All-region tourism

Sichuan province aims to develop all-region tourism in the coming years, according to local officials.

All-region tourism is a regional development pattern that combines natural resources and industrial integration with social construction, involving the environment, public services, institutions and policies. The intention is to promote social and economic development through strengthening the tourism industry.

Known as Tianfu Zhiguo, literally meaning land of abundance, Sichuan possesses vast tourism resources with great potential.

Sichuan had created new patterns and experiences for attracting national investment at the previous two China (Sichuan) International Tourism Investment Conference sessions. At those events, it signed 125.89 billion yuan ($19.12 billion) worth of contracts with 600 participating enterprises in total.

At this year's conference, Sichuan signed 31 tourism projects involving 20 cities and 28 counties, together worth 86.89 billion yuan.

During the 22nd United Nations World Tourism Organization General Assembly, Chengdu launched 120 tourism business projects worth 685.33 billion yuan in total. It also signed six key projects that involved a total investment of 61 billion yuan.

Over 4 million people are involved in the province's tourism services, more than 5,000 village administrations for the tourism guidance industry have been created, and 150,000 farmers are engaged in providing rural tourism.

In 2016, the tourism industry alleviated 448 poverty-stricken villages, accounting for 19.1 percent of the villages that were lifted out of poverty that year. This year, Sichuan has built 364 tourism villages to help alleviate poverty. The authorities have established a poverty-alleviation pilot zone.

In April, the Sichuan government issued a tourism development plan focusing on all-region tourism and supply-side structural reform. It aims to reduce impoverished residents to 20 percent of the population by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-20).

According to the development plan, the tourism industry should sustain over 15 percent annual growth during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

By 2020, the total revenue of the province's tourism industry will reach 1.2 trillion yuan, doubling from that of 2015, making it the strategic, pillar industry of the province's economy, according to local officials.

(China Daily 10/19/2017 page18)