(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-26 22:38

HEFEI  -- A special observation center devoted to sustainable tourism development initiated by the World Tourism Organization was unveiled on Wednesday at the Mount Huangshan Scenery administrative office in east China's Anhui Province.

It is the second such observation center the body has built in China. The first is in Yangshuo, Guilin, one of the most popular travel destinations in the country.

While addressing a special ceremony organized to mark the center's inauguration, World Tourism Organization Deputy Secretary-General Taleb Rofai said plenty of statistics would be collected regarding sustainable tourism development at Mt Huangshan through monitoring the biodiversity and vulnerability of geological resources there.

The goal of this is to find a development mode wherein the tourism economy is highly developed but the adverse impact on the environment is reduced to the least extent. This solution should fit well with other sites included into the World Heritage List.

According to Rofai, the body will organize groups of experts to Mt. Huangshan to do observation in future, while research workers with the administrative office of Mt. Huangshan Scenery are also responsible for sharing statistics they have collected with the World Tourism experts.

Mt. Huangshan, with an area of 154 square kilometers, comprises 72 distinct peaks, including Lotus Flower (Lianhua) Peak, Bright (Guangming) Summit and Heavenly Capital (Tiandu) Peak.

Shrouded in clouds about 200 days of the year, the mountain, situated in southern Anhui, is popular with traditional Chinese landscape painters. It is included on the World Heritage lists for cultural and natural values, as well as the Global Network of Geoparks.