The tourism industry has been developed in China’s poverty-stricken areas that are blessed with great scenery, as part of efforts to help farmers get rid of poverty and boost rural revitalization, making rural areas more beautiful and habitable.

The terraced field in Chonghyi county. (Photo/Xinhua)

A new two-story house, the home of Huang Guogeng, a former poor villager, stands out near a highway in Chongyi county, east China's Jiangxi province. "In recent years, by developing tourism, the village’s environment has improved and the villagers now live in new buildings,” Huang Guogeng said with a smile.

"I used to live a poor life with clear water and green mountains,” Huang Guogeng said, explaining that he used to be poor due to his illness, but now his life is getting better and better thanks to targeted poverty alleviation policies and the development of the local tourism industry.

The development of tourism in the village has created a large number of new jobs. Huang Guogeng and his wife Xiao Zizhen now both do tea picking or weeding, which has increased their income by more than 10,000 yuan (about 1,428 U.S. dollars) a year.

In 2019, the number of people lifted out of poverty through the development of the rural tourism industry accounted for 33.3 percent of the total number of people lifted out of poverty, according to estimates.

Rural tourism has become a vital tool for boosting farmers' employment, rural economic development and poverty alleviation.