NANJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Key villages for rural tourism in east China's Jiangsu Province received 4.45 million tourists in August, up 14 percent from the previous month, the provincial department of culture and tourism said Thursday.

From January to June, Jiangsu received about 110 million visitors, recovering to more than 70 percent of the same period last year, according to Jing Shengxian, deputy director of the department.

The province earned a total revenue of 33.55 billion yuan (about 4.9 billion U.S. dollars) from rural tourism in the first half of this year, which has recovered to more than 60 percent of the same period last year.

In order to boost culture and tourism consumption, especially in the upcoming National Day holiday, Jiangsu will hold a rural tourism festival from Sept. 26 till the end of October, featuring a series of activities and products, as well as 50 travel routes.

At present, visiting suburban areas has emerged as the most preferred choice. From January to August, a total of 1.21 billion trips to rural areas were made across the country, generating total revenue of 592.5 billion yuan, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.