Tourism officials from southwestern Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and the Tibet region will present plans for the construction of an ecological tourism zone based on the legendary Shangri-la, which is located at the juncture of the three regions.

The tourism officials made the comments while attending a recent western China economic coordination meeting in Nanning, capital of southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, specifying that they will present the detailed project at an international tourism fair scheduled to be convened in Shanghai this November.

The ecological tourism zone based on Shangri-La will likely cover Panzhihua city, Ganzi and Liangshan prefectures, all in Sichuan, the Diqing, Lijiang, Nujiang and Dali prefectures of Yunnan and the Qamdo and Nyingchi prefectures in Tibet, said the officials.

"Shangri-La", said to be a popular Tibetan word for "sun and moon in the heart" or an ideal, enchanting wonderland, became world-renowned after British writer James Hilton published his book Lost Horizon in 1933.

The prototype of Shangri-La was said to be Zhongdian county in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Diqing in Yunnan province. The county was renamed after Shangri-La in December 2001 with the approval of the State Council.

The new inter-regional cooperation is seen as a positive development in view of previous rivalries and conflicts related to tourism development around Shangri-La.

Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet had all very much wanted to play the "Shangri-La" card, but have now decided to do it together. The cooperation is expected to put an end to the "chaotic" battles, said experts.

Zhang Wansheng, head of the Tibet Regional Tourism Administration, said that the primitive ecological landscape at Shangri-La is remaining intact, which he described as a "world-class" tourism resource.

"We promise to carry out tourism development in Shangri-La in compliance with environmental protection and ecological conservation," said Zhang.

The three local governments have pledged to jointly invest between 50 billion yuan (about US$6 billion) and 80 billion yuan (some US$9.64 billion) over the next decade to develop Shangri-La.

With the overall plan for the Shangri-La ecological tourism zone in progress, the highways connecting places such as Diqing, Qamdo and Nyingchi prefectures is being built as a matter of urgency.

In the meantime, preparations for building an airport to service the Shangri-La tourism zone is under way. And the training of tourism professionals is also being accelerated, said the officials.

The southwest China regions hosted 240 million tourists both from China and overseas last year, and raked in US$14.52 billion in earnings.

(People's Daily September 21, 2002)