Gaozhou, a county-level city in Maoming, was chosen as one of the 10 counties or districts in China that are famous for rural tourism development at the eighth China Tourism Industry Development Conference, which was held in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province, from Dec 24-26.

In recent years, Gaozhou has been focusing on the development of rural tourism to promote the revitalization of rural industries, making great achievements.

Utilizing its rich tourism resources and modern agricultural industry, the city has designed three high-quality rural tourist routes, namely the "Madam Xian's hometown tour," the "lychee town tour," as well as the "beautiful countryside tour." The three tourist routes cover 11 towns, 15 key villages, and more than 10 important scenic spots in Gaozhou.

The village in Gaozhou boasts splendid natural scenery, and is suitable for a weekend tour. [Photo/WeChat account: longyanzb]

Three towns, Genzi, Zhenjiang, and Nantang towns, have been rated as demonstration towns for leisure agriculture and rural tourism in Guangdong province. Boqiao village was listed as a national key village for rural tourism, while Yuanba village was selected as one of the top 10 beautiful villages in Guangdong.

Several scenic spots, including Gaozhou Fairy Cave and Gaozhou Lychee Theme Park, were chosen as demonstration sites for leisure agriculture and rural tourism in Guangdong.

The China Tourism Industry Development Conference was initiated in 2012 under the approval of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and winners of the national honor were jointly appraised and selected by the China Tourism News Agency, the China Newspaper Association, as well as the Institute of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.