As China's middle class expands, the government is betting big on caravans and campers as the future of tourism.

The National Tourism Administration and several ministries announced plan to open about 500 RV campgrounds this year at a cost of around 35 billion yuan ($5.2 billion), as road trips have become very popular among the middle class.

The Chinese know about RVs from a 1999 movie called Be There or Be Square but RV expansion has been slow due to high costs, legal issues and insufficient infrastructure.

Road trippers made 2.34 billion trips in 2015, and the number is expected to double by the end of 2020.

With China's per capital income rising, RV tourism has huge potential. China has less than 500 regular-sized RV campgrounds compared to more than 16,000 in the United States.

China has less than 30,000 RVs, only one percent of the world's total. Some 2,000 were sold in China last year, a mere 0.3 percent of aggregate sales across the globe.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2016)