Tourism helps villagers climb out of poverty

Homestay plans

The prospect of rural areas being developed for tourism has been noticed by both the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Development and Reform Commission.

A conference on rural tourism held on Sunday in Chengdu was told homestay accommodation in the countryside would play an important role in the transformation and upgrading of rural tourism, Xinhua reported.

Countryside homestays should adhere to the village's characteristics and not be clones of a city hotel or developed for "agricultural entertainment", according to ministry officials. They should also cater to the needs of the average traveller instead of high-end tourists, which deviates from the purpose of homestays.

Under a plan to provide special financial support, China Agricultural Bank will provide a 100 billion yuan credit to the nation's key rural tourism villages over the next five years.

Tourist visits to rural areas reached 1.51 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of 10.2 percent year-on-year, while the total income from rural tourism stood at 860 billion yuan, an 11.7 percent increase over the same period last year.

The total number of people employed in rural tourism in China reached 8.86 million by the end of June, an increase of 7.6 percent year-on-year.