URUMQI, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region received about 75.9 million visitors in the first half of this year, up 46 percent year on year, according to regional officials.

Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, told a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday that Xinjiang has seen a tourism boom in recent years. The number of tourists to Xinjiang exceeded 150 million last year, up 40.1 percent.

The region is expected to welcome over 200 million tourists this year, said Erkin Tuniyaz, vice chairman of Xinjiang.

Erkin said the region vowed to build Xinjiang into a key area for tourism and a destination with worldwide popularity.

He said the next step is to further improve Xinjiang's tourism development planning, strive to create better tourism branding, improve services and transportation, as well as accelerate the construction of supporting infrastructure.