Go out there to remember - and help
Monday marked the flipping of the switch from holiday to workday in China, as the National Day Golden Week holiday came to an end.
Like many people in the country, I have already long been planning my next Golden Week excursion. But soon after the May 12 earthquake I was chatting about a Yunnan trek I was mulling over with a friend from Sichuan, when he suggested I consider his home province as a destination.
We had previously discussed ways to sustain public concern about, and support for, the province after the quake became old news and new dramas seized the headlines.
My friend pointed out how crucial tourism's role could be in the province's ongoing redevelopment.
Before the disaster, the sector contributed about 11 percent of Sichuan's GDP, provincial tourism bureau figures show.
But the industry has been slumping since the quake. A major reason is the "psychological shadow" that cast a pall over the province.
In addition to grappling with fewer travelers, the province's tourism industry must scrounge up some 70 billion yuan to repair damaged tourism facilities - a figure roughly equal to its 2007 revenues.
About 15 percent of these revenues came from Sichuan's 30 affected counties. The tremor damaged 568 of Sichuan's 4,000 sites, provincial government figures show.
All of this equates to even greater losses for those who depend on the sector, including the multitude of farmers-cum-hoteliers, souvenir vendors and service staff.
So those who are planning to travel during the next Golden Week period - or any time - should consider Sichuan as a destination.
By making the trip, they could brighten the silver lining around the psychological shadow.
According to the World Tourism Organization, 1 yuan in direct income from tourism translates into 4.3 yuan for the national economy. While there are no provincial-level figures offered, logic suggests a similar, relative multiplication would also apply at the provincial level.
In the first phase of the tourism bureau's three-year tourism restoration plan, visitors are encouraged to travel through "green areas" - that is, safe areas where the quake inflicted little or no damage - and especially the Chengdu-Emei Mountain-Leshan Mountain circuit.
The second phase would include not only a restoration of "red areas" but also the addition of new, quake-related destinations. Provincial authorities are mulling over plans to construct a huge tourist zone along the Dalongmenshan fault line through the epicenter in Wenchuan county.
The six-themed tour route would include a quake ruins museum built on Beichuan's old county seat and a scenic area around the Tangjiashan "quake lake".
The Xinhua News Agency quoted provincial deputy secretary-general Qi Guosheng as saying: "The ruins will remind visitors of the unprecedented damage caused by the quake, as well as the support and care shown by people from across the country."
However, great care must be taken to ensure the tragedy is not exploited for profit.
I recently ran across a classified ad on www.cityweekend.com.cn entitled "National Holiday Qing Chuan County Tour After Sichuan Earthquake".
The gist is that for 2,200 yuan, guides take tourists for "six days into the places where the Earthquake took place" and help you "interview the local people who have suffered from the disaster" while making side trips to scenic spots. I'm not saying that this group is capitalizing upon the tragedy - or that it isn't. The tour may actually be of great social value.
But it seems such packages walk a very fine and blurry line between milking cash from suffering and honoring victims while enriching participants' understanding of the disaster.
It is up to those who make the journey to Sichuan to make sure they do so with reverence for those who anguished and died in the quake.
While the province holds multifold wonders - cultural, geological and historical - regard for the victims of the May 12 quake is the best reason to make the journey there.
E-mail: erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 10/08/2008 page8)
