Not long ago, the Li Flower Festival held on Phoenix Mountain in Yongxin, Qijiang, attracted 500,000 visitors from the main city. Meanwhile, "Night Tour of Qijiang River" has become one of the major highlights of county tourism.
At the end of last year, the opening of the Outer Ring Expressway announced the official arrival of the "Outer Ring Era", and Qijiang welcomed a rare development opportunity. Currently, from the main city to Qijiang for tourism, it only takes an hour's drive. In four years, with the opening of the Chongqing-Guizhou high-speed railway, this time will be shortened to 9 minutes.
"This is due to Qijiang's unique geographical advantages," said Wang Yue, the Party Secretary of Qijiang County. As a suburban county within Chongqing's "One-Hour Economic Circle", Qijiang has unparalleled geographical development advantages. It is only a 30-minute drive from the main city and is an important channel connecting Chongqing with Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Shanghai. In March last year, Qijiang was given the golden positioning of "Satellite City of Chongqing Main City, Strategic Pivot of Chongqing-Guizhou Cooperation" by the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.
Qijiang tourism uses flowers as a medium, growing from nothing. Why does it gather such strong popularity?
"The geographical advantage has activated Qijiang tourism's resource advantage," said Wang Yue. The Taoist and Buddhist holy sites among the six mountains of Gujian Mountain, Laoying Mountain, Taigong Mountain, Heng Mountain, Phoenix Mountain, and Ding Mountain in Qijiang, the ecological natural environment for leisure and vacation, plus Qijiang River, Qingxi River, Dongxi Town, one of the ten historical and cultural famous towns in Chongqing, and the red cultural resources left by the Red Army's Long March in Shihe, have all been activated by the geographical advantage.
"Within three years, Qijiang County will invest tens of billions of yuan in tourism development funds to create a 'Play in Qijiang'," said Wang Yue, the Party Secretary of Qijiang County. "Qijiang will focus on building 'Metropolitan Ecological Back Garden, Leisure and Health Resort' and fully create the 'Main City Leisure and Health Resort.'"
"The whole county will target the 10 million citizens of the main urban area of Chongqing and make every effort to build the leisure resort 'Play in Qijiang'. Currently, Qijiang is planning to have the county government cover the expressway tolls from the main city to Qijiang," said Wang Yue. "Qijiang tourism should aim at this major development opportunity and comprehensively connect with the 'Outer Ring Era'."