Photos by Yu Xiangjun, edited by Lu Yan  

The opening ceremony of the Eighth Dunhuang Tour--Silk Road International Tourism Festival got underway at the Jiayuguan Pass, in Jiayuguan City, northwest China's Gansu Province, on June 19. The pass is famous for being the westernmost end of the Ming Great Wall and an important point on the Silk Road. 

The festival, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Gansu Provincial Government, offers an important platform for tourism cooperation and exchange among countries and regions along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. 

The participants included 368 international guests from 52 countries and regions, including many from those along the Belt and Road routes. Representatives from three international tourism organizations, namely the World Tourism Organization, the World Tourism Alliance and the Pacific Asia Tourism Association, were in attendance. 

In addition to the opening ceremony, 10 other activities were held in Jiayuguan to launch the festival, including an evening gala, a business conference, a food fair, activities marking the 2018 China-Belarus Year of Tourism and exhibitions on tourism products from countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes. 

Moreover, during the month-long festival, a number of tourism activities will take place in 14 cities and prefectures across Gansu, which are expected to attract a large number of visitors and boost the local economy.