Yuan Xinhua (R), head of Hunan Provincial Tourism Bureau, held a press conference on Sept. 11 in Changsha to address the start of the 2007 Hunan Tourism Festival. (photo: CRIENGLISH.com)

The 2007 Hunan Tourism Festival will start on Wednesday Sept. 12 in Yueyang, a famous historic city in the northeast of central China's Hunan province.

This year's tourism festival is the sixth since 2002, and the one with the largest scale ever, said Yuan Xinhua, head of Hunan Provincial Tourism Bureau at a press conference on Tuesday.

More than 150 reporters from home and abroad have been invited to the grand event.

Meanwhile 220 foreign tourist agents have come to Hunan for a general preview. They are from eleven countries and regions including the United States, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Hunan is renowned for beautiful natural scenery and abundant cultural relics. During the festival, a dragon boat contest will be held on the Dongting Lake in Yueyang. Besides, promotional events will be staged in a number of scenic spots around the province, such as Mt. Hengshan and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.

In 2006, Hunan received over 90 million domestic visitors and 970,000 foreign tourists, who together have spent 58.8 billion yuan or about 7.8 billion USD, accounting for 7.9% of the provincial GDP.

(CRI.cn September 12, 2007)