Ecological tourism leads people to well-off life in Tibet

Lying in east Tibet's Nyingchi County, next to the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Langse Village is the only access to t he famous scenic spot of the Basongtso and Yarlung Zangbo River Valley. Featuring a variety of local specialties such as Matsutske and Cordyceps sinensis of superior quality and low price, it has attracted a steady stream of visitors from all over the country all the year round.

However, the past life there was completely different from what it is like today. With only 27 people from eight households who made a living by gathering firewood on the hills, the village had to ask the government for grain to make up food shortages resulting from the lack of labor during almost a half year.

Since 1995, the number of visitors has been increasing as Nyingchi's neighbor Basongtso was turned into a tourist attraction. Meanwhile, seizing the opportunity, the county government guided the local people in Langse and its neighboring villages and towns in opening up to the outside world.

Sodnam Wangdui, an official in Langse village, said: "Our life in the past was so hard that you were unable to tell the cottages from the cowsheds. Then, the local government spent 1.2 million yuan building a new town named 'Bahe' near the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and we all moved there."

Nyima, a young deputy head of the village, has experienced the great changes taking place in Langse. He said: "As our village enjoys such a good geographical location, we've set up many stores to run all kinds of tourism-related business, such as selling special local products and handicrafts, developing new tour type 'Grand Day in a Tibetan Family', and providing tourist services. So long as we change our concept, we will be able to lead a prosperous life. It's a good way to develop this industry now that we have advantages in geographical location and natural resources. Our incomes mostly come from sideline production, with tourism accounting for 70 percent."

In 2004, Langse became the first village in the county with a per-capital income of more than 10,000 yuan and the number of villagers had increased to 90 from 27.

Up to now, 9,000 households of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet have been engaging in the tourism industry, offering 35,000 non-farming jobs with a total annual revenue of 220 million yuan.

Liujian, deputy director of the Nyingchi's Tourism Bureau: "In fact, local people have benefited the most from tourism. In the past, only one or two shops sold native specialties, but now there are almost 100 shops. Moreover, tourist market demand has been pushing forward the development of other basic industries." As for the environmental pollution resulting from the growing tourism, Tenzing Lahm, another deputy director of the bureau, said that local people are confident about tackling this problem. They have enhanced their awareness of protecting environment since long ago. For instance, they often clean the litters left in the scenic spots and they have organized volunteer villagers to patrol in the hills from time to time, in order to prevent illegal tree felling and poaching. Now, a biogas project is under way here and in the near future, all the villagers will be able to use this clean energy in their daily life, Lahm added.

Source:Xinhua