A total of 100 railway lines will link Xinjiang to the rest of China this year, which is expected to bring 100,000 more visitors to the autonomous region, local tourism authorities and China Railway Group jointly announced on Wednesday.

So far there are 23 rail lines connecting Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with 16 major cities in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. China Railway Group said it will increase such lines to 100 as the country promotes silk road-themed travel this year.

More than 7.2 million domestic tourists visited Xinjiang during the first quarter of this year, up 9.29 percent from the same period a year ago, according to official data.

The autonomous region saw 49.5 million tourists last year, a 4.9 percent decline due to a string of terrorist attacks in the same period.