URUMQI - Lying at the heart of the historic Silk Road, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is creating new opportunities to boost tourism and becoming a "key tourist destination" for the world, an international travel expert said.

Zoltan Somogyi, executive director for member relations and services at the United Nations World Tourism Organization, made the remarks at the China-Eurasia forum on tourism cooperation and development in Urumqi, the regional capital.

"Xinjiang will become one of the world's most dynamic tourism growth areas in the near future," he told China Daily. He added that, by "assembling the cultures of both Eastern and Western countries", China's far northwestern region had gained a distinct advantage in integrating the world's two largest markets, Europe and Asia.