Tourism alleviates poverty in Lijiang

Tourism is helping Lijiang alleviate povery by creating more job opportunities and feeding the agricultural industry.

Recently, Lijiang Municipal Government held a press conference to brief the media on the city’s conditions. Located in the southeast of Tibetan Plateau, Lijiang boasts abundant natural and cultural tourism resources and is one of the most popular tourism destinations in the entire country.

However, Lijiang has unfavorable conditions for farming: high mountains, deep valleys and steep hills, with mountain areas taking up around 96 percent of its entire area. Poverty is high. Among its one district and four counties, two are State-level poor counties and one is a province-level poor county.

Lijiang has been focusing on poverty alleviation while developing tourism. Its measures have had significant results, according to Zhang Weiguo, vice mayor of Lijiang.

Yulong Snow Mountain, for instance, has spent more than 20 million yuan on the development of 580 households in 19 villages.

Lijiang locals make money from rural tourism. Tai'an village, for example, has directed the general public to combine faming with tourism through rural garden sightseeing. They effectively increased production and improved the quality and efficiency of traditional industries. So far, the planting area of potatoes in Tai'an county is 40,000 acres and the per capita revenue of local famers in 2014 was 15,000 yuan, 2.3 times that of 2011.

Maca planting also developed rapidly since 2014. More than 70,000 acres of Maca were planted and the yield reached 21,000 tons, with the agricultural production value of 550 million yuan and a comprehensive production value of four billion yuan. Besides maca, ecological products such as peaches, blueberries, roses, lavender and spirulina have also increased, increasing farmers’ income.

More people are entering the tourism industry. About 60,000 locals in Lijiang are directly working in tourism and over 150,000 are indirectly involved.

Currently, the total impoverished population in Lijiang is 120,000. Lijiang plan bring 20,000 people out of poverty every year. It is expected that by 2020, the people will no longer worry about food and clothing. Basic education, medical care and housing will also be guaranteed, and absolute poverty will be eliminated.