RV tourism in China seeks to boost rural development

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RV tourism in China seeks to boost rural development

Tourists enjoying the winter rime at the Songhua Resort in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin province, Nov 15, 2022. XU CHANG XINHUA CHANGSHA Wang Tao recently drove a recreational vehicle from his hometown in Kunming to Zhangjiajie, a famous tourist city in central China's Hunan province, realizing one of his long-held dreams.

RV tours have become more popular in China in the last few years. In April, the country launched the new C 6 driving license, which made more drivers eligible to handle certain types of RVs. By early October, Chinese authorities had issued 346,000 licenses, with the RV tourism market embracing more development opportunities.

The government, enterprises, and businessmen in China are looking for new ways to stimulate the country's booming tourism industry, and RV tourism is one of the possibilities.

Industry insiders shared their views on high-quality tourism development and the recovery of the tourism industry despite the prevention and control of the COVID 19 epidemic, at the 2022 China Tourism Summit Forum held on November 20 in Zhangjiajie.

On November 24, 2022, a technician checks the cable car operation at the Beidahu Ski Resort in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin province. Jilin is taking advantage of its ice-snow resources in winter as it seeks new growth drivers for rural development. XU CHANG XINHUA Duan Qiang, president of the China Tourism Association, said in his video speech that the epidemic has increased the uncertainty surrounding tourism development, but the huge demand for consumers for tourism has not changed, and the vitality and strong resilience of culture and tourism industry still exists.

Dai Bin, the Dean of the China Tourism Academy, said that people's needs for urban leisure and rural tourism should be viewed as new innovation growth points.

The Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism said that over the past decade, Hunan's tourism revenue has increased by 19.3 percent annually. The province saw 316 million tourist trips in the first three quarters of the year, up 2.99 percent year on year.

The development of tourism in Zhangjiajie and the rest of the country has slowed because of the epidemic, but many involved in the industry still have confidence in their future.

This Nov 24th, 2022 aerial photo shows the scenery in Lucun Village of Yixian County in Huangshan City, east China's Anhui Province. SHI YALEI XINHUA We are constantly improving the support facilities of our homestay and participating in various training, said Wu Guosheng, a homestay owner in Zhangjiajie.

The government should speed up the development of new tourism products and models such as wildlife exploration, health care and research tours, as well as the integration and development of information technology and tourism industry, according to Shu Xinggang, deputy party secretary of Zhangjiajie.

Besides driving RVs, camping, cloud museum tours and other forms of tourism, there has also gained popularity among people.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other 13 departments have released a guideline on fostering the orderly development of camping tourism, highlighting the construction of public campsites and enhancing service quality.

Swans are seen in a wetland in Sanmenxia, central China's province of Henan, Nov 23, 2022. A large number of migratory swans flew to the Yellow River wetland in Sanmenxia to spend winter. HAO YUAN XINHUA The guideline calls for the vigorous development of various types of camping sites such as self-driving caravan campsites, tent campsites, and youth camps to meet diversified camping needs.

It is a new experience for the family without driving far, said Hu Mingqi, a resident of the northeastern coastal city of Panjin.