Chongqing—From Aug. 19 to 21, Jiangjin District in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality hosted a United Nations Development Programme conference on the sustainable development of wellness tourism and extended stays, alongside the first Jiangjin (Simianshan) Conference on High-Quality Development of the Wellness Tourism and Extended-Stay Industry.

Scenery of Siping Town, Jiangjin. (Photo: Gong Zuzhang)

Organized by UNDP and hosted by the Jiangjin District government, the event brought together experts from think tanks, industry associations, healthcare and tourism organizations, and businesses to discuss how wellness-oriented travel can develop more sustainably.

But why Jiangjin, a mountainous district in inland western China? Part of the answer lies in an unusual combination of natural and demographic resources.

Local authorities describe Jiangjin as China’s only naturally selenium-rich area located on the outskirts of a major city, with 90.2 percent of its soil containing medium to high levels of selenium. Simianshan, one of the district’s best-known mountain destinations, has a forest coverage rate of about 97 percent, while local monitoring has recorded negative oxygen ion concentrations of up to 29,000 per cubic centimeter.

Jiangjin is also known for longevity. The district was the first area in western China to receive the designation of “Hometown of Longevity,” and local figures put its number of centenarians at around 250, among the highest in Chongqing.

Together, selenium-rich resources, mountain ecology and a longstanding association with longevity have given Jiangjin a foundation on which to test something more ambitious: how to turn a traditional summer retreat into a year-round wellness tourism economy.

From Summer Escape to Wellness Stay

For years, Simianshan was best known as a place where Chongqing residents could escape the summer heat.

That model is changing.

In 2025, the Greater Simianshan area recorded 2.9071 million tourist visits and 1.743 billion yuan ($242 million) in tourism-related revenue. Siping Tourist Resort, one of the area's main hubs for wellness tourism, received 829,700 visits and generated 493 million yuan in revenue. A wellness tourism route centered on Siping has also been included among recommended itineraries for the 2026 Silver Economy Consumption Season in western China.

The challenge for destinations such as Simianshan is no longer simply attracting more visitors. It is encouraging them to stay longer, spend on a broader range of services and return outside the traditional peak season.

That has led Jiangjin to combine conventional tourism with health, leisure and longer-stay services.

Simianshan, which holds China’s highest 5A rating for tourist attractions, has expanded beyond sightseeing with experiences such as waterfall-side coffee, via ferrata climbing and walks along its Danxia cliffs. The aim is to turn the area's mountains and waterfalls from scenery to be viewed into environments that visitors can actively experience.

Siping, meanwhile, is developing a quieter side of the tourism economy. The resort has established a 600-square-meter sleep medicine center and a medical and wellness center with 43 beds and around-the-clock medical staff. The system is designed to provide regular medical services, weekend specialist consultations and access to emergency care.

The combination reflects a broader shift in Jiangjin's strategy: from selling a short summer holiday to building an ecosystem in which recreation, accommodation and wellness services reinforce one another.

That strategy is also expanding geographically.

Jiangjin is developing what it calls a “one core, multiple nodes” network across the Greater Simianshan area. Siping Town serves as the main hub and is working toward national-level tourist resort status. Simianshan Town is expanding its cluster of wellness-oriented homestays, while Zhongshan Town is developing tourism around the well-known “Ladder of Love” story. Bolin Town, meanwhile, has held its summer wellness tourism event for seven consecutive years.

Rather than having individual destinations compete for the same visitors, the model is intended to connect them through complementary experiences and longer itineraries.

Turning Selenium Into a Tourism Standard

Perhaps the most distinctive part of Jiangjin's experiment is its attempt to transform selenium from a natural resource into a recognizable tourism brand.

In July 2025, the Simianshan “Selenium Stay” brand was launched as part of Chongqing's first homestay industry expo. The initiative links local accommodation businesses to standards covering areas such as the environment, services, selenium-rich food, and wellness facilities.

At the UNDP conference, a comprehensive group-standard system for selenium-rich wellness homestays was also released. Organizers described it as the first such complete standard system in China, aimed at turning the area's selenium resources into something that can be measured, certified and incorporated into tourism services.

The Greater Simianshan area now has more than 300 homestays and rural guesthouses, with over 30 operators included in the “Selenium Stay” brand system.

The sector is also attracting established hospitality brands. Dalezhiye, a Chinese boutique homestay operator, opened its first location in Simianshan, southwest China. Local operator Xilu has reported summer occupancy rates of more than 98 percent, while renovated rural guesthouses participating in the area's tourism upgrading have recorded revenue increases of more than 110 percent, according to local authorities.

The significance goes beyond the number of rooms.

Many destinations have forests, mountain air, or distinctive agricultural products. Jiangjin's approach is to package those resources into standards that businesses can follow, and consumers can recognize. If successful, that could help turn an environmental advantage into a more durable commercial asset.

From Local Experiment to Broader Model

The conference also marked an effort to give Jiangjin's experience a more systematic framework.

During the event, a UNDP project team released the framework for Sustainable Development of Wellness Tourism and Extended Stays in China: The Jiangjin Case. It summarized Jiangjin's approach around five elements: cultural development, ecological foundations, region-wide planning, community participation and technological empowerment.

Frameworks for guidelines on the development of wellness tourism and extended stays in Simianshan, as well as a Simianshan consensus white paper, were also released.

Meanwhile, 13 wellness-related projects were signed during the conference, with a combined contract value of more than 4.1 billion yuan. A Jiangjin branch of the Chongqing Silver Economy and Smart Wellness Institute was also inaugurated.

These developments come as China faces a rapidly aging population and rising demand for health, leisure and longer-stay travel. For destinations such as Jiangjin, this creates an opportunity, but also a test.

Natural scenery alone is unlikely to be enough. To turn seasonal tourism into a sustainable industry, destinations need medical and service capacity, standardized accommodation, local participation and reasons for visitors to stay beyond a weekend.

That is the larger question behind Jiangjin's current experiment.

In the past, many visitors came to Simianshan mainly for a few cool summer days. Jiangjin is now betting that the same mountains can support something broader: longer stays, new forms of wellness consumption and a tourism economy that extends beyond a single season.

Whether that model can be scaled or replicated elsewhere remains to be seen. But the UNDP conference has put Jiangjin's attempt to make that transition under a wider international spotlight.

(Xia Xinrui, as an intern, also contributed to this report)