OREANDA-NEWS. July 21, 2011. East China's Anhui province, known for its imposing Huangshan Mountains, has received a boost with the launch of the next "five-year plan" (2011-2015), aiming to attract more international tourists, an official said.

The number of overseas tourists in Anhui province reached more than 1 million in 2010, up 27 percent on a yearly basis, accoriding to the provincial tourism administration.

Hu Xuefan, the head of Anhui provincial tourism administration, attributes booming tourism to the building of more tourist facilities, improved transportation, opening of more scenic spots and the enhanced tourism service as Anhui has announced a project to build itself into a top international tourism destination.

"Though the tourism in Anhui province has seen a big increase in recent years, we still need to work on our existing infrastructure and tourism service system," said Hu. "We are expecting more visitors from both home and abroad."

Anhui province plans to invest 300 billion yuan (USD 46.4 billion) for about 200 tourism projects and expects to receive more than 5 million overseas tourists by 2015.

Since 2006, Huangshan Mountain, a scenic city in southern Anhui province, has opened charter flights with foreign countries including South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

Xu Jiwei, a member of the standing committee of Huangshan and party secretary of Huangshan Mountain Administrative Committee, said most of Huangshan's foreign tourists are from ROK, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States, with the US being one of the largest overseas tourist source.

For many foreigners, Huangshan Mountain may not be very familiar. But this Unesco World Heritage is the inspiration behind those beautiful floating mountains in the movie Avatar.

"Huangshan Mountain is well-known with its lofty peaks, jagged rocks, oddly-shaped pines and seas of clouds. There are many similarities in the striking landscape as tourists wander around the mountain paths," said Xu. "But there is still a lot that we need to explore to let more international tourists know about the masterpiece of nature."

Tourist arrivals from the United States hit 101,700 in 2010, an increase of 21 percent year-on-year.

Benjamin Simon, managing director of an India-based Travellink, told China Daily that his experience in Huangshan Mountain was very special, because it is "totally unearthed and unexplored."

"This is like a dream come true. I've been told this is the most fantastic location in the world," he said.

To promote Huangshan Mountain scenic area to the world, a bound was formed between Huangshan Mountain and Yosemite National Park in California, US as two have become sister parks.

Song Guoquan, mayor of the city, said Huangshan would further combine tourism with sports and make Huangshan an international tourism destination for its pleasant climate and healthy lifestyle.

"The beauty of Huangshan Mountain doesn't only belong to the Chinese people, it's also a paradise for the people throughout the world," said Song. "We will further promote Huangshan into an international city for both traveling and living."