Tourism business in China's flood-hit areas does not appear to have been seriously affected.

Tourism authorities from the provinces of Shaanxi, Fujian and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region explained that the current period is their slack season and the majority of flooded areas are not the tourist sites.

Transport on the tourists' "golden waterway," the Lijiang River, which passes through famous city of Guilin in Guangxi, was back to normal after having been closed for two days - the first closure this year - in the wake of recent flooding.

Torrential rains last week raised the water level of the river 1.36 metres over the danger mark. Local authorities ordered the suspension of all shipping on the river on Sunday to ensure the safety of tourists.

More than 2,100 tourists chose to ride on the river in Tuesday's drizzle, according to local tourism statistics. All of them safely returned from their trips.

Dock official Huang Kun'an said that the water level in the upper reaches of the river kept rising due to rain from the previous night to yesterday morning.

He said all the boats and ships were equipped with auxiliary engines.

Meanwhile, electricity and water supplies and communications facilities which had been affected by floods for days in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province have been restored.

"The weather here has returned to normal and more and more visitors are coming," a provincial tourism official said.

He said his department does not have figures on how many potential tourists altered their travel plans because of the floods.

"But in our province, most of the heavily flooded areas are in southern areas, while the tourist attractions are mainly located in the centre of the province," the official said.

( China Daily June 20, 2002)