SHENZHEN yesterday kicked off the first Golden Coast Tourist Festival to lure travelers to an array of attractions on the 19-km-long coastline in eastern Shenzhen.

　　The festival, which will end Oct. 7, is aimed at attracting more tourists from the city and other parts of the country during the week-long National Day holidays.

　　The festival will become an annual event. It is also part of the city's efforts to develop its eastern coast beaches and surrounding areas into a Golden Coast resort.

　　The festival offers a number of tour packages, many of which are specially tailored to suit Hong Kong people.

　　The tour packages include visits to Zhongying Street Museum, jewelry processing centers, beaches and resort centers in Dameisha, Xiaomeisha and Sanzhoutian, as well as shopping for seafood and dry food centers in Yantian.

　　The Golden Coast project comprises 23 beaches with excellent sand and water quality.

　　Ancient tourist sites such as Dapeng Ancient Town and the Hakka folk culture add charm to this new developing tourist district.

　　Officials hope the Golden Coast resort will attract 15 million tourists a year.

　　The Golden Coast would be an eastern counterpart to the western resort area.

　　(SD News)