HAIKOU, August 29. /TASS/. The Hainan Province and the Chinese island of Taiwan are ready to boost cooperation in joint projects concerning garden tourism — a form of recreation with field trips and visiting tropical plantations and rural households, www.hinews.cn reported.
In order to promote such projects, the authorities of Haikou (the administrative center of Hainan) held a special seminar on the prospects of enhancing the contacts in this area between Taipei and the Hainan Free Trade Port.
"Our task is to promote the development of garden tourism and at the same time speed up the establishment of the Hainan free trade zone, to strengthen the integration of Taiwan with mainland China," said Li Yuefeng, First Deputy Chairman of the Taiwan Democratic Autonomy League. According to him, the time has come to translate joint experience into practice.
As the seminar participants noted, garden tourism will become one of the effective tools to combat poverty in the region, as it will bring significant additional income to the owners of agricultural enterprises. It is anticipated that the influx of funding will serve to develop rural infrastructure. It is planned to involve leading experts in promoting bilateral projects with Taiwan, which will ensure the implementation of tourism projects at a fundamentally new qualitative level.
Garden tourism in Chinahas become increasingly popular recently. Due to that, residents of big cities get an opportunity to enjoy the nature. While it is mainly preferred by seniors, however, as the tourism industry develops, young people are showing more and more interest in it.
Since 1949, Taiwan has been governed by its own administration and, according to the official position of China, supported by most countries, including Russia, is considered one of the provinces of China. In 1992, at a meeting in Hong Kong between Beijing and Taipei, consensus was reached that recognized the existence of only one Chinese state in the world. Cultural and humanitarian contacts, including in the tourism sector, are an important component of Taiwan’s relations with mainland China.