Xinjiang Tries Border Travel With Surrounding Countries

China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which has many border crossings, is trying to run cross-border travel with the surrounding countries in Central Asia to promote bilateral economic and cultural exchanges.

Chi Chongqing, secretary of the Xinjiang Tourism Bureau, stated that Xinjiang launched two 2-7 day visits to Kazakstan between 1989 and 1993, but later halted them. Chi said that XTB is now applying to open the most commonly-used border crossings as the trial ports for cross-border travel and trying to resume Yili-Hurgos 2-day trip and 7-day trip and develop Kazakstan, Kyrghyz and Uzbekistan as travel destinations for Chinese citizens.

Chi said compared with trips to European and American countries, it is cheaper, easier, and more convenient for Chinese tourists to travel in Central Asia.

As a Chinese region with the longest border and most open border crossings, Xinjiang neighbors eight countries and has 17 national class-one border crossings.