BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Forests have become popular travel destinations in China, with gross output of the industry hitting 1.5 trillion yuan (about 224 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, official data showed.

In contrast, China's forest tourism industry yielded an output of 1.15 trillion yuan in 2017.

The number of forest trips rose to 1.6 billion last year, a new bulletin issued by the national afforestation authority showed.

Last year, China unveiled 10 new travel routes in forests, the first batch of such routes.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration has recently released a guideline promoting the forestry industry, vowing to expand forest tourism while conserving natural resources.

In 2018, trips to forests grew by 15 percent year-on-year to account for nearly 30 percent of total domestic travel in China.