Terrorist attacks in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have harmed economic growth, the regional development and reform commission.

 

The tourism industry, especially in southern Xinjiang, was hit hard in 2014 because the fear of random terrorist attacks made some people choose not to travel to Xinjiang a popular tourist destination in China.

 

Although Xinjiang's GDP grew by 10 percent in 2014, higher than the national average of 7.4 percent, it failed to reach the 11 percent growth target.

 

This was mostly because of the slowdown in tourism, according to a report released by the commission on the sidelines of the annual session of the 12th Xinjiang Regional People's Congress, which opened on Tuesday.

 

Tourism brought income of 65 billion CNY (10.5 billion USD) to Xinjiang in 2014, a 3.4 percent decrease year-on-year. The income from foreign visitors dropped by 15 percent compared with the previous year, said Yinam Naserdin, director of the regional tourism bureau.

 

Sales in more than 70 percent of hotels in Xinjiang fell below last year's levels.

 

Meanwhile, a campaign to reduce terrorist attacks and prevent them from spreading to other parts of China has shown initial results, Shohrat Zakir, the newly appointed acting chairman of Xinjiang, said in a report released on Tuesday.

 

Both the central and regional government allocated special funds in 2014 for the campaign to support legal departments in Xinjiang to step up efforts to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks, according to the regional department of finance. 

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