Tourists visit Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan province. Provided to China Daily

China's forestry tourism is seeing rapid growth and there is huge potential in the future, a senior forestry official said on Saturday. The value of such tourism was 650 billion yuan ($103 billion) in 2014, accounting for one-fifth of the country's tourism revenue, says Zhang Yongli, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration.

The rapid development of the forestry-tourism sector shows its huge potential and wide prospects, he said at the opening of the country's forestry tourism festival in central Wuhan city.

Visiting forests for a breath of fresh air and relaxation has become increasingly popular among China's urban dwellers.

Forest tourist numbers reached 910 million last year in China, or one-fourth of the country's total domestic tourists, statistics with the administration show.

At the end of 2014, China had more than 8,500 forestry-tourism sites and had built 3,101 forest parks nationwide.

China's policy to preserve State-owned forests will bring new opportunities for tourism, says Zhong Yongde, a professor in tourism at the Central South University of Forestry and Technology.

He said it was important to develop forestry tourism effectively to avoid damaging the natural landscape.