Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission issued “Measures to Restore and Expand Consumption,” proposing to vigorously develop rural tourism and build livable and business-friendly beautiful villages. Promoting the implementation of rural homestay service certification, cultivating and releasing a batch of graded tourism homestays, and creating a batch of quality homestays not only facilitates economic circulation and releases consumption potential but also better meets the people’s needs for high-quality living, providing new support for the high-quality advancement of rural revitalization.

Combining the rural cultural tourism practices carried out in Yunnan since the poverty alleviation campaign, I propose to utilize idle houses of farmers to transform them into embedded boutique homestays, where part of the rooms are for personal use while the other part is for business, allowing modernity to be fully integrated, enhancing comfort and experience, and increasing market value.This not only avoids the problem of tight construction land in rural areas and fully utilizes idle housing resources but also allows farmers to become the main operators and beneficiaries.

Achieving rural revitalization and consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation, the primary industry is an important guarantee, but to inject strong momentum into rural revitalization, integration of the tertiary industry and urban-rural integration is needed, connecting small farmers to large markets, achieving industrial diversification and multiple livelihoods, and bringing urban momentum into rural areas. This requires us to fully utilize rural resources, design and develop the secondary and tertiary industries, bring urban consumption capacity into rural areas, organically connect rural and urban areas, ensure farmers’ steady income increase, and accelerate the pace of rural revitalization. It can be said that the tertiary industry is an important way to develop a new type of rural economy and promote farmers’ income increase in the new era.

Due to the advantages of natural, ecological, and cultural resources, some villages have become ideal destinations for urban residents who want to “see the mountains, see the water, and remember their hometowns,” which brings a good opportunity for the development of agricultural cultural tourism and the integration of the tertiary industry.The rapid development of rural tourism has brought opportunities for the development of the homestay economy in rural areas.A good living environment can extend people’s stay in rural areas, meet consumers’ demand for in-depth experiences of pastoral scenery, and promote the growth of income in rural tourism, achieving the idea that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”

In resource-rich rural areas, developing boutique homestays can accelerate the high-quality rural revitalization and agricultural modernization. In recent decades, the “farmhouse” accommodation and dining model that has developed in suburban areas of large cities has solved the problem of farmers’ income increase, but the economic benefits are limited, the ecological burden is heavy, and the social benefits are low, which is especially unsuitable for those remote villages. More importantly, under the condition of limited land resources in rural areas, utilizing farmers’ idle houses to develop embedded homestays is a more feasible path. Transforming homestays in farmers’ homes requires high quality of construction, with distinctive features and full integration of modernity, enhancing comfort and experience, thus building boutique homestays. Practice has proven that small and exquisite homestays often attract more consumers, and by building embedded boutique homestays, not only can farmers significantly increase their income, but this can also lead the modernization of farmers’ lives.

Boutique homestays transformed from villagers’ original houses not only make full use of farmers’ idle assets but also avoid wasting the scarce resources of rural areas, which is beneficial for improving the level of rural construction and narrowing the urban-rural gap.Developing boutique homestays can allow farmers to gain sufficient income with limited reception capacity, while still engaging in other industries to increase income during the remaining time.

The business forms in rural areas can only be led or managed by villagers themselves to make farmers the main body of development. Rural construction should be organically integrated into the process of agricultural and rural modernization, cultivating “new farmers,” and through organizational revitalization, gradually completing the modernization of farmers while achieving agricultural and rural modernization, allowing the majority of farmers to enjoy the fruits of modernization while integrating into the modernization process.

In recent years, with the rise of rural tourism, health care, and study tours, beautiful scenery, pleasant climate, and well-preserved folk culture in rural areas have been developed. Some social capital has entered rural areas, adopting a model of leasing entire houses from farmers for renovation or reconstruction. In this model, farmers receive rent and a small amount of income from labor, but their income growth is difficult to match with that of investors.Farmers have not been able to obtain the main benefits from the appreciation of rural assets, and it is also difficult to participate in rural construction and operation, which is not conducive to the revitalization of rural talents, industries, and organizations.On the other hand, developing embedded homestays does not require relocating farmers from their houses but chooses to transform several idle rooms in the entire house. After the transformation, the guest rooms are managed by farmers, and the collective cooperative operates uniformly, returning profits to the village collective or social investors according to the profit-sharing ratio. This not only ensures the safety of capital investment but also greatly enhances the participation and enthusiasm of farmers.

In rural areas, which have comparative advantages in natural ecology and cultural environment, conditions for developing embedded boutique homestays are present. It is recommended to increase investment and actively guide the creation of more high-quality boutique homestays in rural areas with good natural and cultural environments, attracting more urban populations to consume here, ensuring farmers’ main status and steady income increase, focusing on narrowing the urban-rural gap and internal rural disparities, and achieving common prosperity for all people in the Chinese-style modernization.

(Author’s unit: College of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University)

Source: Farmers’ Daily

Images: Xinhua News Agency