Villages charm city folk, spur rural biz

Chinese-style rural homestays in the bed-and-breakfast sector have become popular accommodation choices for city dwellers during their travels.

The trend has not only helped create village-level startups that generate livelihoods, but is unlocking entrepreneurial energies in remote areas, contributing to the transformation of the rural economy.

Typically, rural homestays in China sport distinctive interiors with local cultural characteristics and are surrounded by beautiful landscapes.

Visitors can explore vast swathes of natural scenery, environmentally friendly products and cultural traditions of villages. All this adds up toward sustainable development of rural areas.

Since 2013, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation has been running a project to foster rural homestay operations.

The foundation’s aim is to drive economic growth of villages by promoting rural tourism. It has helped raise funds and attracted professional staff for the project.

Earlier this month, the foundation began cooperation with Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency. The tie-up led to inclusion of rural homestay postings and other related content on Qunar website and app.

Travelers can also book rural homestays using other online travel agents or OTAs such as Tujia.

By the end of last year, the foundation had supported the building of 26 rural homestays in different beautiful styles nationwide. Sixteen of them have started operations.

Among them, 11 have a presence on Qunar. They are located in Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu, Hunan, Henan and Hebei provinces across the country.

Earlier this month, a rural homestay in Maxiang village in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture in Gansu province started commercial operations. The homestay facility was designed and refurbished to make the most of both demand for rural trips and the unique local culture and ecological resources.

Tourism, particularly rural tourism, has contributed significantly to China’s battle against absolute poverty, said Hu Heping, head of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Many rural homestays that offer bed-and-breakfast services operate on a cooperative model. Local villagers, or members of the cooperative, manage and run the place together.

Qunar has established a dedicated team for rural homestay services tasked with innovative promotions of available facilities, the company said.

“In the next few years, Qunar will continue to increase investments in technology and data, and launch a bouquet of rural trip routes and related travel products with our partners,” said Huang Xiaojie, vicepresident of Qunar.

“By fueling high-quality development of rural tourism, we would like to contribute to China’s rural revitalization.”

Victoria Liu, 28, a bank employee in Beijing, said her experience at a cottage in Altay village, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was memorable, convincing her that rural homestays have bright prospects.

“The services and facilities at the cottage are as good as those offered at established hotels. There are several rooms, and the building is surrounded by mountains, rivers, fields and a ski resort,” Liu said.

During the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday earlier this month, China was festooned with various flowers, sparking a trend of flower-viewing tours and trips to rural and suburban areas.

The 182 major sightseeing spots in Beijing generated 6.09 million trips during the three-day festival break, or 98.73 percent of the volume seen in the same holiday period of 2019 (last year — 2020 — was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic).

That included travelers’ 1.02 million trips to rural and suburban areas, which yielded 120 million yuan ($18.5 million) in total revenue, up 11.3 percent over the same period of 2019, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.