Shanxi province has launched 80 tourism projects, with a total investment of 37.1 billion yuan ($5.9 billion), to optimize its tourism industry. Roughly 1.69 billion yuan ($268.7 million) of the investment has been realized in the first half of this year.

In the second quarter of 2012, 29 tourism projects have been established, with a total investment of 1.11 billion yuan ($177.4 million), a 93 percent increase over the previous quarter. The majority of investment comes from private capital, with only some infrastructure construction investment coming from the government’s fiscal budget.

“The expanding investment has greatly optimized our tourism structure,” said Xi Xiaojun, director of the Shanxi Provincial Tourism Bureau.

The investment has covered increasingly diversified fields, including tourism area development, star hotel construction, souvenir promotion and tourism shows.

Health tourism has become a new investment hotspot. Nontraditional investment projects in Shanxi, such as ice-skating, hot spring development and comprehensive entertainment has also grown in the province. The tourism sector in Shanxi is being optimized thanks to balanced development of historical cultural tourism, leisure tourism, red tourism and agricultural tourism.