Prospering with a helping hand from the outside

Wu is a native of Yunnan province, where tourism is well developed, and he aims to replicate that success with a rural inn that he and his wife have opened in Nyingchi in Milin county.

Room rates are between 600 yuan and 1,000 yuan a night, which puts the hotel in the top price range, but it is usually booked out during the regular tourist season, from May to October, Wu says.

Wu says that last year the inn brought in revenue of 600,000 yuan, and he reckons that it put about 370,000 yuan into the pockets of villagers by helping them increase their sales of specialties such as matsu takes. It also provided employment for locals as cleaners, drivers and guides, he says.

When the locals became aware of how much he was investing in the inn they were skeptical about his chances of success, he says.

"They have slowly come around to seeing that people are willing to pay above the odds for such accommodation and that the hotel is a profitable proposition."

The demand for such hotels will grow, he says and, encouraged by the local government, he and local villagers have pooled resources to open up another hotel.

The plan is for Wu to run the hotel for several years at the beginning so the villager investors can learn from his management experience, and they will eventually run it independent of him.

"It's a good thing for rural inns to form groups," Wu says. "That's what Tibet lacks at the moment. Tourism in the area is as yet undeveloped. There is more space. It's like a big cake, and I can't possibly have it all."

A clean environment with wonderful landscape and an interesting ethnic mix are Nyingchi's biggest assets, he says. However, an influx of people poses dangers to the environment, and the local government needs to upgrade the tourism industry and the standards that apply to it, he says.

The couple's business activities have played a role in bonding them and the locals, and they often help the villagers do online shopping, Wu says. Parcel deliveries for the villagers often pile up in their home, and they are often invited to join in on local festivities.

"They were friendly enough to accept us as strangers, and we're willing to do what we can to help them, too."