The tourism industry has created 32,000 new jobs in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the first half of 2019, improving local livelihood. 

An increasing number of farmers and herdsmen are joining the tourism industry to improve their income as tourism "enters a golden era" in Xinjiang, said the region's department of human resources and social security. With new jobs created in sectors like catering and accommodation, tourist souvenirs and countryside travel, the region has accomplished 80 percent of this year’s target, which is to create 40,000 jobs in tourism, according to the department.  

Take Xinjiang's Burqin County, home to the region's renowned Kanas Lake, which has taken tourism as a pillar industry in recent years. In the first half of the year, the tourism sector created jobs for 17,000 local people, accounting for 43 percent of the total employment in the county.  

In 2018, Xinjiang rolled out a three-year plan to boost employment through tourism. The regional government has planned to create 10,000 jobs in 2018, 40,000 in 2019 and 50,000 in 2020 by developing local tourism. From January to June 2019, nearly 76 million tourists visited Xinjiang, up 46 percent year on year. 

(Cover image: Kanas Lake, Burqin County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. /VCG Photo)