Large funding for rural tourism in Shanxi

Shanxi province's tourism dept will work with the housing and urban-rural development and agriculture dept to draw up a list of the top 20 towns for tourism, along with 200 rural tourist spots and 2,000 farm stay sites, and set aside 20 million yuan ($ 3.2 million) in funds to support its rural tourism.

The tourism dept will also work with the poverty alleviation office as part of a nationwide rural tourism development program to alleviate poverty. This year, Shanxi wants to make good use of its rural resources, provide support facilities, improve management, and develop more rural tourism products and better quality rural sightseeing spots.

In all of these projects, it is emphasizing sanitation, environmental protection, transportation and infrastructure, along with the financial planning and will emphasize tourism personnel training in rural areas, and encourage graduates of tourism-related programs, as well as artists and technicians to contribute to rural tourism.

Over the next three years, it wants to establish about 50 rural tourism destinations in towns to ease its poverty problems in the rural area.