Guilin, one of China's most popular tourism destinations, now has 35 hotels with a star rating, said local sources.

According to the sources, Guilin, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has been making painstaking efforts to construct and improve facilities for transportation, accommodations in a bid to improve the quality of tourism services and enhance the city's capacity to handle tourists.

The city now has 70 travel agencies, including 18 agencies that are authorized to organize out- and in-bound tours, and is capable of handling one million overseas tourists and 10 million domestic tourists annually.

It hosted more than 9.63 million domestic tourists last year, a record high and up 7.27 percent from 1999, said the sources.

Guilin, with a history of more than 2,000 years, is renowned for its green mountains, clear water and strangely shaped stone formations.

Cruising on the Lijiang River, for instance, is one of the most popular activities for tourists. On the river they can appreciate the beauty of this southern Chinese city.

(People's Daily 02/03/2001)