Photo from www.zgcxtc.cn shows the beautiful flowers of flame trees in Shapingba District of Chongqing.
BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Shapingba District, one of the main districts in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, shaped in recent years itself into a model of boosting comprehensive rural revitalization by integrated culture and tourism development.
The district, like many others which face rural area development issues and increasing rural leisure travel demand as well, boasts abundant culture resources, spectacular natural environment and profound agricultural basis.
Photo from www.zgcxtc.cn shows the Yiluhuange ecology park in Shapingba district.
However, solving the issues at the same time requires the district to turn eyes to culture-driven tourism, according to an official with the culture and tourism development commission of the people's government of Shapingba District in Chongqing.
Cultural tourism can be well integrated with healthcare, leisure and entertainment, literature and art creation, and handicraft development to gratify the increasingly diversified rural travel and vacation demand of people and extend the industrial chains to form new growth drivers in rural areas, said the official.
Shapingba, as the science, education, culture and healthcare center of Chongqing Municipality, has a long history which gave rise to its unique rural culture, intangible heritage resources and ancient village cultures.
To better exploit the potential of cultural tourism in boosting rural revitalization, the district fostered integration of agriculture with cultural tourism by rolling out a series of policies to boost leisure agriculture and rural tourism.
By now, Shapingba District's rural cultural tourism has basically been in shape and alongside debut of detailed policies for rural revitalization, the past rural and agriculture development problems have gradually been solved.
Photo from www.zgcxtc.cn shows the Qicaixiangyun farm in Shapingba district.
For instance, people can walk into the Qicaixiangyun farm, a farm-based venue for leisure and tourism, to learn about farm tools, agriculture knowledge and farming activities.
The farm is a miniature of Shapingba District's reform to change resources into assets, fund into equities and farmers into shareholders to vigorously vitalize the development of rural areas and agriculture in the district.
By focusing on three tourism attractions routes, Shapingba turned local natural ecology, pastoral scenery, agricultural carrier, human landscape, and characteristic leisure landscape into components of rural tourism projects to unlock the rural development potential.
Apart from these, the district also took advantage of local ancient village cultures to develop rural tourism and boost culture and tourism integration, said the above-mentioned official, adding that the unique local customs and cultural resources are the most vivid carriers of rural tourism. (Edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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