Hangzhou plans steps to protect West Lake area

Hangzhou authorities are considering limiting the number of tourists and vehicles allowed around West Lake, according to reports yesterday, a day after it was added to the Unesco World Heritage List.

The lake, located at the centre of the capital of Zhejiang province and open to the public for free, is among the top tourist attractions in the country, drawing more than 30 million visitors a year.

Hangzhou's Legislative Affairs Office said in an April document containing proposals to protect the lake that the city was considering scaling back the number of tourists, vehicles and boats allowed into the area, The Beijing News reported.

Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the office as saying detailed measures to limit holidaymakers and traffic could emerge by February next year.

West Lake is one of the few tourist spots on the mainland open to the public for free. Traffic in the area comes to a standstill on weekends and public holidays, when up to two million tourists visit the lake, partly because they have few other entertainment options.

Unesco's World Heritage committee added West Lake's cultural landscape and the hills that surround its three sides to its list over the weekend after years of lobbying from the city. It is the mainland's 41st heritage site to make the Unesco list.

Zheng Wei, a city planning expert at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, told The Beijing News it would be very difficult for authorities to control the number of tourists allowed into the 6.5 square kilometre area, as it has neither an enclosing wall nor gates. He suggested authorities explore promoting new attractions to help spread out the visitors.