Kanas Airport, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, will receive tourists next July in a trial operation, sources with the National Tourism Administration said in Beijing on Tuesday.

 

Construction of the airport, which began in May and will cost 198 million yuan (US$24.75 million), is underway.

 

About 60 percent of the construction work has already been completed.

 

The airport, located in Burqin County, is designed to handle Boeing 737s and will process 220,000 passengers a year in 2013.

 

Kanas, a world geological park recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, received 700,000 tourists between Jan.1 and Oct.7 this year, a rise of 130,000 over the same period of last year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)