KUNMING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Yunnan Province recorded 439 million tourist visits during the first seven months of this year, or 93.2 percent of the level for the same period in 2019, according to a press conference on Thursday.

Tourism revenue from January to July totaled 495.68 billion yuan (about 72.32 billion U.S. dollars), or 80 percent of that in 2019, the provincial culture and tourism department said.

To cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, the province has rolled out a series of favorable policies since the beginning of this year, including distributing tourism vouchers, to promote the recovery of the tourism market, according to Zhao Guoliang, director of the department.

With the improvement of the COVID-19 situation and the effects of the policies, in July alone, the number of tourist visits and tourism revenue in Yunnan increased 50.3 percent and 54.1 percent year on year, respectively, Zhao added.

Yunnan boasts rich tourism resources, including five UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Old Town of Lijiang and the Hani rice terraces.  Enditem