Pingyao integrates private funds into tourism development

Pingyao's government, in North China's Shanxi province, signed an agreement to develop Pingyao cultural tourism with several local big corporations in the province, including Jiuyuanji Cultural Tourism Investment Management Company, and Zhongjian Company.

The cooperation focused on shifting the former industrial ruins into a tourism service complex, and the government will open Pingyao's tourism resources – for example, the World Cultural Heritage and Pingyao International Photography Festival – to its partners, who will help create tourism spotlights in the county. Many county government officials, including the county mayor, Cao Zhisheng, were present at the meeting, showing their great concern.

Cao expressed his concerns for the preservation of the heritage, stressing that a balance should be kept between the preservation of cultural relics and the development and exploitation of tourism resources, and added that the design of the tourism developing plan should be comprehensive and strictly obey relevant laws.