Homestay runners in Lishui confident about business recovery

"Our occupancy rate has been just one percentage point lower than the same period last year since we resumed operations at the end of February," said Zhao Shuyuan, owner of Jinyun Lishe, a high-end homestay in Jinyun county, Lishui, Zhejiang province.

Zhao has run the homestay for three years. Without any promotion, her homestay, Jinyun Lishe, relies on word of mouth alone.

She noted that due to the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, she closed the homestay on the second day of the Lunar New Year, costing her more than 10 million yuan ($1.4 million).

However, thanks to the homestay's location in Jinyun Xiandu scenic area, a 5A-level scenic spot, and a strong reputation among travelers, Jinyun Lishe has been making steady profits since March.

The owner said that she is becoming more confident about her business as the pandemic subsides in Zhejiang and the rest of China.

On February 18, homestays in Lishui Shanju, a public regional homestay brand launched by the local municipal government, started preparing to reopen, and nine days later all homestays in the city had reopened.

To support the development of homestays during the epidemic, the local government bought insurance for all homestays, with a maximum compensation of 100,000 yuan, and issued loans worth 500 million yuan to local homestay operators.

During the five-day Labor Day holiday, homestays in Lishui received 420,000 visitors and generated 32.27 million yuan in operating revenue, both of which were 70 percent than the figures last year.

At Shanghai Selusive Life in Sandu township, for example, all the guestrooms were fully booked during the holiday, and unlike in previous years, its guests this year were mainly born in the 1990s and 2000s, according to Xiao Fang, keeper of the homestay.

At present, Lishui is home to more than 3,000 homestays with 46,000 beds, which are mainly located in Dagangtou town in Liandu district, Chongtou town in Yunhe county, Xiandu scenic spot in Jinyu county, Sidu township in Songyang county, and Dajun township in Jingning county.

In 2019, Lishui homestays received 36.09 million tourists and generated 3.76 billion yuan in operating revenue, a year-on-year increase of 23.7 percent.