Dark Dynamite Inc. announced recently that the construction of the Western 3rd Round City Highway (3rd Highway) in Xi'an, China is expected to be completed in early 2006. The completed 3rd Highway is expected to bring in more tourists to the theme park of the Qin E-Pang Palace
(E-Pang Palace).
The 3rd Highway is funded by the Xi'an government, with a total investment of RMB500 million, equal to $61.7 million U.S. The total length of the 3rd Highway is 18.42 km, which includes seven large crossroads and two bridges.
The 3rd Highway is expected to be completed early 2006, and to be opened free of charge. After the completion of the 3rd Highway, traveling time between the city center and the theme park of E-pang Palace will be reduced from 30 minutes to about 20 minutes, greatly benefiting tourists traveling to the E-Pang Palace.
The theme park located at the centre of many historic sites of Xi'an city, such as the famous Emperor Qin's Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses Museum, the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin, Huaqing Hot-springs and Fa'men Temple. After the completion of the 3rd Highway, tourists will have easy access to the park while visiting other historical sites.
The theme park is estimated to become one of the main tourism destinations among travel agencies due to its distinctive Qin cultural palaces and convenient traffic conditions, which is estimated to bring in an extra 10,000 tourists, as well as an increase in income.
The Xi'an tourism market saw 650,000 overseas tourists, and 20.84 million domestic tourists traveling to Xi'an in 2004, with increase rates of 93% and 29.1% respectively comparing with those of the previous year. The total revenue of the Xi'an tourism industry was RMB15.44 billion ($1.9 billion U.S.) in 2004, which includes foreign exchange of $330 million U.S., with respective increase rates of 45.1% and 130%.
