XI'AN, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- For the first time, Li Fuping traded his usual National Day in the fields for a new adventure. During the early October holiday, the grain farmer drove his wife and two children 300 km to Yan'an, a revolutionary base that draws millions of visitors every year.
"Ten years ago, this was the most unlikely time for us to travel," said Li, from Ganbei village in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Back then, farming families spent every day of the early-autumn holiday picking corn, clearing stalks and sunning grain, he recalled.
Modern farming has brought a new dimension to old practices. Land consolidation, water-saving irrigation and soil improvement have turned scattered plots into larger family farms, boosting yields by an average of 20 percent and more than doubling Li's annual income in recent years. With mechanized harvesters now completing the harvest in just days, Li has both the time and money to travel with his children, aged 13 and eight.
The trend is happening across the country. A China Tourism Academy survey found 81 percent of rural residents intended to travel in 2025, and in the first half of this year they made 869 million domestic trips, about a quarter of the national total.
At 59, Liu Shuyan took his first sightseeing tour last week to Beijing, and visited Tian'anmen Square and the Badaling section of the Great Wall. "In the past, we traveled mostly to visit relatives," said the farmer from the suburbs of Linfen in north China's Shanxi Province. "Now we travel for fun and to enjoy the landscape."
Xi'an-based tour operator Bai Fenglun said his agency has seen a marked rise in inquiries from rural customers, with many naming Yan'an as their top choice of destination.
Among them was a group of more than 40 villagers from Uqostang township in Kuqa, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. For Tursungul Abdugeli, 68, it was her first trip outside Xinjiang. "I'd only seen Yan'an and its history on TV, but now I've seen it with my own eyes," she said, shopping for souvenirs for her grandchildren and friends back home.
Wang Xiaoyong, an associate researcher at the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, said he sees growing tourism demand from Chinese farmers, driven by higher incomes and lighter burden. More accessible high-speed rail and air routes and viral tourism videos have also brought faraway destinations within reach.
"Rural travelers are no longer content with short trips close to home," Wang said. "More people are willing to leave familiar ground to visit places that carry national memory, revolutionary heritage and natural beauty."
The surge has exposed gaps in how the industry serves these customers. Ma Yaofeng, a professor at Shaanxi Normal University's School of Geography and Tourism, suggests targeting the lulls in the farming calendar such as the breaks after the autumn harvest and around the Spring Festival, and promoting packages tailored to young migrant workers, middle-aged travelers and seniors.
"This way, more people will be able to broaden their horizons on the road, and feel closer to the country they call home," Ma said. ■
