Since the beginning of this year, the Lushan West Sea Scenic Area has been actively promoting the pace of “accelerating the establishment of a new development pattern featuring a dominant domestic circulation and mutual promotion of domestic and international dual circulations.” Relying on its local resource advantages, the area has been vigorously developing the tourism homestay economy, achieving a win-win situation of both economic growth and increased incomes for farmers.

　　The Lushan West Sea Scenic Area is renowned as a "fairyland on earth and a premier vacation destination," boasting exceptionally rich tourism resources. Every year, tourists from all over the country flock here, drawn by its fame.

　　Chen Jianlian is a resident of the Leizhou group in Sima Village, Zhelin Town, Xihai Scenic Area. Her village is just three kilometers away from the Xihai Sima Pier Tourist Center. Thanks to its proximity to the scenic area, this village attracts a large number of tourists. In 2017, at the suggestion of local village officials, she renovated her family home and opened a tourist guesthouse called “Yiren Ge.” She lives on the first floor herself, while guests stay on the second floor.

　　Chen Jianlian, a villager from the Leizhou group in Sima Village, Zhelin Town, Lushan West Sea Scenic Area, told our reporter, “I’ve been doing this for three years now, and I’ve got quite a few repeat customers. On Fridays and Saturdays, there aren’t enough rooms to accommodate all the guests—my villa has five rooms, yet they’re still fully booked. Usually, I have guests every single day, and my annual gross income is around 200,000 yuan. After deducting electricity bills and labor costs, I’m left with roughly over 100,000 yuan.”

　　“Visible, tangible, and capable of bringing wealth”—just like Chen Jianlian, the villagers Zhang Guogui and Li Jianying, a married couple from this village, also transformed their own home into the “Nanxi Retreat” tourist guesthouse last year. She told us that her very first guest was a visitor from Zhejiang who made the reservation online. After spending the first day exploring Xihai, the guest planned to head to Mount Lu the next day.

　　Li Jianying, a villager from the Jiandong group in Sima Village, Zhelin Town, Lushan West Sea Scenic Area, said, “I told them that if they wanted to visit Lushan, they should just stay there. It would take quite a long drive—about 80 kilometers—to come back. But then the owner smiled and said to me, ‘That’s exactly why I love experiencing the rustic charm of your homestay! The air feels so fresh, and the warmth of the local people is really palpable.’”

　　Li Jianying said that since opening this business, her family’s income has increased, and her circle of friends has grown larger and larger. Some tourists who used to stay at her home have now become her voluntary promoters.

　　Speaking via phone call, Ms. Ma, a tourist from Tianjin, said, “We’re really enjoying our stay. What we’ve experienced firsthand is that the overall environment is quite nice and very clean, and the owner and his wife are incredibly warm and welcoming. Plus, we’ve gotten along so well—almost like one big happy family.”

　　Like Ms. Ma, Mr. Lu from Wuhan spent a weekend last summer at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Li Jianying. The pleasant surroundings and delicious farmhouse meals left a deep impression on him.

　　Mr. Lu said, “First of all, the layout design there is excellent—clean and hygienic. Second, both the female boss and the male boss are incredibly warm and welcoming. Third, the air quality in that place is superb. And fourth—and most importantly—every dish you eat is grown right on the boss’s own farm, completely organic: the free-range chickens and fresh vegetables are all picked just moments before serving. Plus, they’ve got everything you need for a perfect tea-drinking and singing experience.”

　　Li Liang works as an architectural designer at a Chinese-brand architectural design institute. In 2017, while traveling to Xihai with his spouse, he was captivated by the picturesque landscape of mountains and waters. After conducting thorough research, he resolutely resigned from his job and opened a guesthouse called “Si Wu Xie” here.

　　He has creatively designed and developed the guesthouse around the theme of traditional Chinese culture, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the rich atmosphere and essence of traditional culture without ever leaving the premises.

　　Li Liang, the owner of Sihai Si Hotel in Lushan, said, “I’ve placed all these books—openly, publicly, and free of charge—in the guesthouse, sharing them with everyone. We also encourage people to develop a good habit or create a great platform—a wonderful place—for reading physical books. Moreover, all our themes, including the names of our guest rooms, are inspired by traditional Chinese literary forms and poetic titles.”

　　Ms. Mei, a tourist from out of town, said, “I feel that in the city, everyone faces tremendous work pressure and various other kinds of stress. So we’re eager to get closer to nature, to unwind and reconnect with it—doing so makes us feel completely refreshed and rejuvenated, both mentally and physically.”

　　Currently, Sima Village has 15 different types of homestays. Last year, it welcomed over 30,000 visitors, generating more than 3 million yuan in revenue from homestay tourism, enabling farmers to achieve prosperity and increase their incomes right from their homes.

　　In response to changes in the tourism market, the village promptly seized the opportunity and carried out comprehensive planning for the development of homestays.

　　Xiong Kairen, the secretary of the village branch of Sima Village in Zhelin Town, Lushan West Sea Scenic Area, said, “The first approach is to develop open-style homestays through investment attraction. Currently, we’re working on two projects: one involves the protective development of this ancient village, and the other focuses on clustering and developing the idle mud-brick houses in our village into a group of homestays.”

　　Currently, the Lushan West Sea Scenic Area is comprehensively planning and coordinating tourism homestays as a key lever to promote the domestic large-cycle strategy.

　　Pan Xinyu, Deputy Director of the Tourism Development Committee of Lushan West Sea Scenic Area, said, “Developing the tourism homestay industry can be regarded as a key driver for promoting high-quality development of the scenic area. The scenic area will firmly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strategic vision of establishing a dual-circulation development pattern centered on the domestic large-scale circulation, significantly boosting investment and consumption in tourism homestays, and expanding the internal circulation. By introducing supportive policies for the scenic area and implementing measures to develop the nighttime economy, we will help tourism homestays in the area embark on a path of standardization, scale, specialization, and branding, further revitalizing the scenic area’s resources, perfecting the cultural and tourism industrial chain, and driving rural revitalization and high-quality tourism development.”

　　Small guesthouses are driving a larger economic cycle, and the guesthouse economy is in turn boosting the development of local industries such as tourism, catering, agritourism, and fruit-picking.

　　According to statistics, from January to August of this year, the Lushan Xihai Scenic Area has welcomed a total of 1.7288 million tourists and generated total tourism revenue of 1.415 billion yuan, significantly boosting local economic development and helping farmers increase their incomes. (Photo by Yi Houyong)

　　(China Daily Jiangxi Bureau, Wang Jian)