County in Hainan boosts tourism to promote rural vitalization

By taking full advantage of its unique tourism resources, Tunchang county in south China’s Hainan Province has been boosting rural tourism to advance rural vitalization.

Photo shows the Tunchang National Agricultural Park. (Photo/Chen Yuancai)

Located an hour’s drive from Haikou, capital city of the province, Tunchang enjoys favorable geographical advantages. The county also boasts rich tourism resources, attracting numerous tourists with its natural landscapes such as Muse Lake and Wolong Mountain, as well as cultural resources.

Tunchang has developed seven provincial-level rural tourism destinations. The county has built a national agriculture theme park and a fragrance culture park, both selected as Hainan’s top 10 rural tourism scenic areas by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2021.

The county has also built a coconut-themed park and launched “red tourism” routes by connecting neighboring villages known for their coconut planting and revolutionary sites. Meanwhile, it has developed high-quality specialties, such as oil paintings and crystal crafts, to meet the diversified consumption demand of tourists.

Tunchang has promoted the integration of natural landscapes and historical and cultural sites, injecting new vitality into the development of its rural tourism. It holds an annual temple fair to celebrate the Chinese National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Tapping into the tradition of martial arts at a local village, the county held the province’s first martial arts festival in September 2021. Tunchang has also continued to strive to turn the oil paintings created by farmers in one of its villages into a local calling card.

To further promote the development of rural tourism, Tunchang is stepping up efforts to improve the infrastructure of its scenic spots and integrate tourism with many other industries, such as culture, sports and catering. It is also accelerating the development of tourism products featuring health maintenance, farming experiences, and folk culture, while encouraging residents to run agritainment and homestay businesses and make traditional handicrafts to increase their incomes.

As of November 2021, Tunchang had received 1,069,600 tourists, up 104.4 percent year-on-year, and garnered a total tourism revenue of more than 417 million yuan, surging 52.85 percent from a year earlier.