Mega plan for national parks puts China on cusp of nature tourism boom

China is going big on nature tourism as it continues to develop a national park network that, if all goes to plan, will be three times the size of the United States’ system by 2035.

The Chinese only launched their first set of national parks in 2021, but the five parks established then – namely Sanjiangyuan National Park, the Giant Panda National Park, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park (NCTLNP), Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park and Wuyishan National Park – already spanned 65% of the whole US’s 149-year-old park territory, and were home to nearly 30% of China’s major terrestrial wildlife species.

Snow leopards and Siberian tiger cubs

It is therefore not hard to see how China might overtake the US in short order, as it focuses on establishing more national parkland to reach 49 parks over the next 10 years. By May 2024, it had selected 49 candidate areas, covering around 1.1 million square km and providing a habitat to more than 5,000 wild vertebrate species and 29,000 so-called “higher plant” species, including over 80% of China’s strictly protected fauna and flora.

Some noteworthy regions include the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau – the world’s highest plateau – and the Qilian Mountains, where snow leopards and white-lipped deer roam. And Feng Limin, deputy director of the monitoring and research centre for Siberian tigers and Amur leopards under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration points out that in 2023, “20 Siberian tiger cubs and 15 Amur leopard cubs were born in the park. This is truly a surprise, considering that in 1998, there were only about 12 wild Siberian tigers in China.”

On #BiodiversityDay, let's commit to being #PartOfThePlan!
As a result of protection and new technologies, China’s national parks are becoming ideal homes for many rare wild animals. In 2023, 20 Siberian tiger cubs & 15 Amur leopard cubs were born in the park in NE China. pic.twitter.com/Bg9W5dEyA7

— China Up Close (@China_Up_Close) May 22, 2024

Learning from US mistakes

While there has been criticism of an approach that has seen local populations displaced and over-emphasis on wildlife that is popular with tourists, He Xingyuan, a researcher at the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, defended the model in a government press release. “The construction of the national park system greatly improves the protection of biodiversity and safeguards the authenticity and integrity of the ecosystem” he said, adding, “National parks are becoming ideal homes for many rare wild animals.”

The majority of sites draw more domestic visitors than foreign tourists, who tend to stick to historic cityscapes, but that is expected to change, according to Jun Wen, associate professor of tourism at Macau University of Science and Technology, who believes it will not be long until China is closely associated with nature tourism. Not only can they learn from mistakes made by the US, such as creating enclosures, or failing to respect indigenous populations, but also, as Jonathan Jarvis, former director of the US National Park Service, has noted: “China has a very long history of urban parks and understanding the value of nature. This could be a significant source of funding for the parks in China.”

China has a well-earned reputation for completing mega-projects at remarkable speed. To name a few, the country is home to the world’s longest high-speed railway, the longest express roadway, the longest bridge and the longest-duration space walk. With that track record, there is little reason to doubt that the national park project could become a reality within a decade.