Study of rural tourism in Turpan, China

Rural tourism has long been considered the means of accelerating economic and social development, and has become a development tool for many rural areas. In response to agricultural structure adjustment, rural tourism in China took into shape as a new economic growth point to meet the market demand at the late 1980s. Now, a structural frame of rural tourism has shaped, with the core of Zhujiang (Pearl) River Delta, Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu of China. But in Xinjiang, the western part of China, there are hardly any studies in this field in spite of its richness of tourism resources. In this paper, development of rural tourism is studied in Turpan of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. With its rich natural and cultural tourism resources, Turpan has become one of the pioneer tourism destinations in China. But same to the rural tourism development of the other areas’ of China, rural tourism programs in Turpan mainly aimed at sightseeing activities, and little attention had been paid to the protection and exploitation of national minority culture—an important factor to satisfy both tourists demand and local economic development. However, this kind of rural tourism development policy is harmful on the long run. Because, many tourists seek tourist destinations that offer pleasant experiences related to not only the natural environment but also historic heritage and cultural patterns. The study suggests that on the base of government support in the long term, to enhance tourism training, to protect and exploit national minority culture are essential elements of rural tourism development in Turpan.