??? THE city received 50.72 million tourists both domestic and foreign last year, a 12.6-percent increase year on year, according to statistics released by the tourism bureau. ??? It was the first year in which the number of tourists exceeded 50 million. ??? The number of overseas tourists increased by 7 percent to 1.156 million, and the city’s total tourism revenue reached 68.1 billion yuan last year, an increase of 17.5 percent year on year. ??? Last year saw the start of operation or trial operation of 36 large tourism projects in Qingdao, which totaled more than 12 billion yuan in investments and improved the competitiveness of the tourism industry. ??? The city had introduced more than 30 well-known tourism enterprises from home and abroad by the end of last year, including Kempinski from Germany and Starwoods from the United States. The city had 10 five-star hotels by the end of last year. ??? In addition, the city had 361 travel agencies employing more than 10,000 tour guides. ??? The city completed and opened a public tourism service center and 10 travel information consultation centers. ??? Qingdao aspires to further improve its tourism industry this year and is targeting 1.2 million overseas tourists. ??? The city aims at total tourism revenue of 76.7 billion yuan this year. ??? Besides, the city will push ahead with the construction of 81 large tourism projects with a total investment of 136 billion yuan. ??? This year is expected to see the completion of 18 tourism projects costing 11 billion yuan. (Li Hao, Fu Jun) | 