The city of Changsha is to become one of the two centers tourism in Hunan province in the next ten years.  According to the Hunan Tourism Industry Development General Plan, approved May 20, Hunan will build tourism around two “cores:” the provincial capital of Changsha and Zhangjiajie, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the west of the province.

The goal is to build Changsha into “an internationally attractive capital of Chinese culture and leisure tourism, and Zhangjiajie into an internationally attractive Chinese and world heritage tourism city” according to Xinhua.

The plan, which divides the province into three parts – Changsha, Grand West Hunan, and Grand South Hunan – for tourism development, aims for Hunan to receive 100 million domestic tourists, bringing in 110 billion yuan in tourism revenue by 2010, accounting for 10 percent of the province’s GDP.  The provincial government hopes to raise those figures by 2020 to 200 million domestic visitors recieved for over 300 billion yuan in tourism revenue.

The plan also aims to attract 1.3-1.5 million overseas tourists by 2010, bringing in some US$650-750 million.

While a little to the north of Changsha, the capital of Hubei province Wuhan, is looking to improve city infrastructure to meet increased demand as the city continues to grow. 

The city will spend 10 million yuan to cut the city’s traffic woes. As reported by Xinhua, starting May 20, the municipal government will use the investment to add two automobile and passenger ferries across the Yangtze River, as well as construct a new pedestrian overpass.

With Tianhe Airport set to become China’s fourth international air hub with an annual capacity of 13 million people and 320,000 tons of cargo, the provincial capital is well positioned to benefit from increased attention and FDI China’s inland second tier cities will be receiving.