The Harbin government has made a decision to spend a total of 10 million yuan ($1.45 million) on the building of public restrooms at scenic spots, according to the city’s tourism bureau.

This decision has been made to improve the environment in scenic spots and attract more tourists from both home and abroad.

As early as August 2016, the Harbin Tourism Bureau formulated a plan to evaluate restrooms in scenic spots. As part of the plan those falling under the required hygiene level would be rebuilt.

If public restrooms still do not meet the required standards following rebuilding, the scenic spot where the restroom is located cannot apply to become a national A-level scenic spot.

Harbin received a total of 34.4 million tourists during the first half of 2016, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent, according to data from the Harbin Tourism Bureau.

Meanwhile, total revenues from the tourist industry hit 50.6 billion yuan between January and June, an increase of 16.2 percent compared with last year.

This year’s total revenues from the tourist industry in Harbin are set to reach 100 billion yuan.

Harbin will continue to comprehensively develop its tourist industry, including through improving infrastructure. Key infrastructure projects include new roads on Jiguan Mountain, Erlong Mountain and Songfeng Mountain.

By 2020, Harbin aims to be a tourist center for Northeast Asia and the wider world.