—— A Series on Visiting “China’s Most Beautiful Peach Blossom Paradise”: Nyingchi County, Tibet (Part 1)
Spring arrives on the plateau,March marks the wild bloom of peach blossoms in the “Snowland Jiangnan.” With the opening of the 15th Nyingchi Peach Blossom Festival on March 25, the annual journey to admire the peach blossoms of the “Snowland Jiangnan” officially begins.
With snow-capped mountains as witnesses and peach blossoms as vows, a highly anticipated“highlight event” of the Nyingchi Peach Blossom Festival will grandly commence at the foot of China’s most beautiful peak—Mount Namcha Barwa: On April 2, the magnificent Nyingchi “Peach Blossom Music Festival” will resonate amid a multi-layered backdrop of snow mountains, rivers, blue skies, white clouds, peach blossoms, and pastoral scenery.
Peach blossoms under Namcha Barwa, a fairyland upstream of the Yarlung Tsangpo River—— Suosong Village, hailed as China’s most beautiful peach blossom paradise.
And as the location of Nyingchi Airport and the first stop into the Snowland Jiangnan, Nyingchi County in Tibet boasts more than just one Suosong Village.
Making every corner a scenic view. With premium tourism resources such as Mount Namcha Barwa, the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, and the Nyi Valley, Nyingchi County adheres to the holistic ecotourism development philosophy of all-for-one tourism, ensuring that“every piece of farmland becomes a scenic belt, every household becomes a homestay, and every distinctive agricultural and pastoral product becomes a tourism offering.”
“All-for-one Nyingchi” is filled with the most beautiful scenery everywhere.
The world’s largest canyon—— The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, China’s most beautiful peak —— Mount Namcha Barwa, the plateau’s oxygen bar —— the Nyi Valley Scenic Area... Nyingchi, located in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region, covers a total area of 9,471 square kilometers, sits at an altitude of 2,950 meters, and has a forest coverage rate of over 48%.
The convergence of numerous world-class tourism resources has earned Nyingchi titles such as “Snowland Garden” and “Plateau Oxygen Bar.”
“Nyingchi means ‘Medicine Region’ in Tibetan, with over 120 types of medicinal herbs. It is also a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral county rich in agricultural products and forest-based resources. Coupled with relatively convenient transportation, we aim to build an integrated tourism industry chain encompassing tourism, logistics, modern sightseeing agriculture, and Tibetan medicine,” said Li Muzhi, Secretary of the Nyingchi County Committee. Leveraging the county’s world-class tourism resources, Nyingchi has put forward the goal of revitalizing the county through tourism and developing all-for-one tourism.
As a Tibetan“all-for-one tourism pilot county” and a “model for the development of tourism demonstration villages across the region,” Nyingchi County has established an all-for-one tourism leadership group, formulated an implementation plan, highlighted the county’s tourism advantages, accelerated the tourism toilet revolution, promoted rural tourism and poverty alleviation through tourism, enhanced tourism talent cultivation, and driven rapid tourism development.
Caiwang Nyima, the County Head of Nyingchi, explained that in accordance withthe overall requirement of “innovatively developing all-for-one tourism culture,” the county has unified standards, services, and management. It integrates distinctive agriculture and animal husbandry, Tibetan medicine, cultural industries, and tourism organically, blending abundant ecological resources with unique folk culture. Following the principle of adapting to local conditions—whether for farming, herding, or tourism—it has established a “120-kilometer tourism economic corridor.”
Statistical data shows thatin 2016, Nyingchi County received 752,000 tourists, generating total tourism revenue of over 680 million yuan, representing year-on-year increases of 18% and 21%, respectively. During the 2016 Nyingchi Peach Blossom Season, the county welcomed over 60,000 tourists, with total tourism revenue reaching more than 55.71 million yuan, reflecting year-on-year growth of 68.9% and 69.4%, respectively.
A Multi-Tiered Tourism System Covering All Aspects
On March 22, the five-star Tibetan resort hotel —— the Linzhi Gongbu Manor Hilton Hotel, located in Nyingchi County, grandly opened. It is the first tourist resort hotel in Nyingchi built to international hotel standards, filling a gap in high-end tourism and leisure resort hotels in both Nyingchi City and Nyingchi County.
Backed by the Himalayas on its northern, eastern, and southern sidesand facing the Yarlung Tsangpo River to the west, the Gongbu Manor Hilton Hotel covers a total area of about 1,000 acres, with 220 guest rooms (suites). In its architecture, decor, and other aspects, it embodies the traditional culture and ethnic characteristics of the Gongbo Tibetan people. The hotel also features multifunctional halls, banquet halls, conference rooms, a private cinema, a heated swimming pool, and other amenities, making it Tibet’s first resort hotel with a standard 9-hole golf driving range.
World-class tourism resources paired with top-tier tourism facilities deliver a unique high-end travel experience. Led by flagship enterprises in two major scenic areas—the Grand Canyon and the Nyi Valley—tourism in Nyingchi is thriving:In 2016, the two scenic areas, the Nyi Valley and the Grand Canyon, prepaid over 25 million yuan in tourism revenue to the county treasury, contributed over 5.5 million yuan in taxes, and allocated over 8.7 million yuan in tourism benefit funds.
And this is just one aspect of Nyingchi’s comprehensive and deep development of all-for-one tourism.
Milin County insists that high-end tourism is just one branch of tourism, not its entirety. Traveling to Tibet or Milin does not equate to high-end consumption—the two are not one and the same. In addition to the “private customization” of high-end tourism,tourism operated by local farmers and herders, represented by Tibetan homestays, accounts for a significant proportion. It serves as both an income channel for farmers and herders and an effective form of in-depth travel for visitors to the snowy plateau.
Data shows that in2016 alone, 3,400 farmers and herders from 26 natural villages across seven townships in Milin County—including Pai Town, Nan Yi Township, Dan Niang Township, Qiang Na Township, Milin Town, Zha Rao Township, and Wo Long Town—participated in tourism services through various means such as running family guesthouses, forming tourism cooperatives, selling local specialties and horses, providing clothing rentals, engaging in tourism-related labor, and working in scenic areas. Their income increased by over 28 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 40%.
“The county’s 83 star-rated family guesthouses hosted 62,500 tourists from within and outside the region throughout the year, generating 9.7 million yuan in revenue, marking year-on-year increases of 144% and 145%, respectively,” said a relevant official from the Milin County Tourism Bureau.
Comprehensive poverty alleviation development through a three-dimensional tourism industry—Milin in its entirety
As the first villager in Suosong Village to open a Tibetan homestay,in 2016, Tsering Dondrup’s family welcomed over 2,500 tourists to admire peach blossoms and snow-capped mountains, earning 300,000 yuan in tourism revenue.
Now, as the annual Peach Blossom Festival approaches again. Tsering Dondrup revealed to reporters that not to mention the festival period, but even the guest rooms for this year’s May Day holiday have been fully booked.
In Milin, located in southeastern Tibet, tourism has never been just a direction for industrial development—it is more importantly tied to the improvement of the production and living conditions of farmers and herders, and relates to a “well-off plan” for poverty alleviation through tourism.A “well-off plan.”
Tourism benefit funds have become an important way to increase the income of farmers and herders.In 2016, Milin County distributed a total of 8.6308 million yuan in tourism benefit funds, benefiting 2,757 people from 18 natural villages across two townships (or towns) where two scenic areas are located.
“The tourism revenue share given to the public by the Grand Canyon Scenic Area increased from 10 yuan per ticket to 20 yuan, distributing 6.86296 million yuan in benefit funds to 2,228 people, including 279 registered poor households, with an average of 3,080 yuan per person; the Nan Yi Gully Scenic Area increased the tourism revenue share from 6 yuan per ticket to 10 yuan, distributing 1.76782 million yuan in benefit funds to 529 people, including 96 registered poor households, with an average of 3,341.8 yuan per person,” said a head of the Milin County Tourism Bureau. The development of the tourism industry has not only promoted rapid economic growth across the county but also brought significant changes to the production and living conditions of poor villages and households, fully demonstrating unique advantages and irreplaceable roles that other poverty alleviation methods do not possess.
Not stopping at the exploration of tourism benefit funds, Milin is also carrying out a“model renewal” in poverty alleviation development through the tourism industry.
In 2016, Milin County specially invited professionals for on-site inspections and invested nearly 5.07 million yuan to build the Dalin Village boutique inn. It adhered to a management model of “poverty alleviation company + village collective + capable individuals + poor households” and a profit distribution model of “5+3+2” (where 50% of the profit distribution by the Milin County Government is rolled over for poverty alleviation industrial development across the county). At the same time, 2.23 million yuan was invested to build the Langduo Village boutique inn. The inn’s operation follows a model of “government investment, public fundraising, capable individuals managing, and profits shared,” which not only developed tourism resources and boosted the village collective economy but also engaged poor households in the tourism industry to jointly escape poverty and achieve prosperity.
Under the backdrop of all-for-one tourism, every person in Milin consciously becomes an ambassador for the area. The local Party committees and governments, in their role of management and guidance, focus not only on innovative policy support but also on shaping and enhancing the Milin tourism brand.
“In addition to widely promoting the top-tier tourism resources within our jurisdiction, we have also significantly enhanced the visibility and influence of Milin County’s tourism by hosting events such as the March Peach Blossom Festival, the Yarlung Tsangpo Tourism and Culture Festival, and the Namcha Barwa Half-Marathon Mountain Race, further opening up markets for Milin’s farm stays, family guesthouses, and boutique family inns,” said a head of the Milin County Tourism Bureau.