UN praises China for using tourism to fight poverty

The United Nations has praised China for promoting rural tourism as a way to fight poverty, with over 10 million people in the world's most populated country benefitted between 2011-14.

United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rifai, who recently met with Chinese tourism officials, said that tourism "is a labour-intensive sector providing a wide range of job and entrepreneurship opportunities in areas where other economic activities are often limited or in decay".

Between 2011 and 2014, more than 10 mn people "were lifted out of poverty through tourism," the UNWTO said, citing data from Chinese tourism authorities.