Rural tourism gives economic boost to villages

Wang and 35 fellow villagers recouped their investment of 1.2 million yuan in May and have begun to turn a profit.

"We are embracing a golden chance to shift from traditional farming to the modern service sector with much higher returns," says Wang.

According to data released by the China National Tourism Administration, China has more than 1.9 million village hotels, where city dwellers can have a taste of rural life, such as feeding livestock, picking pumpkins, or just enjoying the fresh air and the chirping of birds.

Last year, 1.2 billion trips were made to village hotels, accounting for about one-third of China's total tourism. Revenue from the sector surged 15 percent to 320 billion yuan.

"About 70 percent of tourist trips on the weekends are now made to the countryside around cities," says CNTA director Li Jinzao.

In China, agriculture is becoming increasingly mechanized, requiring less manual labor. Young farmers move to cities to become migrant workers or stay in villages to seek jobs with higher returns.

"Through rural tourism, farmers can reinvigorate their idle agricultural resources. The economic structure in the countryside will also improve," says Li.

International hotel giants, including Hilton, Four Seasons and Banyan Tree, have entered China's rural tourism market to grab a share of the lucrative business.

"Rural tourism has helped to change the backwardness of many remote rural areas," says Li, adding that over 10 million people have emerged from poverty in the last five years thanks to rural tourism.

According to him, at least 50 percent of China's 128,000 impoverished villages have the potential to develop rural tourism, and the industry will be "one of the government's main approaches for poverty alleviation".

China aims to increase the number of village hotels nationwide to 3 million by 2020, and lift 2 million people out of poverty every year, according to guidelines released by the central government in August.

"Rural tourism can provide new business opportunities, help preserve beautiful scenery and push forward urbanization," says Dai Bin, head of the China Tourism Academy.