Wudang Mountains’15 seconds on Times Square

Hubei Province's iconic Wudang Mountains has bought a 15-second spot on New York's equally iconic Times Square video screen that will be shown for a month in the hope of attracting tourists from the US, local tourism authorities told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The film includes famous scenic spots in Wudang Mountains, Wudang culture featuring Taosim thought and tai chi, said an official with the tourism bureau of Wudang Mountains special tourism and economic zone.

The Wudang Mountains tourist spot is famous for its ancient buildings, which made it onto the World Heritage List in 1994.

The film begun bing broadcast 30 times a day on Monday, said the official who refused to be named and would not reveal the cost of the film or its deal with Times Square.

"We expect to receive good feedback as the location is good and visitors from the US have been increasing in recent years," he said.

Last year, the mountains attracted 4.26 million visitors including 300,000 overseas tourists and earned 2.3 billion yuan ($370 million), the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"It's good for China's tourism industry to enter overseas markets," said Deng Zongde, a researcher with Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noting that only a few Chinese tourism organizations do such promotions.

Zhang Shangzheng, a professor with tourism management at Anhui University, said he thinks the film is a waste of money as Wudang Mountains are not the first choice for most foreign tourists since they are not as famous as other Chinese scenic spots.

"The broadcasts will cost a lot of money, but no one knows how many tourists it will bring to the mountains," Zhang added.