Government program helps create eco-tourism income for villagers

Thursday, June 1, 2023

It’s a place where rural tourism is helping boost the local economy, under a government program that’s brought improvements to both infrastructure and the environment. Zhou Yixin has more.

There’s an artistic atmosphere in Meirong Village, set against a backdrop of beautiful natural scenery.

But a couple of years ago, the village environment was not as liveable and beautiful as it is today.

Wu Fangyun, Communist Party Committee official, Meirong village said that before the promotion of the Green Rural Revival Program, their village had the same problems many villages had, including bad sanitation, poor infrastructure and the sewage was flowing everywhere.

A couple of years ago, they started to build better infrastructure and conduct sewage treatment.

The government program puts the environment at the heart of economic development in rural parts of China.

Villagers in Meirong say they’ve benefitted the most from improvements to infrastructure.

Farming has also undergone profound changes. There have been other changes too.

An abandoned oil mill was converted into a modern cafe, featuring art installations. Barren land has been turned into a farm that children love to visit.

And the village is developing rural tourism, with local people opening homestays and earning income from visiting tourists.

More than 60,000 people attended this year’s art festival with the local community earning around 1.5 million US dollars from tourism income.

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