Longma Village: Rural tourism enriches local villagers

In early July, it is not too hot in south Yunnan’s Honghe County. At around 8:00 pm, Chen Zhiguang, a villager from Longma Village, finished cooking a Hani meal for his guests.

Chen Zhiguang turned his house into a guesthouse for rural tourists in 2016. 

His house was built near the terraced fields of the village. And there are 17 rooms in the three-story house, each priced at more than 100 yuan per night.

Chen also built a sight-seeing platform at the first floor, where visitors lodging in his rooms can have a good view of the terraced fields in the morning . 

From October on, all of his guestrooms are ordered in advance. Chen Zhiguang is so busy that he often asks the neighbors to help.
　　
"I used to work as a farmer and migrant worker, but I could only make ends meet for my six-member family,” recalled Chen. “Now my guestrooms for rural tourists bring me a much-higher income of around 100,000 yuan per year.”

In the village, the roads were widened, and parking lots and public toilets were newly built, drawing in increasing number of tourists.

"The weather here is good, the terraced fields are spectacular and free of charge,” said Bai Hao, a tourist from Kunming. “I have been here several times with my friends."

According to Li Wei, head of Longma Village, a total of 5 guest houses have opened in the village as of now. “On the occasions of ethnic festivals, most villagers will take part in preparing the Long-Street Feast.”

Each table at the feast consists of 12 to 16 dishes, and the price ranges from 400 to 660 yuan. Around 70% of the villagers benefited from local rural tourism featuring terraced fields and ethnic dishes.

"Thanks to rural tourism, the number of extremely-impoverished households in Longma Village has been reduced from 20 in the year 2014 to six at present," said the village head.

Reporting Guanxi Ruyi; trans-editing Wang Shixue