In Huangyao, a 1,000-year-old river town in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, stone bridges arch over winding waterways, banyan trees shade narrow lanes, and high brick walls enclose the courtyards of historical merchant residences.
Once built to protect wealthy residents from outlaws, these features are now drawing a growing number of tourists.
For decades, tourism in Guangxi was synonymous with Guilin, whose karst peaks and world-famous waterways made it one of China's classic sightseeing destinations, says Yu Haixia, deputy general manager of a local tourism company.
"But Hezhou is charting its own path."
That ambition took center stage recently when the city hosted the 2026 Guangxi Culture and Tourism Development Conference. At a related investment promotion event, Hezhou signed 21 project agreements covering hot-spring resorts, boutique accommodations and micro-drama production.
Local authorities used the gathering to promote itineraries combining tours to the old town and traditional opera with hot springs and trail races at the rugged Gupo Mountain Tourist Resort.
Figures suggest the strategy is gaining traction. Tourist arrivals and spending in Hezhou recorded double-digit growth during the first nine months of 2026, while registered check-ins at local hotels and guesthouses more than doubled year-on-year. Huangyao remains a major draw, receiving about 1.59 million visits in 2025, up nearly 27 percent from the previous year.
The growing influx of visitors is also drawing migrant workers back home. Li Fayuan, who returned from neighboring Guangdong province to run a guesthouse, says his property's annual occupancy rate has consistently topped 65 percent.
"Facilities were sparse when I first got here, but since Huangyao became a nationally rated 5A scenic spot in 2022, the environment has improved considerably, visitor experiences have become diverse, and more tourists are coming," Li says.
To give visitors more to do after sunset, local businesses are turning regional specialties into hands-on experiences. Workshops teach guests to ferment Huangyao's signature black beans and even incorporate them into specialty coffee. Villages offer farming classes, herbal-craft sessions and accommodation for visiting art students.
To extend stays beyond Huangyao, Hezhou is linking villages along its Xiaohe Ancient Path, an ancient trade and migration corridor that connected central China via Hunan to today's Guangxi.
Along the route, 1,300-year-old Xiushui village, known for its imperial-era examination heritage and Yao traditions, attracted 73,000 visits during this year's National Day holiday, up nearly 175 percent year-on-year.
Neighboring Chashan village receives about 600,000 tourists annually.
Mao Xingjian, a Xiushui native who left his clothing-design career in Guangdong, returned in 2021 to become a village official, hoping to turn his childhood street into a tourist attraction.
"Today, our sketching bases attract about 60,000 art students annually, some staying up to a week," Mao says.
The initiative reflects a wider shift toward rural tourism. In the first half of 2026, out-of-town spending in counties rose 14.1 percent on Meituan. Qunar reported a 20 percent increase in county hotel bookings for stays of three nights or longer during the summer break.
XINHUA
