China quake deals heavy blow to tourism economy
Tourism may prove one of the bigger casualties of an earthquake that struck a region of south-west China, where the natural beauty of the landscape and the heritage of the local people draw millions of visitors each year.
Twenty people were killed by Tuesday’s 6.5-magnitude quake in Sichuan province, a comparatively low toll – thanks to the area’s remoteness and low-density population – for an earthquake of this magnitude and in a country prone to some of the world’s deadliest quakes.
But the disaster deals an economic blow to Jiuzhaigou, a national park and Unesco World Heritage Site renowned in China and where the mostly Tibetan and Qiang people depend on income from visitors.
“There probably won’t be any more tourists for the rest of the year. It may take two or three years for things to get back to normal,” said Yang Siding, a Tibetan in his 30s.
“We pretty much depend entirely on tourism to make a living. We have nothing else,” said Mr Yang, who runs a guesthouse.
Jiuzhaigou is prized as one of heavily polluted China’s few remaining areas of pristine beauty. More than 140 lakes, ranging from crystal-clear to turquoise, lie at the feet of forested mountains.
Despite its remoteness, the local government said the park hit its maximum daily capacity of 41,000 visitors days before the quake, after attracting 1.56 million tourists in the first half of the year.
More than 30,000 tourists were in the park when the quake struck, seriously damaging at least one hotel. Six visitors and two Jiuzhaigou residents were among those killed.
Most damage from the quake appeared to have been caused by landslides. Reports emerged describing people being killed or injured by boulders hitting buildings and cars.
More than 30,000 tourists had been moved from the area by Wednesday night.
National tourism authorities issued their highest safety warning for Jiuzhaigou, telling tourists to stay away and travel agencies to cease organising trips amid recurring aftershocks and landslides.
Normally bustling Jiuzhai-
gou hamlets, such as Zhangzha, resembled ghost towns yesterday. Although quake damage appeared minimal, hotels and shops were boarded up or deserted along rubbish-strewn streets.
Tourism has become a godsend to locals as China’s growing middle class increasingly caught the travel bug. Residents said many who grew up as poor farmers now have cars and some can afford second homes in big cities.
“After tourism came here [about the year 2000] our quality of life improved so much,” said Mr Yang said. “Now I suppose we’ll have to go out elsewhere and find jobs.”
The tremor stirred memories of an 8.0-magnitude earthquake in similarly mountainous areas of the same region in 2008 that left 87,000 people dead or missing.
The 2008 quake cost Sichuan – home to several of China’s famed panda sanctuaries and renowned Tibetan monasteries – “tens of billions of yuan” in tourism revenue, according to the official Xinhua news agency. One billion yuan is worth Dh551.9 million.
Now it is in the government’s hands.
“They’ll have to assess whether the buildings are safe before letting tourists back here,” said hotel cook Zhou Quan, a member of China’s dominant Han ethnic group.
Even after that, Jiuzhaigou will be scarred.
Quake-triggered landslides tore swaths of green forest from mountainsides, leaving huge gashes, in some places tumbling into the waters and turning them brown.
One of the park’s best-loved spots, Sparkling Lake, suffered severe damage, park authorities said, after one of its banks collapsed, draining a section of the lake nearly dry.
The outlook is worsened by government policies, said Songpa Tsanduze, a Tibetan woman in her 40s who runs a shop in Zhangzha.
She said authorities had used traditional Tibetan land for a reforestation project.
“There are trees on our land so we can’t farm it.
“We have no choice but to go into business. But now, after this earthquake, I don’t know how we’ll be able to feed ourselves,” she said.