Nighttime economy buoys poverty alleviation efforts in Dahua

In recent years, Dahou town, which is a popular attraction focusing on special cuisine and Bunu Yao folk culture in Dahua Yao autonomous county, Hechi, has become a brand new calling card for local tourism, promoting the county's ethnic culture and poverty alleviation efforts.

In order to solve the employment of relocated impoverished people, Dahua built 120 buildings in Dahou town and opened 386 shops, providing about 3,000 job positions to the relocated people in the Gujiang resettlement area. A total of 80 free mobile booths have also been offered to poverty-stricken households for self-employment.

Dahua has made full use of the advantages of its ecological environment resources to develop a new format of business integrating culture, tourism, entertainment, food, and sightseeing, creating a new nighttime economy landmark in Hechi.

The development of nighttime economic activities in Dahua has played a big role under the current situation of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as it boosts nighttime tourism consumption and extends the stay of tourists, boosting Dahua’s poverty alleviation efforts, as well as economic and social development to a new level.

In 2019, Dahua received 2.78 million domestic and foreign tourists, with a total tourism consumption of 3.49 billion yuan ($494.02 million). The per capita disposable income of urban residents in the county was 25,552 yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent year-on-year, while the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 9,141 yuan, a year-on-year increase 11.3 percent. A total of 87,122 people have been lifted out of poverty and the incidence of poverty in Dahua has dropped from 25.80 percent in 2015 to 4.28 percent.