Agriculture, tourism integrated development benefits Kaiyang

The integrated development of agriculture and tourism in Kaiyang county, Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, has boosted local economic development and helped residents increase their incomes.

From January to June 2021, 5.85 million tourist visits were made to Kaiyang county, generating a comprehensive tourism income of 5.69 billion yuan ($853.71 million), a year-on-year increase of 67.44 percent.

In recent years, Kaiyang is taking full advantage of its agricultural, tourism, and cultural resources to promote itself as a popular travel destination and continuously improving its tourism service facilities.

To date, Kaiyang has invested a total of 344 million yuan, completing the comprehensive renovation of more than 8,000 rural settlements and building one tourist service center, four rural complexes, 52 scenic tourist toilets, and 20 tourist parking lots.

Kaiyang has also successfully declared two provincial-level rural tourism Grade A villages, five boutique inns and three summer boutique hotels and developed more than 700 homestay operators.

The agricultural tourism industry in the county leads to the direct employment of 25,000 people and the indirect employment of 125,000 people.

Meanwhile, with expressways and intercity express railways as the framework, and county, township, and village roads as the support, a convenient transportation network has been established in Kaiyang.

With the help of the county's rich selenium resources, Kaiyang has built 12 selenium-enriched agricultural products in 21 categories. The annual sales income of agricultural and sideline products in the county has exceeded 1 billion yuan, and the conversion and processing rate of agricultural products has reached 60 percent.