JIANGSU TOURISM benefits from growing appeal

Due to two years' pandemic restrictions and China's border controls, domestic travelers who are unable to go abroad have turned their sights to rural tourism.

East China's Jiangsu province, which is famous for its prosperous economy and picturesque scenery, has seen a significant rise in rural travel this year, according to Yang Zhichun, director of the Jiangsu provincial department of culture and tourism.

"The province received 200 million visitors in rural tourism in the first six months of 2021," said Yang at the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th People's Congress of Jiangsu. "It brought in tourism revenue of 74.1 billion yuan ($11.6 billion), up 39.4 percent compared with the same period last year."

As a coastal province with abundant tourism resources, Jiangsu has much to offer, such as stunning gardens in Suzhou that have been proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Grand Canal, which is the world's longest artificial waterway with a history stretching back more than 2,500 years and was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2014.

But rural tourism also attracts so many travelers to the province with its unique charm. It not only brings benefits to rural areas, increases their incomes, but also improves people's living environment and quality of life.

For instance, Mazhuang village in Xuzhou city now attracts more than 4 million travelers every year. When seeing the gardens, rivers and countless trees in the village, most travelers cannot imagine that it used to be a poverty-stricken village that simply relied on digging coal mines.

With mines closed by the government in the 2000s, the village's income plummeted by 70 percent. It realized the importance of sustainable development, and started to pay attention to environmental protection and rural tourism. After the Pan'an Lake National Wetland Park was built on mine subsidence in 2012, the village gradually built buildings in ancient Chinese style, planted trees and dug rivers that flowed around the village.

The village even formed its own brass band and folk culture performance troupe, which now performs at least 120 times for villagers and travelers a year.

Now travelers can watch performances, enjoy local cuisine and buy interesting souvenirs at Mazhuang, including small intricate satchels for perfume.

More than 300 villagers work in the satchel industry. Their products have been sold to many countries, such as Britain, Canada and Italy.

"I have been stitching perfume satchels since I was a teenage girl," said Wang Xiuying, who is now in her 80s. "We have plenty of orders and many villagers don't have to leave their hometown to work in big cities to make money."

Jiangsu authorities plan to support more villages to develop high-quality rural tourism and develop more rural tourism products.

"More than 300 key rural tourism products have been introduced this year," said Yang. "A total of 50 tourist routes and 108 characteristic tourism activities have also been recommended to attract travelers.

"We hope that the total income of rural tourism in Jiangsu can reach 1 trillion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25)," Yang said. He added that Jiangsu will continue to protect the environment and firmly believe in practicing the notion that "green mountains and clear water are as good as mountains of gold and silver", which was first declared by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Zhejiang.

"We will also continue to combine the development of rural tourism with the development of many other areas, including agriculture, transportation, education and sports,"Yang said. "More rural landscapes, bicycle parks, sites for students to research and experience and caravan camping parks will be built."

According to him, the protection of rural cultural relics and cultural heritage will be enhanced to bring a unique experience to travelers.

The province has put forward plenty of policies to boost rural tourism. The culture and tourism department, together with 14 other departments in the province, have worked together to issue the Guidelines for Rural Tourism Development in Jiangsu, and suggested the local congress to legislate regulations on the promotion of the homestay industry.

Jiangsu has also offered special funds and low-interest loans to support the development of rural tourism. It has issued many policies to help the tourism industry that has been greatly influenced by the pandemic.

To further boost the recovery of the tourism companies, it has offered funds totaling 16.6 million yuan and promoted 30 travel routes. It will release another 50 travel routes to upgrade rural tourism soon, according to the department.