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Famed Silk Road grottoes in China get fewer visitors
amid financial crisis
The global financial crisis has slashed the number
of tourists to Dunhuang, a Silk Road city and home
to historic Buddhist grottoes, city tourism bureau
chief Gong Ying said on Monday.
Gong said domestic tourist arrivals were likely to
decline 30 percent this year, with those of
foreigners down 40 percent.
Dunhuang, in northwest China's Gansu Province, had
1.4 million tourists last year, including 100,000
from overseas.
Gong said major natural disasters, such as prolonged
snow early in the year and the devastating
earthquake in May, had also affected tourism.
"We are not optimistic about the market next year,
as the financial crisis is worsening," he said.
The Mogao Grottoes, a UN-listed World Heritage site
known as the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas, received
fewer than 100 tourists daily, compared with an
average of 1,500 per day last year, the official
added.
Gong said the bureau will tap the Taiwan market
next year, to take advantage of cross-Strait direct
air and sea services that began earlier this month
amid warming ties.
A 261 million yuan (about 38 million U.S. dollars)
rehabilitation project began on Monday to protect
the fragile ancient paintings and sculptures.
(Xinhua, Dec. 29, 2008)
Ancient Mogao Grottoes to be lightened
Tourists to
world-famous Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, in
northwestern China's Gansu Province, might see
ancient paintings and statues on interior walls more
clearly as the management plans to introduce modern
lights into the caves.
The Dunhuang Academy
have begun an experiment by installing lights in
some caves including No. 16 and No. 148 to see if
the ancient paintings and other cultural relics
would suffer damages from lights.
Before the experiment,
tourists could only see the paintings with
flashlights operated by tour guides.
If the results of the
experiment proved to be positive, modern
illumination will be installed next year in all the
caves that were open to tourists, sources with the
academy said.
The 1,600-year-old
Mogao Grottoes, which became a World Heritage
designation in 1987, have more than 2,000 colored
sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes.
The number of domestic
and overseas tourists to the Dunhuang grottoes is
estimated at 500,000 annually and continues to rise.
Early this year, China
has approved a 36 million U.S. dollar protection
scheme for the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, including
construction of a digital display hall that can hold
800 visitors and facilities for consolidation,
erosion prevention, security and visitor services.
(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2008)
Visitors to Mogao Grottoes Face Limits
Aug. 22, 2007
- The daily number of tourists permitted to visit
the Mogao Grottoes will be limited next year in a
bid to better protect the frescoes inside, according
to the Dunhuang Academy. (Click title of the news
for full report.)
Hearing Held for Dunhuang Grottoes Price Hike
A hearing has been held Saturday
concerning a new price hike on ticket prices to
Mogao Grottoes, the most famous scenic spot in
Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province,
Lanzhou Morning Post reports.The current price
of a ticket to Mogao Grottoes is 100 yuan (US$12.5
US dollars). After the price hike, it will rise to
150 yuan (US$18.8). While a ticket will cost 20%
more from Octobter 1 to 7 each year, the peak season
for local tourism, it will cost 40 percent less
during the low season which spans from November 1 to
March 31.(Click
for full details)
Infrastructure Improved to Boost Silk Road Travel
CRI
English, May 25, 2006 -
Dunhuang city in west China's
Gansu Province is boosting its tourism industry by
recreating an image of how it was during both the
Han (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.) and Tang Dynasty (A.D.
618-907), which were peak times in the city's
history. Dunhuang is investing several hundred
million yuan to improve the city's tourism
infrastructure and constructing several new sights
to make the city more attractive and entice tourists
to stay longer.
The construction plan
includes refilling the Dan river and building a Han
and Tang style commercial street.The city of
Dunhuang was an important station along the famed
Silk Road and has several great tourist attractions,
including the Yang Pass, the Yumen Pass, the Singing
Sand Dunes, the Crescent Spring and the Mogao
Grotto. The number of visitors to the city exceeded
one million people in 2005.
Mogao Grottoes to Go Online in 2011
Xinhua
News Agency Sep.
20, 2006 -
Archaeologists as well as ordinary people will be
able to visit the world heritage Mogao Grottoes site
in northwest China by simply clicking the computer
mouse in 2011.China will digitize images of 170 of
the finest Dunhuang grottoes over a period of five
years starting 2007. One hundred and forty-seven
will be from the Mogao Grottoes and the rest from
the Yulin Grottoes and Western Thousand Buddhas
Caves.(Click
for full report)
Wounds of Time to Dunhuang Grottoes Aired
Shanghai Star November 11,
2004 - China Central
Television's recent live broadcasts from Dunhuang's
grottoes may be the first time Chinese media have
focused on these mysterious marvels. The programmes
showed more than 10 grottoes that had never before
been exposed to public view. (full
coverage)
Floods
Threaten Silk Road Grottoes
Flooding and rain threaten the
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes
hidden in northwest China's vast Gobi desert...
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