Asia's Largest Mountain Tourism Festival Held in Jishou, Hunan

JISHOU, China, Aug. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- The first China (Dehang) International Mountain Tourism Festival, organized by the People's Government of Jishou in collaboration with the Jishou Tourism Bureau and China's largest major outdoor event organizer www.huway.com, was successfully held in Dehang Scenic Area on August 5-8, 2011.

The International Mountain Tourism Festival attracted nearly 6,000 outdoor enthusiasts and more than 500 outdoor athletes from 12 countries including the US, France, Colombia, India and Pakistan. Numerous wonderful outdoor events, including an outdoor triathlon, mountain bike race, weight-bearing walking challenge, international glide challenge, outdoor cooking contest, education donations, campfire carnival and 10,000-people camping, were held during the festival. The event is by far the largest mountain tourism festival in Asia.

The event was held in Dehang, a concentrated community of Miao People in China. Dehang means the "beautiful gorge" in the language of the Miao ethnic group. It was recognized as one of the "10 most beautiful and promising rural tourism destinations in China" in a recent campaign ranking the country's most beautiful and promising destinations. The Scenic Area features the Aizhai highway wonder, the Aizhai Big Suspension Bridge - the biggest bridge in the world; Dehang Miao village - the famous drum village across the globe; and Liusha Waterfall - one of the "10 most popular waterfalls among tourists in China"; which are helping develop Dehang Scenic Area as a leisure canyon tourism brand with "hundreds of years of road and bridge wonders, thousands of years of Miao village charm and tens of thousands of years of canyon sightseeing" and making it a great place to hold various of mountain outdoor sports.

During the event, the Eastern China Media Alliance, www.huway.com and the European Mountain Sports Organization granted titles of "the scenic area recommended by the Eastern China Media Alliance", "the national activity base for outdoor clubs of www.huway.com" and "the European outdoor activity base" to Dehang Scenic Area, respectively.

Holding the International Mountain Tourism Festival is a significant measure taken by the Jishou municipal party committee and the municipal government to establish the city brand of "Jishou with valley charm takes you into the mysterious Xiangxi". The festival provides the best window to exhibit the picturesque landscape and the nationality's folk customs of the Jishou with valley charm, and also provides support for building DEHANG into a first-rate mountain resort for tourism and leisure. The titles granted by the three organizations raise the public's awareness of the DEHANG scenic area and expand its tourism market at home and abroad. Jishou plans to further strengthen the construction in the scenic area and of the urban supporting facilities, and propagation and marketing efforts, as well as go all out to advance the construction processes of the tourism terminal and leisure destinations in the mountain area of Wuling, in order to lead the vigorous development and progresses of the area's tourism industry in a more open and inclusive manner.

SOURCE www.huway.com