China lists 680 villages to promote rural tourism
Travel Biz News —
China has committed to develop rural domestic tourism for social and economic transformation of the people living in the rural areas of the country.
China wants to develop tourism in rural areas to help lift more people out of poverty as the government has identified poverty eradication as the key task in the building of a moderately prosperous society by 2020.
China eyes rural tourism for poverty alleviation and aimed to lift 12 million people out of poverty through tourism from 2016 to 2020.
Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) has made public a list of 680 key villages for promoting rural tourism.
The selection of the villages was carried out based on the development plan for tourism in the country’s 13th five-year plan, and a guideline of the State Council on the vitalization of rural industries, according to Xinhua reports.
To be listed, a village should be rich with cultural and tourism resources, boast sound protection and conversion of rural traditional culture, and have a mature and high-quality tourism product system. It should also boast a beautiful ecological environment with well-rounded infrastructure and public services, among other key requirements, to be up to the standard, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT).
The MCT will support the villages in their infrastructure, public service facilities, and major tourist projects as well as market promotion, the ministry said, encouraging local authorities to support the villages via various funds and channels.
The list is the second of its kind, as 320 villages made the first list unveiled in July last year.
Across the country, local governments have mobilized efforts and pumped funding into improving infrastructure and services in rural areas to facilitate the development of tourism. – With inputs from Xinhua
July 14 , 2020
Image : Scenic area of Puyuan Village, Puyuan Township, Zhouning County, southeast China’s Fujian Province – Xinhua
