Better communications are required to help entrepreneurs
In November, on my way from the downtown to Shuanglang, a township in northeast Dali, the once bustling highway around Erhai Lake looked cold and cheerless. There were few cars or buses carrying tourists on the road. My cab driver, who comes from Dali’s Xizhou township, told me vehicles used to jam the road, but now his work and income have halved compared with the peak period.
Hoteliers once believed that they would be able to reopen when a project to prevent sewage from entering the lake was completed. The work was scheduled for completion by the end of June.
However, on March 30, the local government announced that an ecosystem recovery and wetland construction project would be launched to restore the lakeside. As a result, hundreds of hoteliers and local residents were forced to relocate, turning their expectations into frustration.
When interviewed, many hoteliers said the policies had been badly drawn up because of a lack of long-term planning and government communication with local entrepreneurs. They said they had supported the protection and improved supervision of the lake in the hope the government would keep its promise to revive the local hotel business.
Dali’s hotels were once famous for independent travelers. The interviewees told me that if they were closed, tourism would revert to the model of scheduled tour groups organized by travel agencies.
Looking back, supervision of the rapid development of the city’s tourist trade was not managed well by the local government. Though two documents have been released in the past two years, they are contradictory in some respects. The second stated that hoteliers would not be allowed to reopen their premises in July, breaking a pledge the government had made in the first document.
An old saying — “A clean Erhai drives prosperous Dali” — led to a consensus that only improved protection of the lake would attract more tourists to the city. While the policies to protect the lake have had a negative impact on hoteliers’ incomes, the longterm prospects look reasonable. Local people agree that we cannot sacrifice sustainable development for quick profits.
However, the local government should take action to improve protection of Erhai Lake by drawing up considered plans, not by making hoteliers subject to arbitrary regulations. Comprehensive communication with residents and hoteliers is essential to ensure they do not lose out.