Zhang Dafang announced the opening of the festival; Liu Zhiren delivered an address there

The flowers are blooming beautifully in Rice Field Park and Yongle River is under the rich atmosphere of spring. 2017 Hunan Spring Rural Tourism Festival & Chenzhou Beautiful Rural Tourism and Cultural Festival was opened in Anren County in the morning of March 17, 2017. Zhang Dafang who is the Vice Chairman of Hunan Provincial CPPCC presented a speech on the ceremony and announced the opening of the festival. Chen Xianchun- Secretary of Party Group and Director of Hunan Tourism Development Commission, and Liu Zhiren- Deputy Secretary of Chenzhou Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Chenzhou City delivered addresses there.

It was learned that Rice Field Park is the main venue of the festival. Some theme activities as poverty alleviation forum, trading fair, ploughing ceremony, stuntkite, Wechat image and text contest, Chinese herbal medicine trade, commodity expo, and etc. would be held on the festival.

In recent years, Chenzhou Municipal Party Committee and Chenzhou Government paid special attention on the development of tourism. It tried great efforts on implementing the strategy of popular tourism, such as playing the best leading role of tourism consumption, taking special attention on the integration of tourism and industry, agriculture, sports, culture, and etc., improving the country level popular tourism, popularizing the new mode of “internet + green architecture”, carrying out the policies on improving well-off society via tourism poverty alleviation, and etc. All of those were gained great effects. Anren County explored the integrated development method of “agriculture + tourism + poverty alleviation” which helped to establish the 4A landscape of Rice Field Park, 3A landscape of Xiongfengshan National Forest Park, Yongle River National Wetland Park, national key ecological functional zone, national leisure agriculture and rural tourism demonstration county, and etc.

Zhang Dafang said, during the period of “13th five-year plan”, Hunan Province would keep improving the tourism brand of “Splendid Xiaoxiang”, try to keep the rapid development of tourism industry, and enhance the promotion function played by tourism on consumption, investment, poverty alleviation, enriching people, and etc. In recent years, Chenzhou City followed the principal of improving the structural reform in supply front and combined the concepts of “innovative rising up, opening up” and “leading by industry, improving overall development”, which greatly helped to improve the social and economic development, especially on the development of rural tourism and poverty alleviation and set an example for the whole province. Holding Hunan Spring Rural Tourism Festival in Anren Count is a significant measure for implementing the decisive deployment of No. file of Central Government and Hunan Provincial Committee & Hunan Government, accelerating the development of South Hunan tourism resources, and promoting the improvement of cultural and ecological tourism economic belt, as well as improving the integrated development of tourism and agriculture and promoting the construction of well-off society via tourism poverty alleviation. Zhang sincerely hoped more visitors can be attracted to visit Hunan Province and enjoy their time in “Splendid Xiaoxiang”.

Chen Xianchun stated that the Rural Tourism Festival is an important platform for popularizing and marketing rural tourism products of Hunan province, as well as improving the development of rural tourism industry. From 2016, Hunan Tourism Development Commission worked together with the cities and held the festival in some poverty-stricken counties in terms of four seasons, which helped to improve the rural tourism festival brand of Hunan Province. Anren County is one of the poverty-stricken counties of Luoxiao mountainous area. Chen hoped that Anren County can seize the chance of holding the festival to present some new products of tourism industry, activate the potentiality of rural tourism, establish some special cultural and tourism brands, and contribute more to promote the development tourism poverty alleviation and make up the shortage of county economy.

Liu Zhiren said, followed the correct leadership of Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Hunan Government, Chenzhou City innovated more ideas and played the best roles of its advantages on promoting the exploration of tourism products and markets, upgrading of tourism infrastructures, regulating the orders of tourism environment, and innovating new tourism mechanisms. 5 counties were enrolled into the pilots of national popular tourism demonstrations and 191 poverty-stricken villages were listed into national key rural tourism poverty alleviation villages, which helped to provide strong endogenous power for the development of popular tourism.

Liu Zhiren stated that Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Hunan Government proposed the strategy of improving the development of popular tourism, accelerating the improvement of strong tourism province, and promoting the development of thousand-billion-yuan tourism industry. Chenzhou City would seize the chance and take active actions on adapting to the rules of development of tourism industry and national policies, and follow the targets of “improving hundred-billion-yuan industry, promoting development of strong tourism city” to improve Chenzhou City to be an international leisure tourism destination, national popular tourism demonstration, and Hunan provincial example of popular tourism base.

On the opening ceremony, Cui Guoqiang who is the Associate Inspector of Hunan Agricultural Commission read the document that Anren County was rewarded with the honor of “National Demonstration County of Leisure Agriculture and Rural Tourism”.

Feng Haiyan- Member of Chenzhou Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee and Director of Chenzhou Propaganda Department held the opening ceremomy.

Some municipal leaders of Chenzhou City as Chen Xiangan, Zhou Hailin, and Li Xuelian, principals of relative Hunan provincial departments, principals of relative cities’ departments, principals of relative Chenzhou municipal subordinate departments, reporters of central and Hunan provincial media, and representatives of merchants attended the opening ceremony.