Mushroom mania fuels tourism innovation

The project was launched in response to a growing enthusiasm for picking mushrooms. Xu explained that in recent years, there has been a lot of content about mushrooms on social platforms during the mushroom season in Yunnan, attracting a lot of attention. It is regrettable that when visiting Yunnan, tourists are limited to eating wild mushrooms and cannot truly explore their natural habitat or experience the difficulty of discovering and picking a mushroom by themselves.

"Therefore, we believe that creating a seasonal tourism project like 'come to Yunnan and pick mushrooms in the summer' could be a marketable opportunity. This service fills a gap in the market and also allows tourists to have a more in-depth Yunnan experience," said Xu.

The project is already a success. By the end of August, it conducted nearly 40 one-day wild mushroom collection tours, serving nearly 800 tourists. More than 95 percent of them are from outside the province. Most of them are college graduates and parents with children, ranging from 25 to 35 years old.

A 35-year-old teacher, surnamed Li, told China Daily that she made a special one-day visit to Yunnan from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

"My child loves mushrooms and we bought many books about them. That's why we visited Kunming to give my child a chance to be exposed to the wonders of nature and provide an educational experience," said Li.

Li enjoyed the process of searching and exploring, and gained a lot of knowledge about mushrooms by observing and touching them. For her and her family, that's quite an upgrade from reading books. Now they have mastered the skills needed for finding and picking mushrooms, and judging their edibility.

After her trip, she plans to recommend this hands-on project to her friends as a great experience for the whole family.

"The highlight was undoubtedly our encounter with the professional and passionate tour guide. The guide's expertise in mushroom identification and extensive knowledge about the local ecosystem was truly impressive. Their engaging stories and interactive sessions enhanced our understanding and appreciation of the wild mushrooms we encountered," Li added.