Cultural tourism gains popularity through rural revitalization

Students visit Tiangong Manor in Wandi village in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, Mar 14, 2024. [Photo/VCG]

While the service industry has played an increasingly important role in rural revitalization, tourism featuring cultural characteristics has gained more preferences among visitors, which can be translated into income growth for villages.

Suburban Ningbo's Wandi village in East China's Zhejiang province relays such a story.

With a registered population of 1,076 people, the village is now home to nine museums and art exhibition halls, featuring intangible cultural heritage or flower arrangement art, qipao dresses, among others.

The purpose is to add more cultural and educational features into agriculture-based sightseeing and rural experiences, said Wandi village's Party secretary Cai Guocheng.

Wuxia Culture and Art Center, which provides professional training for traditional Chinese musical instruments such as guzheng (Chinese plucked zither) and guqin in Wandi, is one good example. Founded in Ningbo in 2011, the center was moved to Wandi in 2021.

According to the center's co-founder Zhao Binwuxia, one of the purposes of relocating to Wandi was due to the focus on cultural services and the complete industrial chain built in the small village.

Business results justify the decision to relocate with students from different parts of Ningbo commuting to the center every week to attend classes, with some driving 90 minutes to get there. The center, which has attracted students aged between four and 70, recently earned 3 million yuan ($412,860) in annual sales revenue, which was not affected during the pandemic, she said.

Another must-go for tourists to Wandi is Tiangong Manor, showcasing modern agricultural technologies. In 2021, 5.6 million yuan was invested to build a 7,200-square-meter smart glass greenhouse in the manor. Tropical fruits such as guava and papayas are grown in the greenhouse where tourists can experience fruit picking. The manor also has a 28-celsius-degree constant temperature indoor botanical garden, the largest of its kind in Zhejiang, showcasing more than 400 species of plants.

Weng Liqun, founder of research program service provider To Be Natural, started providing research courses to children in Tiangong Manor in 2020. Many of their family clients, who live in urban Ningbo, have booked research programs for their children in Tiangong Manor more than once.

While children can get closer to nature and obtain more agricultural knowledge, Tiangong Manor has become a good choice for parents to get together and take some time off, she said.

Wandi village attracted 370,000 visitors in the first three quarters of the year, bringing in 24 million yuan in tourism income.

The tertiary industry, including tourism, contributed 73 percent of Wandi's income in 2023. The collective net assets of Wandi reached 1.2 billion yuan last year, while its collective operating income amounted to 49.52 million yuan. Wandi villagers' disposable income per capita reached 76,500 yuan last year, when Ningbo's average number was 71,731 yuan.