Increasingly more people are choosing forests in China as a quick getaway or for a holiday destination, whether it's for health purposes, or simply for a fun adventure. 

In 2018, 1.6 billion trips were made to forests in the country, 15 percent higher than that of 2017. Even then, this only accounted for less than one third of total domestic travel in China. 

Chen Zhengwei, senior engineer at the forestry bureau of Zheng'an County in Guizhou Province, described the potential for this industry to grow as "limitless."  

"Living conditions are now good in China, with people pursuing health benefits, especially via forest tourism which offers a good ecological environment. Visitors breathe in fresh air with negative ions. This will have a positive impact on curing small diseases," Chen said. 

"Most of us, I should say 80 to 90 percent of the Chinese population, will head out to travel. Save for those who are no longer able to move, too old, the rest would want to (travel) – because they have the financial means." 

Chen added that many of Guizhou's forests are primitive, and has not been artificially destroyed, so to speak, hence many "yearn for this natural state."

According to statistics cited by Xinhua, revenue from visiting forests has more than doubled in the past five years, from 61.8 billion yuan in 2012 to 140 billion yuan in 2017.  

Chen, based on the forest parks he oversees under his purview in Zheng'an County, said the proportion of non-direct income to direct income (ticket sales) stood at a 4:1 ratio.   

"For example, we get income from specialty forest food, such as bamboo shoots, tea, and various souvenirs... they make up most of our total income." 

Meanwhile, experts say the boost in forest tourism has also spilled over to the tertiary industry. 

Fanjing Mountain, one of China's latest additions to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List, limits its visitors to 10,000 a day. But the tourism income in the Jiangkou County – where the mountain lies – saw a 37 percent increase in tourists and 44 percent rise in total tourism income.  

The rapid development of tourism industry led to increase in the tertiary industry's value by 2.7 billion yuan, a surge of 10 percent year on year, according to statistics obtained from the county.  

Chen said the government has given huge support to forest parks, which includes subsidies, preferential policies, training of personnel and management of parks.  

He also said the forest coverage rate of entire Guizhou Province stand at over 50 percent presently, with a goal of 60 percent by the year 2020.  

(Video filmed by Li Yang)