A desolate village evolves into tourism hot spot

He insisted on old-fashioned farming methods which ensured healthy and sustainable food.

"Most visitors would buy some of our vegetables to take home, especially after they tour our farms," says Chen Lan, an employee with Shenfeng resort.

The resort managed to draw in 400,000 tourist visits in 2017, with an income of 340 million yuan.

Travelers are mostly come from the provincial capital Wuhan and the neighboring provinces of Anhui and Jiangxi.

Visitors can enjoy a hot spring, local snacks, folk gala performances and bonfire parties at the resort.

Tea picking, bamboo raft, green farm produce shopping and a tour to Dabie Mountain are all arranged to enhance traveler experience.

The resort has helped to bring job opportunities for more than 2,000 rural households, most of whom can get more than 20,000 yuan via vegetable and fruit plantation, according to Chen.

"Many of us have bought houses and cars," Chen says.

Shenfeng is part of the tourism highlights in Yingshan county, which has been named a national model for wholistic tourism by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in December 2020.

The county has tapped into its intact natural resources featuring rich forests and ideal mountain and water landscapes to develop tourism.

It has built river belts in the west and east, a water town in the south, and an ecological leisure cluster in the north.

The local authority has focused on integrating tourism with rural culture and folk customs, according to Tian Hongguang, head of the Yingshan county.

Tourism has also helped to improve rural living conditions and protect local ecology. Facilities offering dining, accommodation, shopping and entertainment have sprung up.

The county got out of poverty in April 2019.

To date, the tourism industry has contributed about 30 percent of employment opportunities in Yingshan and accounted for 45 percent of local GDP, Tian says.