In 2025, Huaihua City had 358 large-scale cultural tourism and related industry enterprises, receiving 72.2407 million tourists throughout the year, with total tourist expenditure reaching 68.578 billion yuan, representing year-on-year increases of 12.13% and 12.7% respectively, ranking 3rd and 2nd in the province. The city boasts 63 A-level or above tourist attractions, including 22 4A-level attractions, and 33 star-rated hotels; it also has one national-level nighttime cultural tourism consumption cluster, three national-level key rural tourism villages, one national-level tourism and leisure street, four provincial-level tourist resorts, four provincial-level industrial tourism demonstration sites, and 54 five-star rural tourism areas (sites). In September 2025, the 5th Hunan Tourism Development Conference was successfully held in Huaihua. New cultural and tourism landmarks such as Yushu Bay, Tianwen Island, Jingping Ancient Village, and Xuefeng Mountain Cableway became popular check-in destinations. The total online traffic of topics related to “‌Huaihua: A Blessed Land, Your Second Home” exceeded 38 billion, and Huaihua’s cultural tourism industry is on the fast track of high-quality development.

Key Enterprises: Huaihua Cultural Tourism and Sports Group, Hunan Xuefeng Mountain Culture and Tourism Co., Huatai Phoenix Hotel, Runyue Wyndham Hotel, InterContinental Crowne Plaza Hotel, Tancheng Mountains and Rivers Culture and Tourism Co., Tongdao Danxia Culture Co.

Development priorities:

1. “One Core, One Hub”: integrating cultural tourism development in Hecheng District and Zhongfang County, whereby creating a regional consumption and tourism distribution center in the border region of five provinces; supporting the construction of the “Three Pillars” for Huaihua tourism, namely Anjiang Farming, Hongjiang Ancient Town, and Qianyang Ancient Town.

2. “Four routes, Multiple Spots”: developing the eastern route “Charming Xuefeng Mountain”, the western route “Beautiful Dong Villages”, the southern route “Hot Springs in Longevity Villages”, and the northern route “Zhonghua Book Mountain”.

(1)                     (2)                     (3)        

(1) Hongjiang Ancient Commercial Town

(2) Gaomiao Ruins Museum

(3) Anjiang Agricultural School Hybrid Rice Memorial Park

Yushu Bay