Tourism in Xinjiang is booming as China transforms the region.

When Anna first planned to visit Xinjiang in 2015, her friends were perplexed.

“They didn’t understand why I had visited what was considered one of the most dangerous areas in China at the time.”

One of her friends went on a trip and started ‘ghosting’ her on WeChat, the 35-year-old Chinese said. She did not want to give her real name.

“She said her parents had banned her from going near Xinjiang and she no longer wanted to participate.”

Anna went anyway and returned in June of this year. But things have changed, she says.

“Xinjiang is as beautiful as I remember, but there are too many tourists now, especially at the main attractions.”

For years, Xinjiang has been bustling under Beijing’s rule, sometimes erupting in violence, which has prevented many domestic Chinese tourists from traveling there. It then gained notoriety for some of the worst claims about Chinese authoritarianism, from the detention of more than a million Uyghur Muslims in so-called “transformation through education camps” to claims that the United Nations has committed crimes against humanity.

China denies the claims, but the region remains largely off-limits to international media and observers, and Uyghurs in exile continue to tell stories of terrified or missing relatives.

However, in recent years, Xinjiang has increasingly emerged as a tourist destination both within China and abroad. Beijing has invested billions of dollars to develop infrastructure and help produce TV dramas set in unusual landscapes, and has occasionally welcomed foreign media on carefully organized tours.

It has been repackaging the controversial region as a tourist paradise, touting not only its beauty but also the “ethnic” experience of the very area that rights groups say they are trying to erase.

Xinjiang stretches to northwest China and borders eight countries. Located along the Silk Road, which facilitated trade between East and West for centuries, some of the city’s villages are steeped in history. It is also home to remote rugged mountains, majestic canyons, lush meadows and pristine lakes.

“The scenery far exceeded my expectations,” says Singaporean Sun Shengyao, who visited in May 2024. “It’s New Zealand, Switzerland and Mongolia all in one place,” he explains.

Unlike most of China, where the Han Chinese are the majority, Xinjiang is predominantly Turkic-speaking and Muslim, with Uyghurs being the largest ethnic group. Tensions rose throughout the 1990s and 2000s as the Chinese government’s growing crackdown intensified as Han Chinese claims of marginalization of the Uighurs sparked separatist sentiment and deadly attacks.

But it was under Xi Jinping that the Chinese Communist Party began to tighten control like never before, sparking suspicions that Uyghurs were being forcibly assimilated into Han culture. On a visit last September, he welcomed “rigorous” developments in the region and called for “sinicization of religion,” or changing beliefs to reflect Chinese culture and society.

Meanwhile, investments were pouring into this area. About 200 international hotels are already operating or planning to open in Xinjiang, including famous hotels such as Hilton and Marriott.

According to Chinese authorities, the region will welcome about 300 million visitors in 2024, more than double the number in 2018. Xinjiang’s tourism revenue rose by around 40% during this period, reaching 360 billion yuan ($51 billion, £39 billion). In the first half of this year, 130 million tourists visited the region, generating sales of approximately 143 billion yuan.

Although the number of overseas tourists is increasing, most of them are domestic tourists.

Beijing now has ambitious goals of attracting more than 400 million annual visitors and 1 trillion yuan in tourism revenue by 2030.

Some people are still afraid to go. Mr Sun said it took time to get his friends together for the trip in May 2024. Because many of my friends thought my kidneys were unsafe. The 23-year-old himself felt anxious, but they disappeared as the trip continued.

They set off from the busy streets of Urumqi, the regional capital. They then spent eight days traveling through mountains and lush steppes with a Chinese driver, which left Mr. Sun in awe.

Drivers and tour guides in Xinjiang are often Han Chinese, who now make up about 40% of the local population. Mr. Sun’s group did not interact extensively with local Uyghurs, but the few they were able to talk to were “very welcoming,” he said.

Since his return, Mr. Sun has become somewhat of an advocate for Xinjiang, which he says has been “misunderstood” as dangerous and tense. “If I could inspire just one person to find out more about this area, it would have helped reduce the stigma just a little bit.”

To him, the incredible sights he enjoyed as a tourist seem a far cry from the shocking claims that put Xinjiang in world headlines. All he saw was evidence that Xinjiang was highly monitored, with police checkpoints and security cameras common and foreigners required to stay in designated hotels.

However, Mr. Sun was unfazed by this. “There is a heavy police presence, but that doesn’t mean it’s a big problem.”

Not all tourists are convinced that what they are seeing is the ‘real’ Xinjiang.

“We were very curious about Uyghur culture and wanted to see how different things were there, but we were quite disappointed,” said Thenmoli Silvadorie, a Singaporean who visited with friends for 10 days last May.

She and her friends were wearing hijabs when Uyghur food vendors approached them and said, “They envied us for being able to wear hijabs freely… but we couldn’t have deep conversations.” They were also not allowed to visit most local mosques, she added.

Nonetheless, the attraction for foreign visitors is strong. China itself is a very popular travel destination, and Xinjiang has emerged as an “untouched”, less commercialized option.

Last May, China’s state-run newspaper Global Times reported that a growing number of foreigners are “approaching Xinjiang with open minds and a genuine desire to see and evaluate the truth for themselves.”

The Communist Party has also been quick to promote Xinjiang-related content from foreign influencers that aligns with the state’s claims. Among them is German vlogger Ken Abroad, who said in one of his videos that he “saw more mosques (in Xinjiang) than any country in the United States or Europe.”

But different people have different views. Josh Summers, a writer who lived in Xinjiang in the 2010s, told the BBC that Kashgar’s old city was “completely torn down, reimagined and rebuilt in a way that does not reflect Uyghur culture in any way.”

According to a 2024 Human Rights Watch report, hundreds of villages in Xinjiang were renamed between 2009 and 2023 to names related to Uyghur religion, history, and culture. The group also accused authorities of closing, destroying and repurposing mosques in Xinjiang and across China to suppress Islamic practices.

Serious rights violations have also been documented by other international organizations, including the United Nations. BBC reporting in 2021 and 2022 found evidence supporting the existence of camps and allegations of sexual abuse and forced sterilization.

However, Beijing denies all of this. At home, the party is reinventing the image of the once-troubled province in a bid to attract more domestic tourists. And it seems to be working.

The second time Anna went, she was with her mother, who had seen a drama set in the northern Altai mountainous region and wanted to visit. The To the Wonder series was funded by the government and promoted through state media.

Altai has many fans on the Chinese Internet. “Who would have known that I would end up wandering in God’s secret garden in Altai? At Lake Kanasi, I finally realized what it means to be in heaven. This is where the romance of mountains, rivers, lakes and seas are woven into one frame,” reads one comment on RedNote.

Another says: “At dawn, from the guest house, I watch cows grazing in the fields. The golden birch forests shine in the sunlight and even the air seems to be wrapped in sweetness. This undisturbed beauty is the Altai I have always longed for.”

Travel agents describe the area as “exotic” and “mysterious.” One such agency, The Wandering Lens, says it offers “a magical fusion of nature and culture that cannot be experienced anywhere else in China.” Prices for these tours vary. A 10-day trip can save you between US$1,500 and US$2,500 (£1,100-1,900), excluding flights.

A typical itinerary in the northern region includes a visit to Kanas National Park, excursions to alpine lakes and the famous Five Colors Beach, and a visit to a Uyghur village where you can ride a horse-drawn carriage and spend time with Uyghur families.

There’s more adventure in the south, where excursions often include drives through the desert, trips to various lakes and a visit to the 2,000-year-old Silk Road city of Kashgar.

Visitors share itineraries online, which include color-coded route maps and snapshots of Uyghur delicacies such as spicy stews, “big plate chicken,” roast lamb skewers and wine made from hemp oil. Some refer to “hour-long performances that recreate the splendor of the Silk Road.”

As expected, a search for Xinjiang on social media platforms RedNote and Weibo will yield posts raving about its beauty and iconic architecture. There is no mention of claims that conflict with this pastoral appeal.

This time of year, Chinese social media is flooded with photos of Xinjiang’s poplar forests bathed in the amber glow of autumn.

Irade Kashgary, a Uighur American who left the region in 1998, said the Communist Party was “selling their Uyghur culture by presenting them as a tourist attraction.”

“They’re telling the world that we’re just a bunch of dancing, colorful people who look good on social media.”

Mr Kashgari, a Uyghur activist who has watched his hometown grow in popularity across the Pacific, urged tourists to be “aware of the serious problems” in Xinjiang.

“It’s not for me to tell people not to visit, but they have to realize that what they experience there is a whitened version of (Xinjiang),” she says.

“In the meantime, people like me will never be able to go back because of our activities. It’s too dangerous. So why can’t I? This is my country.”