Xishuangbanna, a lush tropical region of southern China bordering Burma, aims to attract about 15.5 million tourists, including 500,000 foreign tourists, annually by 2015, according to an official cited by the Xinhua news agency. Lu Yonghe, deputy head of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, said the government plans to develop the region as a world-class resort destination. Xishuangbanna is part of a large tropical virgin forest that covers Yunnan Province and northern Burma and Laos. More than 10 million domestic tourists and 290,000 foreign tourists visited the region last year.