Highways facilitate Chengkou county in SW China tapping into ecotourism potential (6)

The highways built in the mountainous area of Chengkou county in southwest China's Chongqing municipality have given a considerate boost to ecotourism in the region.

In the past 10 years, a total of 7.7 billion yuan (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars) has been invested in Chengkou for the construction of Chengwan highway. Thanks to the efforts, it now only takes four hours to get from Chengkou to the main urban area of Chongqing.

The total length of the county's road network has reached 4,266 kilometers, with the county's road network reaching 130 kilometers per 100 square kilometers. Passenger buses have been made availalbe throughout all of the qualified rural highways in the county, , greatly improving the travel, production and life of the local people.

After the opening of Chengwan highway and the improvement of traffic conditions, the number of tourists and tourism income in Chengkou has increased rapidly, ushering in vigorous developments.

The highway saw an increase year by year of tourists from other cities and provinces across the country, whereas before the operation of the Chengwan highway, data show most of the tourists came from either the Chengkou county or Chongqing.

From 2013 to 2019, the number of tourists visiting Chengkou county increased from 1.1 million to 4.1 million, with an average annual growth rate of about 30 percent.