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Chinese experts proposed to accelerate the development of tourism in desert areas as a new way to control desert encroachment as the world day to combat desertification fell on Thursday.

The total area of desertified land in China has reached 171 million hectares, or 17.85 percent of the country's total territory, mainly scattered in 12 provinces and autonomous regions in northern China.

However, there are great prospects for developing tourism in desert areas as these areas are home to 600 kinds of birds, 200 kinds of animals and 800 kinds of plants.

Desert areas also have rich natural landscapes including mountains, forest, deserts, grassland, wetland, salt lakes and swamps.

Places of cultural interest in desert areas are numerous including the ancient Silk Road, the Great Wall, Dunhuang Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and the big and small goose pagodas.

Statistics showed China played host to more than 104 million tourists in the week-long May Day holiday this year, generating 39 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion).

But the tourist industry in desert areas is basically nonexistent in China.

Most tourists to desert spots are self-organized adventurers.

Yang Xiuchun, a research fellow of the Beijing Normal University, proposed to build a special fund with profits gained from the tourist sector and use the fund for desert control.