Redefining the humble leaf

Tan Rongbing, an official with Naxi district of Sichuan's Luzhou city, says more than 19,000 locals who were below the country's poverty line had all gotten back on their feet through tea and related tourism development in 2019.

Ecological tourism, organic tea plantation and processing have brought benefits to more than 10,000 locals in the once poverty-stricken Jiazhuyuan town of Shaanxi province and turned the town into a popular tourism zone.

Increasing public interest in tea has been the driving force of the tea tourism boom.

"We have found the public is not satisfied with just scratching the surface, but they are increasingly fond of immersive experiences," says Zhu Yang, an officer with the China National Tea Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, about tea culture.

Before the pandemic, the museum received about 600,000 visitors every year, with foreign tourists accounting for 20 percent of all visitors.

Zhu says interaction with local tea farmers and artists, tea performances and do-it-yourself tea making experiences have been especially favored among the museum's visitors.

The museum also holds regular tea related programs for the public, so as to encourage more enthusiasm for tea tourism and cultural experiences.

According to the China Tea Marketing Association, the economic benefits brought by tea gardens have encouraged tea plantation. In 2019, the area of tea gardens in 18 major tea production provinces reached 3 million hectares.

Experts say mass production is imperative to raising the value of tea products and develop tea tourism so as to open new sales channels in the consumer market.

Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn