Affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the autonomous region's tourism has slackened off ahead of time, said Nayim Yazen, head of the regional tourism administration.

Since the start of the US-led strikes in Afghanistan, most ports in the border region are on alert. The Khunjerab Port at the Sino-Pakistani border is closed.

Confirmed travel plans for 631 tour groups which were to visit Xinjiang between September 11 and November 7 have been cancelled, with a loss of tens of thousands of tourists from Pakistan, Japan, the United States, Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

Not only are few overseas tourists visiting Xinjiang now, but also domestic travelers are postponing or canceling their tours, he said.

"However the first three quarters of this year saw a 10-percent rise in the number of tourists", said Yazen.

During the January-September period, the number of domestic tourists alone rose 46 percent, and about 216,000 travelers flooded into Xinjiang.

As a move to promote tourism, the regional tourism administration will send a 150-member delegation to the International Tourism Fair in Kunming next month, said Yazen.

In another development, the administration will give press conferences in Guangdong and Shanghai in the second half of November, to tell potential tourists what the autonomous region can offer during the cold winter days, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2001)