themed activities and travel agencies were offering better travel lines, tourist trains, and information on do-it-yourself tours. Statistics show 15.94 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in tourist revenues for the province, up 26.49 percent over the same period of last year, with 24.67 million tourists visiting Shanxi, an increase of 25.41 percent, with 9.38 million of them having a stay-over and 15.29 million taking one-day tours, up 26.13 percent and 24.97 percent respectively.

The province reports that it rapidly developed rural tourism routes and tourist facilities and did an evaluation of provincial and national rural tourist attractions, while taking part in the "Most beautiful country" evaluation. It estimates that 200 rural scenic spots had 963,000 tourists, up 29.3 percent, and revenues of 230 million yuan, up 32.5 percent.

In addition to key scenic spots, there were others that proved popular and increased the number of visitors through promotions, with the "Leisure tour of beautiful Shanxi" and ticket discounts proving quite alluring.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw