Chen Wenjun:

Due to time constraints, we are open to two more questions. 

China Daily: 

I want to ask a question about tourism. We have noticed that with the improvement of our living standards, tourism has become a necessity for many people. Despite being affected by the pandemic, many people still have great enthusiasm for travel in the past two years. So, can you share with us the overall development of China's tourism sector? What role has it played in promoting social-economic development? Thank you.

Lu Yingchuan:

First of all, thank you for your questions. In the past decade, along with the country's leapfrog development and the changes in people's living needs, the tourism industry has seen rapid development, with the scale continuously expanding and its quality improving. Tourism has become an important indicator of the improving living standards as well as a significant way of living in a well-off society. Its status as a pillar industry of strategic importance in our national economy has also been further consolidated. This can be seen in the following aspects:

First, its industrial scale continues to expand. Since 2012, revenue from domestic tourism has seen an average annual growth of about 10.6%. In 2019, the total revenue registered 6.63 trillion yuan, and the added value of tourism and relevant industries reached 4.5 trillion yuan, accounting for about 4.56% of the country's GDP. In the past two years or so, although tourism suffered significant fluctuations due to the severe impact of COVID-19, its position as a pillar industry in the national economic structure has not changed generally.

Second, from the perspective of product supply, tourism products have been further optimized and diversified in the past decade. For example, the number of national A-level tourist attractions jumped from 6,042 in 2012 to 14,332 in 2021, increasing 1.37 times. At the same time, we have also launched 671 national and provincial-level tourist resorts, 1,299 key villages and towns for rural travel, and 300 classic historical sites with a modern revolutionary legacy across the country, basically shaping a tourism product supply system with extensive coverage, rich business forms, and multiple choices. Moreover, in addition to traditional sightseeing tours, there are many emerging forms in the tourism sector. These include industrial tourism, health tourism featuring traditional Chinese medicine, sports tourism, leisure vacation tourism, ice and snow tourism, and camping tourism, offering people more diversified choices.

Third, we have shaped tourism through culture and highlighted culture through tourism. Cultural tourism has been continuously enriched and its cultural quality has continued to improve. We promote China's fine traditional culture, inherit revolutionary culture, develop advanced socialist culture, and promote the core socialist values. The number of historical and cultural scenic spots has nearly doubled from 2,064 in 2012 to 4,111 last year. Red tourism has been further developed, which has become a vivid classroom to carry forward revolutionary traditions. 

Fourth, we developed people-oriented tourism and made tourism a driving force. The rapid development of tourism has played an important role in promoting poverty alleviation and rural vitalization. To promote rural tourism, we have built quality products, improved service, and developed key areas, quality tourism routes, and cluster areas for rural tourism. As we all know, tourism has transformed many poor villages into beautiful and happy villages. The number of tourists has grown at an average annual rate of about 20% since 2012. 

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, the tourism industry has suffered a huge impact and encountered many difficulties. We resolutely implemented arrangements of the central government, coordinated development and safety, and rolled out a series of relief policies and assistance and support measures. Next, we will continue to implement these measures, develop people-oriented tourism, make tourism a driving force, and promote the recovery of the tourism industry and its high-quality development to make greater contributions to satisfying the people's needs for a better life and economic and social development. Thank you. 

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