Great travel gets better

A tourist scans the QR code for the phone app, Youyunnan, while traveling in the province. [PHOTO BY YANG ZHENG/XU JIAN/FOR CHINA DAILY]

With a bank loan, he spent 2.8 million yuan constructing a new guesthouse, which brings in an annual income of 2 million yuan.

Guests enjoy rooms decorated with wooden and ethnic elements, and music in a "speakeasy".

The final six households recently joined the project.

"They were the richest but made the least amount of money in recent years," Fan says.

"Tourists prefer to stay in the new guesthouses."

The village also improved infrastructure. It built a new sewage plant that processes 600 cubic meters of wastewater per day.

The ratio of external tourism investment is restricted to prevent over-commercialization, Fan says.

Locals run about 70 percent of guesthouses.

"We may not be well-educated," he says.

Fan never went beyond middle school.

"But we're working to learn online marketing and other skills."

Indeed, Yunnan is upgrading its appeals-in every sense.

Editor: John Li