Between the mountains and the sea in the northeastern part of Fujian, there is a small treasure town called Xiapu.

As a coastal county with the longest coastline, the widest area of ​​shallow tidal flats, and the most islands in Fujian Province, Xiapu County’s natural and cultural landscapes complement each other. The rising sunset creates a dreamlike picture of tidal flats.

The agility of water and the majesty of mountains are intertwined here, attracting countless photographers from home and abroad.

  Relying on ecology and mountain and sea resources, Xiapu County has made use of its advantages in tidal flat photography, coastal tourism, history and culture in recent years to explore new ways of developing the "photography + homestay" industry, stimulate the "Internet celebrity economy", and ignite a new engine for rural revitalization.

However, under the influence of the current epidemic, the homestay industry, which is extremely dependent on passenger flow, is under enormous pressure.

  Photography ignites B&B craze

  Every sunset, Dongbi Village, Sansha Town, Xiapu County will usher in a very lively moment of the day. Photographers with long guns and short guns quickly occupy various favorable framing positions to capture the golden moment under the sunset with the shutter in their hands.

As a well-known and large-scale "Internet celebrity" homestay village in Xiapu County and even in Fujian Province, Dongbi Village has taken measures to support returning home to start a business and introducing investment in recent years to develop the homestay industry, building 27 boutique homestays and driving the villagers. From low-value-added agricultural production to medium-high value-added service industry, a new format of rural tourism that drives multi-industry linkage and multi-industry integration with "homestay +" is formed.

  Statistics show that there are more than 400 various types of country houses in Xiapu County, receiving more than 500,000 tourists a year, directly driving nearly 20,000 jobs, and an annual turnover of nearly 200 million yuan.

Who would have thought that such an industrial scale has only been formed in the past few years.

Sightseeing photography is the driving force behind Xiapu's homestay industry "creating something out of nothing".

  Relying on the beautiful coastline landscape and photography resources, Xiapu County has successively completed the construction of 11 photography sites, designed 4 photography routes from east, west, north, south and south, and held 7 consecutive "Xiapu, the sea in my heart" international photography competition, attracting more than 60 people every year. Thousands of people come for sightseeing and photography.

The flocking of photography enthusiasts not only drives the development of Xiapu's service industry, but also spawns emerging industries such as homestays and fishing models, which directly drives the local people to increase their incomes and become rich, and effectively promote the integration of the three industries.

  Drive east on Xiapu County Road 981, with a wide view along the way, the road snakes along the coastline, and soon you will reach Dongbi Village, which is backed by mountains and facing the sea.

On the slopes of the offshore, large and small boutique guesthouses are scattered, forming a beautiful picture together with the fishing boats dotted on the sea.

  In the Internet celebrity homestay "Shijianhai", the reporter met Chen Shuman, the first "crab eater" who founded a homestay in Dongbi Village.

  Chen Shuman, who was born and grew up in Xiapu, worked as a designer in Beijing after graduating from university. Because he was nostalgic for the sea in his hometown, he chose to return to Xiapu. After many inspections and site selection, he finally decided to set up a homestay in Dongbi Village.

In August 2017, "Shijianhai" officially opened. This is the first homestay in Dongbi Village. The unique mountain and sea scenery and warm homestay environment quickly attracted a steady stream of guests. Shi Jian Hai has become an internet celebrity check-in spot.

In 2019, Chen Shuman rented another private house and opened a second homestay.

"At that time, many locals who were working abroad also saw the prospect of homestay development, and they returned to their hometowns to invest in setting up homestays. Some even came from Beijing, Yunnan and other places to set up homestays. The entire country homestay industry in Xiapu flourished rapidly. Taking myself as an example, when I first founded the homestay, there were only 3 people in the team, but now it has grown to 38 people." Chen Shuman said.

  Financial Bailout Overcoming Difficulties

  It was already night when we arrived at the "Yiqi Yisu" B&B. The small coffee bar at the entrance of the B&B is very atmospheric, and the soft lighting seems to be integrated with the surrounding quiet scenery.

The "One Place One Place", which has been in business for less than two years, has won a high praise rate and a repeat rate for its ingenious design.

The owner of the homestay, Guo Hong, is a native of Sansha Town. He told reporters that he chose to open a homestay here because he was optimistic about the broad prospects for the integration of culture and tourism and the revitalization of the countryside.

  Since the beginning of this year, serious local epidemics have occurred in some cities in Fujian, including Ningde City, where Xiapu County is located, which has affected the source of tourists in the province to a large extent.

Since then, local epidemics have also occurred in Shanghai and Beijing, the important sources of foreign tourists for Xiapu Homestay, which is even worse for the Xiapu Homestay industry.

Statistics from the Xiapu County Culture and Tourism Bureau show that the occupancy rate of homestays in the county was only 25% in the first quarter.

  "Since this year, the impact of the epidemic on the Xiapu homestay industry has been further intensified. For example, my homestay has more than 20 employees, and the pressure on rigid expenses such as labor costs and rental costs has increased. Without guests, there will be no operating income, and everyone is struggling to support it. "Guo Hong said.

  Chen Shuman also encountered the same situation.

"Even when we were affected by the epidemic last year, our homestay occupancy rate remained between 70% and 80%. But this year, hit by these waves of epidemics, the number of customers has dropped sharply, and we are almost half-open for the past six months. "Chen Shuman said.

  Faced with the plight of the homestay industry, both Ningde City and Xiapu County government departments have come up with a number of relief measures.

Zhang Jian, director of the Xiapu County Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that around the difficult and expensive financing problems of the homestay industry, the Ningde Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism launched an innovative pilot project in Xiapu to explore solutions.

Xiapu County Bureau of Culture and Tourism takes advantage of the situation and takes the strengthening of financial services for homestay enterprises as a key task, creating homestay characteristic loans, encouraging financial institutions to innovate and develop financial products, providing convenient and high-quality inclusive financial services, and increasing credit support for homestay projects. .

  Zhang Jian said that the Xiapu County Cultural and Tourism Bureau has strengthened the promotion of loan services, effectively served homestay operators, provided policy popularization for homestay operators, actively promoted homestay characteristic loans, and provided a strong financial guarantee for the high-quality development of the homestay industry.

On the one hand, we will pay close attention to the industry leaders to “bring in” homestay operators, hold a council of homestay industry associations, increase the promotion of homestay characteristic loan policies and processing procedures, and answer questions about homestay characteristic loans to reduce operators’ worries.

On the other hand, go to the grass-roots level to make cadres "go out". Combined with the "Homestay Visit" activity, while understanding the scale and operating conditions of each homestay, we will promote the homestay characteristic loan to them according to the actual situation, and provide assistance to the homestay enterprises in need. , to achieve accurate service.

  It is reported that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Industrial Bank and Rural Credit Cooperatives have cumulatively issued loans of nearly 20 million yuan to more than 20 homestay operators in Xiapu County, which has alleviated the financing difficulties of homestay development to a certain extent.

  Cultivating characteristics both inside and outside

  In the final analysis, the prosperity of the tourism industry depends on the flow of passengers.

If the financial bailout is only a temporary move under the epidemic, then organizing cultural tourism activities and strengthening marketing promotion are the real measures to gather popularity and promote consumption.

  Lei Wangqing, member of the Standing Committee of the Xiapu County Party Committee and member of the county government party group, said that Xiapu County has held large-scale events such as the International Photography Contest, Cultural Tourism Week, International Mountain Marathon, and National Sea Fishing Competition for many years. It also actively participates in large-scale cultural and tourism promotion activities such as the Straits Tourism Expo and the Fujian Tourism Fair, and continuously improves the recognition and reputation of Xiapu.

  May 19th is China Tourism Day. The 2022 China Tourism Day Ningde Branch Venue (Xiapu) and the large-scale self-driving tour event "Changing the East China Sea · Self-driving Xiapu" will be held in Xiapu County.

Five "Fu" cultural themed routes in Ningde City and four tourism boutique routes in Xiapu County were officially released at the event, and a series of tourism benefits for some special groups including travel coupons, travel packages and free tickets for some special groups were launched.

On the same day, Xiapu County also invited Douyin and Xiaohongshu Internet celebrity travel experts, Xiapu self-driving tour riders to start a self-driving journey of about 40 kilometers along the "Donghai No. 1" scenic road, and pass Douyin, Xiaohongshu, etc. The new media leads tourists from all over the country to "tour Xiapu", allowing people to experience the magnificent natural scenery and profound cultural heritage of Xiapu without leaving home.

  Huo Liyun, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Ningde Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said that this event is the first city-wide cultural and tourism promotion event held by Ningde after the global epidemic prevention and control is low-risk and the epidemic is generally under control. A sincere invitation sent by the majority of tourists is also a concrete measure to efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, speed up the resumption of work and market in the tourism market, and promote the high-quality development of the cultural tourism economy.

  In recent years, when developing rural tourism and creating cultural tourism landscapes, the most criticized point is the serious homogeneity.

During the interview in Dongbi Village, the reporter found that each homestay has a prominent personality, and their main "selling points" are different.

For example, the special food and beverages of "Shijianhai" are memorable, "One Habitat One Place" has a complete range of coffee and tea drinks, and the invincible sea view of "Neighborhood" is a must...

  Zheng Dexiong, chairman of the Xiapu County Homestay Industry Association, told reporters that Xiapu regards country homestays as the best carrier to show Xiapu beach photography and local customs, and closely focuses on market demand and tourist demand, and actively guides homestay owners to accurately locate and implement differentiated operations. Create distinctive highlights to effectively prevent homogenization.

  Under the epidemic, the Xiapu homestay industry itself is also hard at work, trying to adapt to the market, and actively seeking transformation and upgrading.

"The core of creating a boutique homestay is quality and service, which is the consensus of the industry. Especially in Xiapu, many homestays are landscape homestays, not only to carry the function of accommodation, but many guests even regard the homestay itself as a tourist destination, which is more Homestays are required to innovate over time in landscape design, cultural and creative integration, etc." Zheng Dexiong said.

  "Since the opening, we have operated the homestay as a long-term brand, and our requirements are to upgrade the landscape every 5 years to show our own characteristics. For example, catering is a major feature of our homestay. Under the epidemic, we continue to Investigate product research and development, develop afternoon tea, snacks, souvenirs and other products, hoping to attract more customers." Chen Shuman said.

  "From the perspective of return on investment, affected by the repeated epidemics, it is far from meeting expectations, but from a long-term perspective, I still believe that homestays will continue to play an important role in rural revitalization." Guo Hong said.

  Our reporter Liu Chunmuyang