Forest parks and sustainable development of ecotourism in China

In the spirit of the trend toward opening and reforming China, the State Forestry Administration has taken advantage of the opportunity to improve forest parks and develop forest-based ecotourism. The State Forestry Administration has experienced great success in a short time. By 1997, the State Forestry Administration had built 874 forest parks, with a total area of 7. 48×106 hm2. More than 50 000 000 tourists visited the parks each year. The forest parks have become the new focus of forest-based ecotourism in China. This success demonstrated that the use of forest resources and the development of tourism had moved into a new period. To assure the healthy growth of forest-based ecotourism in China, based on the theory of sustainable development, we have made several suggestions about how to improve forest parks and develop forest-based ecotourism. Our recommendations are grounded in the principles of resource protection, moderate exports of forest products and recognition of the special character of individual park.