Nyingchi city sees rapid growth in tourism, benefiting its locals
- By Zhang Liying
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 28, 2019
Peach flowers blossom at Kala village
While the mountains were still covered in snow, peach flowers were already in full bloom at Kala village along the Nyang river and villagers started preparations for the opening of the 17th Nyingchi Peach Flower Festival on March 29.
Nyima Dorje, a village official, said that the annual festival, which started in 2002 at Kala village, has become the main source of income for villagers.
He added that apart from enjoying a sea of more than 2,700 peach flowers, tourists can also watch and participate in folk activities, such as horse-racing, archery and boulder-lifting.
At last year's festival, the village welcomed around 100,000 tourists, which helped increase villagers' per capita income by an average of 18,185 yuan (about US$2,709), Nyima Dorje said.
Lhopa village reaps benefits from tourism
The Lhopa is one of China's oldest ethnic minority groups. Out of a total of over 3,000 Lhopa people across China, more than 170 live in Qionglin village, said Dawa, a village official.
He said that tourism is now one of the four main industries creating income for the villagers, who sell Lhopa snacks and local specialities to tourists visiting the Neyul Valley scenic area nearby.
"The villagers lived an isolated life in the past, but now they hope to attract more tourists after benefiting from tourism," Dawa said.
The 34-year-old said that tourism generated nearly 500,000 yuan (about US$ 74,500) for the village in 2017. On average, this helped increase villagers' income by about 26,000 yuan (about US$3,874) per household.
Nyingchi received 7.135 million tourist arrivals and brought in 5.922 billion yuan (about US$882.4 million) last year, a year-on-year increase of 37.56 percent and 30.26 percent respectively, according to the municipal government.
"We will step up efforts to make our tourism facilities and services in line with international standards, and develop Nyingchi into a global ecotourism destination," Tenzin Samdrup said.
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