"We’re busy cleaning rooms and welcoming visitors during the Spring Festival," said Qiyuan and his wife on February 8. The couple run a guest house in Qibie village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Tacheng town in Weixi Lisu Autonomous County, northwest Yunnan’s Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

In Tacheng, tourists were attracted by the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys, the Tibetan Reba dance, the ethnic villages and virgin forests. Nestled in terraced fields, Qiyuan’s guest house features a plain style that fits near the green hills.

"The rooms are mostly booked on line,” said Qiyuan with a smile. "In total we have 25 rooms, which were all occupied during the Spring Festival." Qiyuan has joined hands with other villagers in running rural inns, and they gained more than 100,000 yuan in the golden week.

Diqing received 281,400 tourists in the first fours day of the past week, an increase of 2.29% year on year, said local tourism authority. And the thriving rural tourism is driven by improved facilities and environment, as well as cultural conservation.  

"Rural tourism allows more visitors to know about us, which is also conducive to marketing our organic produce.” Qiyuan believes rural tourism in Diqing will be promising because the Lijiang-Shangri-La freeway and railway will open in the near future.

Source: Yunnan Daily; trans-editing by Wang Shixue