CHINA is now a world leader in the field of rural tourism, and the U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is looking forward to the full recovery of China’s inbound and outbound tourism market, said a UNWTO official.

Sandra Calvao, chief of market intelligence and competitiveness at the UNWTO, said in a recent interview with Xinhua that more people are choosing to go to the countryside to embrace nature, taste natural food and enjoy a peaceful holiday with their families, while COVID-19 has accelerated this trend.

“Tourism has a long history of contributing to rural development, and the COVID-19 pandemic has opened up new opportunities for the development of rural tourism,” she said.

In Calvao’s view, people are more willing to head to outdoor spaces for their holidays as they had been stuck at home for so long due to the pandemic.

The pandemic has also boosted domestic tourism markets, which has led many to turn their attention to the countryside in their own countries. “We think this trend will continue,” she said.

To promote rural tourism, the UNWTO launched the Best Tourism Villages project in 2021 to recognize villages around the world that are committed to developing sustainable tourism. In the past two years, Yucun in Zhejiang, Xidi in Anhui, Dazhai in Guangxi and Jingzhu in Chongqing have been selected from China.

Calvao emphasized that the development of villages cannot be achieved without the support of national policies, and that China is one of the countries that has placed the greatest emphasis on the role of tourism as a catalyst for rural development and has developed specific policies for this purpose. (Xinhua)