IV. New driver: Better life backed by technology, cultural creation, talent and investment from by the traditional beautiful scenery and historical humanities

Tourism development has long been relying on the traditional natural heritages and cultural monuments, which have been proven to be hard to truly lift the underdeveloped areas out of poverty. In the new era, the poverty reduction through tourism requires attention to the role of technology, cultural creation, talents and investment, so that poor areas can boast both beautiful scenery and a good life.

1. Foster new paths to poverty reduction through tourism using technologies

The use of increasingly enhanced technologies of different fields in tourism development renders more possibilities for poverty reduction through tourism. Thanks to the development of modern agriculture, advanced manufacturing, ecological energy-saving infrastructure and intelligent transport, tourism development has been offered new attractions and more convenient facilities. Particularly striking, the commercial application of information and communication technology has innovated the commercial development model of tourism and triggered a profound change in the industrial organization mode other than changing the tourism consumption and supply delivery ways. In particular, market benefits of the agritainment, native products, handicrafts and other important carriers of poverty reduction can be hardly fully reflected through tourism because they are “small”, “scattered” and “non-standard”. Internet technology has greatly changed this situation, allowing these products to effectively align with the market at a lower cost and covers home stretch to the poverty reduction through tourism.

Countries and regions all over the world attach great importance to the construction of communication facilities such as the Internet in rural areas and remote areas. The European Union (EU) has set up the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), etc. to facilitate the popularization and construction of rural broadbands. In February 2014, the U.K. launched a £2.25 million rollout of rural broadbands to extend superfast broadband to 99% by 2018. In February 2009, the U.S. Congress approved to allocate USD7.2 billion for broadband investment from its Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including the remote poor areas and other communities with poor network services. In Japan, the government has financed one-third of rural broadbands. Emerging and developing countries represented by Russia, India and Brazil have also raised investment plans for broadband construction in remote areas[How to Extend Broadbands to Rural Areas, https://www.yidianzixun.com/n/09isjaSc?s=8&from=timeline&isappinstalled=0].Theconstruction of facilities such as the Internet has played a positive role in tourism development in remote rural areas. Looking into the rural tourism development in France, a key insight is that the Internet technology is used to set up a room reservation center, which facilitates the selection and reservation for tourists and a customer information database, which enhances communication with customers. Pai, a Thai county located remotely without well-known attractions or large cities around, has gained a good reputation through high-quality services, one of which is the efficient and convenient Internet booking, including accommodations and the use of hotel and scenic vehicles.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to combining the Internet with poverty reduction through tourism. The Action Plan for Poverty Reduction Through Tourism in Rural Areas issued in 2016 proposed the implementation of measures including tourism e-commerce promotion and million rural tourism creators to guide information technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, space information, mobile Internet to be used in poverty reduction through tourism. Qingxin District in Qingyuan City of Guangdong is one of the first pilot villages engaging in “Rural Taobao”. Following various innovative explorations in rural e-commerce, home-building construction, Internet + pilot agricultural town, poverty reduction through e-commerce, etc., a model of “Internet + e-commerce + tourism + poverty reduction” has formed. Throughout nearly three years since its launch, the Rural Taobao project in Qingxin District has offered the villagers comprehensive services such as online shopping for over 100,000 times, trained more than 3,000 rural youths, and incubated 100+ entrepreneurial teams. The sales Rural Taobao e-commerce of Qingxin exceeded RMB300 million only in 2016, with RMB170 million of which from agricultural products[Li Tingrui, Qingxin: Internet + E-commerce + Tourism + Poverty Reduction Pattern Creates A New Economic Growth Driver, https://static.nfapp.southcn.com/content/201710/30/c756667.html]. Guangxi has launched the “farm meal ticket”, which tourists can buy “electronic meal tickets” of poor villages at service outlets or on e-commerce platforms before visiting for entertainment. Guanxi Tourism (8gtrip.com) is one of its main sales platforms, with more than 100 million hits and sales exceeding RMB5 million[Tong Zheng et al., Rural Poverty Reduction Through Tourism in Guangxi: Farm Meal Tickets to Drive RuralEconomy,https://finance.jrj.com.cn/2018/02/26131324152944.shtml,2018-02-26/2018-07-08].

2. Cultural creation generates new highlights in poverty reduction through tourism

A number of tourism veterans are shifting from ordinary sightseeing tours to sharing high-quality lifestyles and experiencing local unique cultures. Cultures are diverse worldwide. There are inexhaustible regional and historical cultures to be excavated, organized and developed in each region, community and season. For this reason, the contribution of culture in poverty reduction through tourism is increasingly valued by the international community. Training cultural talents, using cultural resources, constructing cultural infrastructure and exploring cultural economic values have stepping to be key means to achieve poverty reduction through tourism and economic development in poor areas.

Mishima is a town located in Fukushima, Japan. Due to the labor force outflow and aging, the development of Mishima was severely stagnated, with a population decreased from 7721 in 1950 to 3766 in 1975, down 50% in 25 years. As a solution, Mishima decided to formulate a revitalization plan every 10 years from 1981, which proposes to develop such industries as tourism mainly by exploring cultural resources. In the first revitalization plan, the development of education culture was prioritized, with “creating into a town with a strong cultural spirit” proposed. The goal of “inheriting and carrying forward the mountain village culture and developing handicrafts” was also raised based on the local long-standing history and cultural tradition of handicrafts. The “life craft movement” was officially initiated in the second revitalization plan, aiming to integrate handicrafts into local development and produce special handicrafts combining with local cultural traditions. In the third revitalization plan, the idea of turning Mishima into an “eco-museum” was presented, in which the natural environment can be an “exhibition hall” to showcase people the local traditional culture, daily life and natural landscape. In the fourth revitalization plan, excavating local historical cultures and telling historical cultural stories well (e.g. compiling the history of Mishima and villages) were highlighted to maximally use the local historical cultural resources. Mishima has established the Life Craft Hall, Okuaizu Cultural Center (integrating craft demonstration, art museum, theater, village data museum, and village activity center), Property Pavilion (in two), Folk Museum, Life Museum, and Tourist Information Center. These public cultural facilities have strongly supported the preservation and preservation of historical cultures and made Mishima a nationwide and even worldwide well-known destination[ https://baijiahao.baidu.com/sid=1606878486614468151&wfr=spider&for=pc].

A former poor fishing village Zengcuoan in southeastern Xiamen has grown into a sacred place for art enthusiast as one of the New Top 24 Scenic Spots in Xiamen. It receives over tens of millions of tourists every year.

3. Combining reducing poverty with enhancing the skills of the impoverished population boosts sustainability of poverty reduction through tourism

A top cause of poverty is the lack of talents for development. Many poor areas can attain fast development because of the support from “talents” and “magnates”. In essence, sufficient local talent reserves are the basis for poor areas to develop sustainably, while poverty reduction requires a change of attitude and the support of education.

Through the development of tourism and the governmental support for livelihood projects in employment, education and medical services, Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake, a former floating home for Vietnamese refugees, has remarkably improved its ecological environment and life quality. Especially, financing local art education to cultivate a group of material and intangible cultural inheritors has played a great role in improving the cultural quality of traditional handicrafts, adding tourism jobs, and increasing the income of locals. In China, various kinds of national poverty reduction through tourism training have been systematically arranged. The former CNTA trained 1,000 cadres in key villages of poverty reduction through tourism per year from 2014 and ran themed training classes in extremely poor areas such as “three regions and three prefectures” (Tibet Autonomous Region, Four Southern Xinjiang Regions, Tibet Region in Sichuan, Linxia Prefecture in Gansu, Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan, and Nujiang Prefecture in Yunnan). Some tourism poverty alleviation projects also pay great attention to combining reducing poverty with enhancing the skills of the impoverished population. In developing the Enshi Grand Canyon scenic spot, Hubei Erxi Eco-Cultural Tourism Investment Co. Ltd. held two skill training sessions, at which invited experts imparted the skills to farmers; organized 32 students from primary, senior and junior schools in Huangjiacun to visit universities and educational bases in Wuhan, helping them broaden horizons and study determinately; provided RMB15,000 per year as tuitions and living allowances for six registered outstanding poor students until graduation from universities[ A case from the World Tourism Alliance.].

As an external intellectual input, volunteers can partly make up for the shortage of tourism talents in poor areas and directly help locals to improve their development capabilities For instance, the professional volunteer and resident artist systems in Taiwan have effectively helped locals enhance their market awareness and professionalism and injected modern and fashion elements into traditional crafts, which is more up to the needs of the tourism market.

4. Capital plays an increasingly prominent role in poverty reduction through tourism

The development of modern tourism has been more reliant on capital, so developing tourism in poor areas becomes much harder and poverty reduction through tourism also has to attach greater importance to capital. The construction of public goods such as infrastructure and overall planning more requires the support of funds from the government, investment promotion, bank loans, external assistance, etc.

The government’s support is important, whose fiscal input has played a pivotal role in many successful cases of poverty reduction through tourism. The cooperation between the government and social capital should also be strengthened. The use of PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model in tourism infrastructure construction is common in European countries. Sinaia Mountains is a beautiful mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania, but its poor transport ever scared off tourists. Later, the Romanian government cooperated with the private sector to raise funds for road construction using the PPP model. The local government engaged 140+ private companies qualified for construction and tourism services in constructing the Mountain Beach Water and Nature Park in Western Austrian Alps[ Dai Zhengzong, European and American Countries Even Apply the PPP Model in Tourism. https://www.prcfe.com/web/meyw/201409/02/content_1123583.htm]. In April 2018, the Guiding Opinions on Promoting Public-Private Partnership in the Tourism Field was jointed issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Finance to encourage the use of PPP model to improve the supply of tourism in emerging business types including the tourist attractions, all-for-one tourism, rural tourism, self-drive travel and motorhome camps, toilets in tourism, tourism towns, transport tourism, smart tourism, and health tourism. Priority shall be given to supporting the conversion of tourism poverty alleviation loan projects up to the requirements of these Opinions into PPP tourism projects.

The capital cooperation in poverty reduction through tourism also includes the capital participation of local communities. In many rural tourist destinations in China, through institutional innovation, local people can obtain property income other than wage income from tourism development by investing in idle real estate and homesteads, contracting land, etc. In 2013, Yinan engaged Shandong Geely Tourism Development Co., Ltd. and invested RMB1 billion in the Maquan Leisure Park project, originally a barren mountain after mining in Tongjing Town, Yinan County, Shandong, surrounded by 11 poverty-stricken villages, with a poor population of 1,417. It took just five years to build a modern agricultural leisure park integrating leisure picking, agricultural sightseeing, and holiday wellness. The surrounding villagers have benefited a lot from it. In addition to salaries and park operations, they earn from land transfer and acquisition. The park has transferred 6,600mu barren hills and forests of village collectives, 616mu of which are rented to village at a price of RMB1,000 per mu each year, involving 11 poverty-stricken villages and 202 poor households. There are also some poor households investing in the Maquan fruit tree planting cooperatives with lands and as agreed, the annual income shall be composed of RMB800 per mu and dividends[ Wang Shumao, Yimeng Spirit Turns A New Leaf of Red Tourism: Poverty Reduction Case in Yinan, China Tourism News, November 24, 2017, Edition A01.].

V. New goal: Poverty reduction through tourism is still on the way

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposed to “end poverty in all its forms by 2030”, which sets up goals and tasks in an upcoming period for the world’s poverty reduction, including that through tourism. China promised to lift all the rural poor out of poverty by 2020, ten years ahead of the above standard, which has fully reflected its historical responsibility as a responsible big power and set a new mission for its poverty reduction through tourism.

According to estimates by the UNWTO, over half of international tourists will travel to emerging economies by 2020. Developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific will receive more international tourists than developed countries, accounting for 55% in five years from 2016. By 2030, the proportion will reach 57%. The continued development of tourism in developing countries shows great potential of poverty reduction through tourism, so tourism will play an increasingly important role in the world’s poverty reduction cause.

The role of tourism in poverty alleviation has been recognized by countries and regions around the world. Many government departments, non-governmental organizations, enterprises and individuals have made great efforts to reduce poverty through tourism and gained remarkable results. However, compared with people’s expectations for a better life and for tourism, there is still a gap in the performance of poverty reduction through tourism, so more efforts should be poured. Poverty is a complex issue, with an increasing standard. There are also challenges such as the balance of interests, endogenous growth capacity enhancing, ecological environment constraints, and political and social risks, so poverty reduction through tourism will remain as a key issue of the international community for a long time.

- We should strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction through tourism. Countries have their unique experience and models in poverty reduction through tourism, as well as diverse resources. Summarizing them and strengthening information exchanges and knowledge sharing can further deepen the division of labor and cooperation and enhance the efficiency in international poverty reduction through tourism. The WTA takes international cooperation in poverty reduction through tourism as one of its main tasks for the next three to five years, and a new platform for it can be built.

- We should promote countries to lift the poverty reduction through tourism as a national strategy. Vigorously impelling the poverty reduction through tourism is the duty-bound core task of government departments. Government sectors should play a leading role in the process of tourism poverty reduction and provide support in fiscal, financial, investment, land, talent and planning aspects, with tourism as an important path to reduce the poor population, achieve employment growth, improve environmental vulnerability, and promote the development of featured industries. It is necessary to pay special attention to the cooperation between various government departments, establish and improve a comprehensive coordination mechanism, and integrate the efforts of all parties to boost the poverty reduction through tourism. In tourism-based poor areas, we must improve infrastructure and public services, train talents, and develop featured industries as sufficient guarantees for implementing the poverty reduction through tourism.

- We should give full play to the role of market subjects in the poverty reduction through tourism. We should guide some mature tourism enterprises to invest and develop in poverty-stricken areas, which can escalate the marketization and development efficiency of poverty reduction through tourism. We should cultivate some localized market operators to implement the poverty reduction through tourism using market mechanisms. We should encourage enterprises to cooperate with collectives and individuals in poverty-stricken areas in various ways. We should accelerate the development of Internet companies in poverty-stricken areas, encourage tourism enterprises to carry out technological transformation and upgrading, and support to combine technology enterprises and tourism operations. We should further strengthen cooperation between the government and social capital, and continue to improve the tourism infrastructure and service facilities in poor areas.

- We should encourage NGOs to engage in the poverty reduction through tourism. We should encourage all types of NGOs to participate in tourism development in poverty-stricken areas, especially in areas such as infrastructure construction and personnel training. We should popularize the establishment of village cooperatives to improve the organizational degree in poverty-stricken areas. We should promote the implementation of professional volunteer system to widely mobilize professionals from different fields to get active involved in the poverty reduction through tourism in villages. We should establish a think tank and consulting mechanism for tourism experts in poverty-stricken areas, strengthen research on policies, key points and difficult issues of poverty reduction through tourism, offer decision-making consultation on related major issues, and furnish theoretical and intellectual support for the tourism development in poor areas.

- We should guide the effective participation of local communities and residents. We should fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of people in the poverty reduction through tourism, respect the pioneering spirit of the poor, and stimulate their enthusiasm for tourism entrepreneurship and innovation. We should do a good job in cultivating tourism talent teams in poverty-stricken areas to continuously improve their sustainable development capacity of poverty reduction through tourism. We should further implement the revitalization planning for excellent traditional cultures, develop traditional handicrafts and all types of intangible cultural heritages and combine modern art with traditional culture to boost the cultural connotation and cultural taste of poverty reduction through tourism. We should step to improve the eco-social development in poor areas and sustainable livelihoods of the poor through the joint efforts of the government, the market, and poverty alleviation targets.

- We should encourage tourists to carry out responsible tourism activities in poor areas. We should give full play to the consuming promotion role of consumers in poverty reduction through tourism. Tourists should be encouraged to choose poor areas as preferential destinations, build long-term contacts with the poor people and contribute to the economic development of poor areas. Tourists would become the disseminators of poverty reduction through tourism after visually feeling the new changes thus brought to local residents.

来源：中国旅游研究院

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