According to Chen Fen, deputy director of Jiangsu provincial tourism bureau, Jiangsu's total operating income of rural travel sector reached 90 billion yuan ($14 billion) in 2017, up 20.8 percent from 2016. The province's rural areas were visited by nearly 287 million people, an increase of 16 percent compared to 2016. Talking with media on Tuesday, Chen said, "Jiangsu's rural tourism created jobs for more than 420,000 people, making the sector a strong force in the province's leisure industry which cannot be overlooked."