Visitors take photos at Weiheyuan scenic spot in Weiyuan County, Dingxi City, northwest China's Gansu Province, Dec. 28, 2019. Weiyuan has been in recent years developing snow and ice tourism in winter to showcase northwest China's unique scenery. Photo:Xinhua

China made solid progress in reducing poverty through the promotion of culture and tourism in poor areas in 2019, said the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

A series of programs have been implemented to enrich villagers' lives such as funding cultural activity facilities in poor villages and bringing traditional Chinese opera performances to the countryside, according to a national meeting on culture and tourism held from Friday to Saturday.

The country has provided 35.71 million yuan ($5.13 million) for the establishment of 263 intangible cultural heritage workshops to boost employment.

Tourism plans have been made for 240 poor villages and around 3.3 billion yuan has been allocated for the construction of 329 tourism infrastructure projects in poor areas.

Nearly 6,000 people have received training to promote tourism and intangible cultural heritage in rural areas.

China has set 2020 as the target year to eradicate absolute poverty. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism urged more efforts in tapping into cultural and tourist resources, and achieving goals in poverty reduction.