Tourists visit Mingsha Mountain and Yueya Spring in Dunhuang, Gansu province, on Saturday. [Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang/For chinadaily.com.cn]

Tourism in Dunhuang, Gansu province, saw a significant recovery trend in the first quarter of this year, as more people started going out after years of constraint by the COVID-19 pandemic.

From Jan 1 to March 24, the city's six major scenic spots received more than 220,000 tourist visits, an increase of 150 percent year-on-year, according to the city's culture and tourism department.

The scenic areas include the famous Mogao Caves, Mingsha Mountain and Yueya Spring.

The local government has adopted multiple measures to stimulate its tourism industry, including rolling out preferential policies for tourists and organizing activities for cultural study, the department said.