• At 2:38pm Beijing time of This Monday, May 12th, a giant earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale hits China's Sichuan Province.
• Tuesday May 13th, rescuers arrive at China's earthquake's epicenter almost 24 hours after the quake hit.
• China's President Hu Jintao announces earthquake releif is now the government's top priority
• On Tuesday Evening Soldiers finally arrived at the epicenter of China's earthquake.
• At 1 pm, Wednesday, 5000 troops from Jinan, east of China, have been dispatched to the quake-hit Sichuan by airplanes to help with relief work. It is the biggest rescue work in the history of China Air force.
• As of Sunday evening over 4,400 aftershocks have hit SW China
• Residents flee from their homes on Tuesday after forecast of a strong aftershock
• Over 10,000 children and elderly alone because of the quake
• On Sunday an 80 year old man rescued after being buried for 11 days
• 219 aftershocks monitored in quake zone from Wednesday noon to Thursday noon
• Death Toll Rises to 69,016

Sichuan's scenic spots reopen and tours resume

Immediately after the giant quake rocked the area, the National Tourism Administration asked individuals and tour groups to refrain from visiting the province of Sichuan. On Sunday June 15th, the tourism administration decided to partly reopen Sichuan's tourism market. Sichuan reopened 12 cities to tourists to help revive the area and its tourism industry. These cities include: Zigong, Panzhihua, Luzhou, Suining, Neijiang, Leshan, Nanchong, Yibin, Guang'an, Dazhou, Meishan and Ziyang, and the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture. One of the major cities, Chengdu, was only partially opened to tourists due to damage left from the quake. Sites such as the famous Dujiangyan Irrigation project, built during the Eastern Han Dynasty, have reopened free of charge to promote tourism. Sichuan Province officials have encouraged residents of the province to visit its tourism sites and asked people from other provinces and cities working on the post-quake construction to organize trips to Sichuan.
The giant earthquake cost Sichuan Province's Tourism industry more than $7.2 billion. Fortunately, Sichuan Province's World Cultural Heritage Sites were barely affected by the quake. Only Mt. Qingcheng and Dujiangyan were affected, but only slightly. Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong, Mt. Emei, and the Leshan Giant Buddha were untouched.

Sichuan is developing a reconstruction plan for its tourism industry, which is planned to be implemented during a two year period. The first phase which will begin in the second half of this year, will highlight the Chengdu, Mt. Emei, Leshan Giant Buddha route to show that Sichuan is safe for visitors. The second phase, which is expected to begin in the beginning of next year, will promote the entire region. According to the reconstruction plan, Sichuan will raise nearly 200 billion yuan from the government and private sectors to restore the area. The revenue brought by tourism into Sichuan last year was 121.7 billion yuan, which accounted for the province's 11.6 percent of its gross domestic product.

 

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