The 2023 Hunan Ecotourism Festival and the Lianyuan Longshan Ecological Culture Festival opened at Baili Longshan National Forest Park in Lianyuan City, Loudi, on June 15.

The event was hosted by the Hunan Forestry Bureau and organized by the People's Government of Lianyuan City. Ouyang Xuhui, official of the Hunan Forestry Bureau, announced the opening of the event. Zhou Huijun, chairperson of the CPPCC Lianyuan City Committee, addressed the event. Lianyuan Vice Mayor Huang Heping presided over the opening ceremony.

Lianyuan boasts favorable ecological environment, profound history and culture, and distinctive ecotourism resources. In recent years, Lianyuan government has rolled out plans to strengthen the city through tourism, and continuously progressed in integrated development of cultural and ecological tourism. Lianyuan's Longshan Mountain is reputed as "ancestor of mountains and origin of waters", a "mountain of herb medicine", an"oxygen bar" in central Hunan, and a renowned summer resort. It has been included in China's first batch of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) health tourism demonstration bases, and the first batch of national health and wellness bases in forested regions.

The event aimed to explore the advantages of TCM in healthcare and wellness, promote the culture of the God of Medicine, do a good job in "ecotourism + TCM-based healthcare and wellness", continuously raise the profile of ecotourism and "TCM + healthcare and wellness in forested regions", and transform the advantages of ecological resources into industrial advantages. These would help boost rural revitalization, enhance people's sense of gain and happiness, and create a sample for the whole province.

A variety of activities were held during the event, including a TCM and ecological healthcare and wellness symposium, a Longshan TCM lecture, TCM-related intangible cultural heritage performances such as God of Medicine Temple Fair, Chinese herbal medicine exhibition, and local specialty fairs.

At present, there are nine eco-tourism demonstration bases, and 77 health and wellness bases and 33 homestays in forested regions in Hunan Province. Besides, Hunan has held two sessions of the ecotourism festival and more than 20 serial activities. The ecotourism brand of Hunan Province has been established, and the influence of Hunan's eco-tourism has been steadily growing. In 2022, Hunan received 188 million ecotourism visits and achieved a comprehensive income of 115.322 billion CNY. Ecotourism industry has become an important part of Hunan's forestry and tourism industries.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: Rednet