Chinese village promoting rural tourism listed among Best Tourism Villages of 2022 by UNWTO

Dazhai village in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was listed among the Best Tourism Villages of 2022 by the World Tourism Organization on Dec. 20, 2022.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 19 shows Dazhai village, Longsheng county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Yang Zongsheng)

The village is located in the core area of the Longji Terraces scenic area in Longsheng county, Guilin city. The Longji Terraces have a history of more than 650 years, and have been listed as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage site. By developing rural tourism, the village has helped increase the incomes of its residents.

Nestled deep in the mountains, the residents of Dazhai village once lived in extreme poverty.

Pan Guangying, a villager who is nearly 60, recalled that many villagers had to borrow rice to live when she was a child, and people had to walk for hours to reach the county seat.

In 2003, the village became accessible by paved roads. In addition, a scenic area featuring terraced fields and traditional dwellings of the Yao ethnic group opened to the public, becoming a popular destination for tourists from home and abroad.

“The villagers’ living conditions have seen dramatic changes since tourism was developed. Now every household in the village is involved in the tourism sector. Over 230 households run homestay and agritainment businesses,” said Yu Qiongtong, secretary of the Party branch of Dazhai village.

Yu explained that the annual per capita income in the village rose from less than 700 yuan (about $100.3) before the development of the tourism industry to 34,000 yuan in 2019.

Thanks to the development of tourism, many villagers who had left their hometown to work outside returned to the village to run hotels, sell handicrafts to tourists and put on performances with ethnic features. Statistics showed that Dazhai village received over 600,000 tourists and generated 528 million yuan in tourism revenue in 2021.

Tourists enjoy the scenery of the Longji Terraces in Dazhai village, Longsheng county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Pan Zhixiang)

Villagers become shareholders of a tourism company by using their contracted land-use right and earn subsidies and dividends from the company.

In 2019, Dazhai village received 7.2 million yuan in dividends from the company, and 1,212 villagers earned dividends, with each household receiving an average of 26,000 yuan.