Road trips a route to prosperity

More travelers in Xinjiang are driving themselves, says the Xinjiang road-trip association's secretary-general Li Xiaohu.

Hundreds have driven across the Taklimakan Desert through bookings with CYTS Xinjiang International Travel Agency since 2010.

The company claims to have been the first to offer driving tours through the autonomous region.

All but 5 percent of drivers who booked trips in Xinjiang last year were from outside the region, Ma Li, a manager with the agency, tells local news portal ts.cn.

Drivers from outside Xinjiang were previously a minority, he says.

The local government has been constructing such infrastructure as camping sites.

Plans call for the establishment of a tourism-product association to work with the regional government to launch more driving routes.

The concept is to lead travelers to villages among major attractions. Rural residents can offer such services as dining and local specialties, which in turn offer them new income opportunities.

Chujiawan village resident Liu Jun runs a rural guesthouse near Tianchi Lake.

"We've had business year-round since Tianchi opened a ski resort," he tells China Tourism News.

"Many skiers who drive here eat at our restaurant."

Business was brisk for Liu in January, which was previously a slow month for local tourism because of the cold.

His place is located along the "golden travel belt" around the Tianshan Mountains.

"Many tourists buy our chickens and eggs after enjoying our dapanji (sauteed spicy chicken)," says Liu.

He earned a meager income from crops seven years ago, he says.

Visitors also buy the flat peaches his neighbors grow in the summer.

Tourists who drive themselves have also boosted sales of agricultural and forest products in Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongol autonomous prefecture, Hami and Turpan.

Xinjiang's tourism development commission and poverty-alleviation authorities have selected over 600 villages that are suitable for tourism development since 2016.

Most are near major roads or cities and are easily accessible to drivers. Many drivers consume local farmers' chickens, mutton, eggs and fruit, a tourism development commission official says. They also enjoy seeing how locals live.