China to open earthquake areas to tourists: report (AP)
CHINESE authorities said today they would open areas devastated by last year’s Sichuan earthquake to tourists as the region struggles to recover from the natural disaster, state media reported.
Nearly 87,000 people were killed or went missing in the May 12 magnitude 8.0 earthquake that left millions homeless and unemployed in China’s mountainous southwest region.
“There is a huge tourism market in the ruins one year after the quake,” Xinhua news agency quoted Wu Mian, deputy director of Sichuan’s tourism bureau, as saying.
“We cannot block the tourists out. We also hope the tourists watch their behaviour and not hurt the feelings of quake survivors.”
Officials hope that increased tourism will help spur rebuilding efforts in the area, it said.
