URUMQI - Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has launched three cross-border routes for driving tours to neighboring countries, local authorities said Friday.

The three routes include the China-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan route, the China-Tajikistan route, and the China-Russia-Kazakhstan-Mongolia route, according to the regional tourism bureau.

Guli Ablim, deputy director of the bureau, said the routes offer a new channel for Chinese citizens to visit cultural sites along the ancient Silk Road in these countries.

The tourist routes are expected to boost cultural and non-governmental exchanges between China and Central Asia, Guli Ablim said.

China plans to develop Xinjiang into a major tourism hub along the Silk Road Economic Belt, a China-proposed initiative to strengthen ties and boost cooperation between countries along the ancient Silk Road.

The ancient Silk Road was a land trade route that ran northwest from Xi'an city through China's Gansu province and Xinjiang, and Central and Western Asia before reaching the Mediterranean.