Agritourism becomes a new growth point for the county's rural economy
Agritourism becomes a new growth point for our county's rural economy
(Agricultural Wealth Network) Not long ago, when the author went to Guantou Village in Jianshan Town to inspect the food hygiene of "agritourism" businesses, I encountered a tour group from Shanghai. A Shanghai tourist told me: "We have visited almost all the famous domestic scenic spots. Coming to Wushi Village for agritourism leisure travel feels like returning to our old home, especially warm and familiar!"
In recent years, Chinese people's travel concepts have quietly changed, and the development of the tourism industry has gradually shifted from sightseeing tours to leisure vacation tours. Our county's mountain ecological environment and rural pastoral scenery happen to cater to this change. On October 1, 2000, with the opening of Huaxi Scenic Area to the public, farmer Li Hanyin of Huaxi Village founded our county's first agritourism business, "Huaxi Restaurant." From that time on, agritourism in our county gradually grew from "a few scattered lights" into "a prairie fire," especially the agritourism businesses on the Yushan platform, which gradually developed from "scattered points" into "a belt." Guantou Village, which developed agritourism earlier, had only 4 households and 48 beds four years ago, but has now grown to more than 50 households and more than 1,000 beds.
At the same time, more and more villages are preparing to develop agritourism. According to statistics, our county has currently developed 8 agritourism characteristic villages, 13 agritourism characteristic sites, and 120 agritourism operating households, with 2,038 existing beds and 8,471 dining seats, and more than 600 people directly engaged in agritourism. Up to now, our county has created 1 provincial-level and 1 municipal-level agritourism characteristic village each; 1 provincial boutique agritourism cultivation project; 5 provincial-level and municipal-level agritourism characteristic sites; and 51 star-rated operating households, including 28 at three-star level or above.
In order to further promote the orderly and sound development of agritourism leisure tourism throughout the county, our county established an agritourism leisure tourism development coordination group headed by the deputy county magistrate in charge, and issued a series of policies to strongly support the development of agritourism. At the same time, relevant departments such as the county tourism bureau and the agricultural office actively created conditions for the development of agritourism. Starting in 2005, agritourism in our county entered a stage of accelerated development, and a number of typical villages for agritourism development emerged. For example, Chenjie Village in Jianshan Town created a distinctive "herb garden" agritourism business. From its opening on July 10 last year to now, the whole village has 11 operating households and 217 beds, and the agritourism hardware construction is advanced, with all 11 operating households having installed computer broadband; Henglu Village in Huzhai Township already has 8 agritourism operating households and 155 beds; Xiangtou Village in Yushan Town, through old village renovation, established 11 agritourism businesses with 230 beds.
In 2006, Guantou Village in Jianshan Town established the "Wushi Village Agritourism Service Center," implementing a management model of "operating households + agritourism service center + travel agencies." The service center uniformly handles external promotion, uniformly receives tour groups and assigns guests, uniformly sets charging standards, and uniformly settles accounts. The center collects a management fee according to a proportion, ensuring the normal and orderly operation of agritourism. The service center also set up a tourist complaint mechanism. For any valid tourist complaint, the service center imposes the penalty of reducing arranged tourists, avoiding vicious competition among operating households. In September this year, Guantou Village further innovated its management model and established the county's first village-level "tourism development company," beginning to enter the track of "corporatized" operation. Chenjie Village in Jianshan Town and Huaxi Village in Anwen Town also successively established agritourism service centers.
The development of agritourism has directly driven the sales of our county's agricultural products and promoted farmers' prosperity and income growth. The arrival of large numbers of out-of-town tourists has not only brought flows of people, goods, information and capital to rural areas, but also brought new ideas and new lifestyles, broadened farmers' horizons, and driven the improvement of farmers' overall quality. Facts have proven that the development of agritourism has enabled our county to embark on an effective path of transforming the results of demonstration and rectification into promoting farmers' prosperity and income growth. Agritourism has already become a new growth point for our county's rural economy.
At present, our county has become a rising star in the development of agritourism across the province, and has received high affirmation from provincial and municipal leaders and the vast number of tourists. Last year, our county's agritourism work was rated first prize in the annual assessment by the provincial agricultural office. Our county will strive, through three to five years of effort, to cultivate a group of tourism characteristic villages, strive to cultivate 20 agritourism characteristic villages throughout the county, more than 10 provincial and municipal demonstration villages, and more than 100 provincial and municipal demonstration households, reach a reception capacity of 8,000-10,000 beds throughout the county, and strive for annual agritourism operating income to exceed 100 million yuan.
In recent years, Chinese people's travel concepts have quietly changed, and the development of the tourism industry has gradually shifted from sightseeing tours to leisure vacation tours. Our county's mountain ecological environment and rural pastoral scenery happen to cater to this change. On October 1, 2000, with the opening of Huaxi Scenic Area to the public, farmer Li Hanyin of Huaxi Village founded our county's first agritourism business, "Huaxi Restaurant." From that time on, agritourism in our county gradually grew from "a few scattered lights" into "a prairie fire," especially the agritourism businesses on the Yushan platform, which gradually developed from "scattered points" into "a belt." Guantou Village, which developed agritourism earlier, had only 4 households and 48 beds four years ago, but has now grown to more than 50 households and more than 1,000 beds.
At the same time, more and more villages are preparing to develop agritourism. According to statistics, our county has currently developed 8 agritourism characteristic villages, 13 agritourism characteristic sites, and 120 agritourism operating households, with 2,038 existing beds and 8,471 dining seats, and more than 600 people directly engaged in agritourism. Up to now, our county has created 1 provincial-level and 1 municipal-level agritourism characteristic village each; 1 provincial boutique agritourism cultivation project; 5 provincial-level and municipal-level agritourism characteristic sites; and 51 star-rated operating households, including 28 at three-star level or above.
In order to further promote the orderly and sound development of agritourism leisure tourism throughout the county, our county established an agritourism leisure tourism development coordination group headed by the deputy county magistrate in charge, and issued a series of policies to strongly support the development of agritourism. At the same time, relevant departments such as the county tourism bureau and the agricultural office actively created conditions for the development of agritourism. Starting in 2005, agritourism in our county entered a stage of accelerated development, and a number of typical villages for agritourism development emerged. For example, Chenjie Village in Jianshan Town created a distinctive "herb garden" agritourism business. From its opening on July 10 last year to now, the whole village has 11 operating households and 217 beds, and the agritourism hardware construction is advanced, with all 11 operating households having installed computer broadband; Henglu Village in Huzhai Township already has 8 agritourism operating households and 155 beds; Xiangtou Village in Yushan Town, through old village renovation, established 11 agritourism businesses with 230 beds.
In 2006, Guantou Village in Jianshan Town established the "Wushi Village Agritourism Service Center," implementing a management model of "operating households + agritourism service center + travel agencies." The service center uniformly handles external promotion, uniformly receives tour groups and assigns guests, uniformly sets charging standards, and uniformly settles accounts. The center collects a management fee according to a proportion, ensuring the normal and orderly operation of agritourism. The service center also set up a tourist complaint mechanism. For any valid tourist complaint, the service center imposes the penalty of reducing arranged tourists, avoiding vicious competition among operating households. In September this year, Guantou Village further innovated its management model and established the county's first village-level "tourism development company," beginning to enter the track of "corporatized" operation. Chenjie Village in Jianshan Town and Huaxi Village in Anwen Town also successively established agritourism service centers.
The development of agritourism has directly driven the sales of our county's agricultural products and promoted farmers' prosperity and income growth. The arrival of large numbers of out-of-town tourists has not only brought flows of people, goods, information and capital to rural areas, but also brought new ideas and new lifestyles, broadened farmers' horizons, and driven the improvement of farmers' overall quality. Facts have proven that the development of agritourism has enabled our county to embark on an effective path of transforming the results of demonstration and rectification into promoting farmers' prosperity and income growth. Agritourism has already become a new growth point for our county's rural economy.
At present, our county has become a rising star in the development of agritourism across the province, and has received high affirmation from provincial and municipal leaders and the vast number of tourists. Last year, our county's agritourism work was rated first prize in the annual assessment by the provincial agricultural office. Our county will strive, through three to five years of effort, to cultivate a group of tourism characteristic villages, strive to cultivate 20 agritourism characteristic villages throughout the county, more than 10 provincial and municipal demonstration villages, and more than 100 provincial and municipal demonstration households, reach a reception capacity of 8,000-10,000 beds throughout the county, and strive for annual agritourism operating income to exceed 100 million yuan.