City's natural resources attract wellness tourists

Baimasi Mountain High-end Wellness Resort is a large, upmarket project for the wellness industry in Jincheng. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Jincheng, a city in the southeast of Shanxi province, is capitalizing on its advantages including its pleasant climate, enjoyable food offerings and rich cultural and natural resources to boost the development of its wellness tourism industry.

Wellness tourism is an emerging sector in the wider picture of traveling. It features travels associated with the pursuit of enhancing one's personal well-being. Wellness trips include a variety of activities such as thermal springs, spas, exercise, recreation, relaxation and recuperation.

As Jincheng is located in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains, it features forest coverage of more than 42 percent. This has won it a fame as a "natural oxygen bar". The rich content of oxygen makes it an ideal destination for recuperation tours.

Building on the beneficial conditions, Jincheng is aiming to develop itself into a high-level wellness destination with both a national and international reputation.

The city is now the permanent host city of the China National Conference on Wellness Industrial Development. It was also recognized by the International Federation on Ageing as China's first demonstrative city for the wellness industry.

As Jincheng strides to become a national demonstrative city for the wellness industry, local operators are contributing their best practices that can be replicated in other regions.

Songmiao village, for example, has raised itself up as a role model in the wellness industry by integrating tourism with healthcare.

In 2021, the village cooperated with Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing to set up a convalescent facility for relieving sleep disorders. It has developed "sleep-aiding" tours by providing herbal baths, and building facilities for hiking and cycling.

Tang Hongping from Chengdu, Sichuan province, has suffered from sleep disorders for many years.

"I was told that there is a 'sleep-aiding' village in Shanxi, so I decided to have a try there," Tang said. "Once I arrived, I was reluctant to leave."

She stayed in one of the recuperative resorts in the village. The resort had offered her tailored recuperative solutions, which include practicing tai chi in the courtyard, hiking or cycling on the forest trails during the daytime; enjoying a herbal spa and massage at night; and a diet consisting of such local delicacies as millet, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

"It proves that adequate exercise, a rationally prescribed diet and an environment with a rich oxygen content are good for sleep," Tang said.

It is reported that Jincheng has a total of 53 villages for wellness tourism. And the figure is expected to grow to 100 by 2025, according to the city's latest plan for the industry.

Huge investments have also flowed into Jincheng for developing large-sized wellness facilities.

The Baimasi Mountain High-end Wellness Resort is such a project.

The resort is adjacent to a forest park and a scenic lake. Central to its development plan is a high-end hotel called Fengcheng International, which is now operational; and the Fengcheng Wellness Center with floor space totaling 100,000 square meters, which is under construction.

According to Yang Hua, an executive of the resort, the facility is expected to receive 5 million visits annually by 2025.

Officials in Jincheng predicted that the city's tourism industry, with the wellness sector at its core, is expected to develop into a cluster with annual revenue surpassing 100 billion yuan ($13.71 billion) by 2025.

Zhang Ting contributed to this story.