Hubei actively promotes the development of rural tourism, with comprehensive income exceeding 430 billion yuan in 2025

China News Service, Wuhan, September 14 (Reporters Wu Yili, Liu Dawei, Yu Ruidong) Hubei Province, located in central China, is actively promoting the development of rural tourism. According to reports, in 2025, the province's rural tourism will receive 493 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 10%, and achieve comprehensive income of more than 430 billion yuan (RMB, the same below).

The "Vibrant China Research Tour" Hubei-themed interview activity was launched in Wuhan on the 14th. Wu Ye, deputy director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said at the briefing that in recent years, various regions in Hubei have focused on differentiated features such as intangible cultural heritage, historical context, red resources, and local memories, transforming static cultural resources into new rural spaces that can be participated, experienced, and consumed.

Hubei Enshi Yesanguan has cultivated and built a number of characteristic B&Bs. Villagers and tourists enthusiastically carried out folk activities of "killing New Year pigs and eating shaved soup" in the courtyard, showing the charm of Tujia culture; Yichang Zigui organized cultural tourism activities around Quyuan's cultural heritage and the citrus industry; Honghu held a "village evening" focusing on fishing and agricultural resources. During the May Day holiday this year, it received more than 1.1 million tourists, an increase of 179.82% compared with the same period in 2025.

In order to activate "sleeping" resources such as idle farmhouses and old ruins, various regions in Hubei have developed new business formats such as lodging and camping through micro-renovation and refined improvement while retaining the rural texture and nostalgia.

Qinjiarong Village, Anfusi Town, Zhijiang, Hubei Province, has created a unique artistic landscape of lightweight green trains, and coordinated the layout of diverse integrated business formats such as rice track coffee and Daoxiang concerts. In the first half of 2026, it received more than 60,000 tourists and generated revenue of 5.8 million yuan, driving an increase in the income of surrounding farmers by more than 300,000 yuan. Yaoji Street in Huangpi District, Wuhan City transformed the canteens and playgrounds of idle school buildings into coffee spaces and leisure camps, creating a "youth sanatorium".

In order to comply with the trend of tourists changing from shallow check-in to deep immersive experience, various places in Hubei rely on the simple rural customs and local resources to create a rural service system with fireworks, characteristics and warmth. The Yinshui Village B&B in Tongshan, Xianning, Hubei Province uses local ingredients to prepare pastoral delicacies and provides explanations of dialect folk customs; Huangshiyang Xinshitian Village has created a standardized study service system, developed age-specific courses, and equipped full-time study instructors to effectively increase the repeat visit rate of rural study tours.

Wu Ye said that Hubei will vigorously cultivate local business formats that are "small but beautiful, small but refined, and small but unique" and continue to promote the deep integration of rural resources, the deep coupling of agricultural, cultural and tourism business formats, and the deep release of local value.