Agritourism generates prosperous income for rural woman

Walking into the first farmhouse on the right side of Guo Jia Gou village's main road in the outskirts of Tianjin municipality, guests are immediately greeted by two bright red lanterns and a row of guqins, seven-stringed plucked instruments similar to the Chinese zither, hanging on the wall,.

Farmhouse owner Zhang Xiuyun, now in her 60s, was one of the first in the village to open her farmhouse to urban guests and earn a stable and solid income from agritourism every year. Dressed in a red checked apron and wearing a pair of gold earrings, Zhang is proud of her redesigned and newly-decorated farmhouse.

In Guo Jia Gou village, there were 43 people like Zhang, average farmers turned into guesthouse owners. The village was once a poverty-stricken area. It has been revitalized thanks to its successful transition to an agritourism base for urban residents since 2008, with a strong push from the government's poverty alleviation campaign.

"The fresh air and the natural beauty of the village are attractive to many urbanites," said Guo Shida, a village official. "The quaint rural village with comfortable farmhouses to stay in and a nearby reservoir to visit are luxurious for many city people. They come here to spend a weekend or holidays away from pressures."

The village mainly welcomes city dwellers from Tianjin, Beijing and North China's Hebei province. It also incorporated its rural tourism with the idea of sustainable development and initiated a new ecotourism development model beginning in 2012.

The village received about 250,000 visitors in 2018 and reaped 27 million yuan ($4.08 million) in revenue, with an average net income of 76,000 yuan per capita. It provides a variety of residential choices for visitors, ranging from economy-priced rooms at less than 200 yuan per night to high-end ensuites over 1,000 yuan per night. In 2020, tourism revenue in the village only dropped slightly against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic.