China's richest village banks on wealth to bring in tourists

It is not often that a village in East China figures prominently on the must visit tourist destinations. But in recent times, the buzz and excitement over Huaxi in East China has been such that the "richest village in China" now suddenly finds itself bracing for a wave of tourists, both from home and abroad.

So what is it that the model village with a registered population of just 2,000 farmers has done to garner such attention, one may be tempted to ask?

For starters, Huaxi, in Jiangyin, East China's Jiangsu province, is no ordinary village, but one in which every family has at least one house or villa, cars and more than $250,000 in the bank.

Until recently the economic prowess of the village came from industries like textiles and iron and steel. But with industrial fortunes fluctuating, the village is now banking on its wealth to bring in more tourists and revenue.

Established in 1961, the village has few historic buildings or cultural relics and relies mostly on its artificial wonders to attract tourists.

Situated to the north of Shanghai, Huaxi is home to replicas of seven of the world's most famous structures like the Statue of Liberty and the Arc de Triomphe, to the Great Wall of China, the Tian'anmen rostrum and the Sydney Opera House.

But last month the little village grabbed global attention when it unveiled a gigantic 328-meter skyscraper, built at a cost of more than 3 billion yuan. The 72-floor, 800-room, Long Wish hotel is the high point of luxury in the region as it has a gold leaf-covered reception area and a 1-ton, solid gold statue of an ox, worth more than 300 million yuan.

Wu Xie'en, the village chief of Huaxi, says tourist visits have been growing steadily in recent times. "Every day about 5,000 tourists come to visit the village," he says. Last year, 2.5 million people visited the village, generating income of 200 million yuan.

The number of foreign tourists has also been increasing steadily. In 2010, 100,000 foreigners visited, and the numbers this year are expected to grow by 30 percent, village officials say.

Lack of entertainment facilities was one of the main reasons why most of the tourists did not stay in the village and restricted their visits to just a day. Dai Liming, general manager of Long Wish hotel, however, says with the new hotel things will change.

"We want the high-end tourists to stay with us and experience all the luxuries. So we have specially designed karaoke rooms, tea houses, clubs, bars and game rooms in the new hotel," he says.

The gold ox on the 60th floor of the hotel is already a popular tourist attraction. "Ox is the symbol of our village, as it represents the hardworking nature of the villagers," Dai says.

Although the hotel has several eye-catching facilities, Dai admits that it will take some time for it to break even. "If the occupancy rate can reach 50 percent, or 400 rooms every night, then we can recover our operating costs and start making profits."

Dai, however, feels that in three to five years the hotel will break even, given the current surge in tourist flows.

Huaxi has set up its own travel agency and has ties with more than 2,000 agencies in and out of China to promote the village's tourism.

To further promote the Huaxi brand, the village has also teamed up with the high-end liquor brand Wuliangye Group, and Huaiyin Cigarette, to make special custom-made souvenirs for tourists.

The northern part of the village is dedicated to "featured agriculture". With most of the land in the village occupied by residential and industrial buildings, the village has little land for massive agriculture. So it combines agriculture with tourism to attract people from the nearby cities who want to experience a slice of farm life.

There are three tropical greenhouses in the village that grow tropical fruits such as coffee beans, banana and pineapple, and new varieties of vegetables. The site is incorporated into a one-day tour where visitors can see snake-shaped cucumbers, 150 kilogram-pumpkins and colorful gourds.

The products are supplied to local hotels, restaurants and high-end supermarkets in nearby cities, local farmers say. Last year, the village made nearly 60 million yuan ($9.5 million, 7 million euros) from its agriculture business.

Earlier this year, the village also spent 90 million yuan to buy two helicopters: one Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil (Squirrel) by Eurocopter Group and one MD Explorer 902 made by the Mesa, Arizona-based MD Helicopters Inc for tourists who want to have a bird's-eye view of the village.

"The helicopters haven't been put into commercial use yet, except for some distinguished guests," says Wu Xie'en.

Though the helicopter purchase has come in for flak from several quarters, Wu sees nothing wrong in it. "The opening-up of the low-altitude airspace is under pilot test in the Pearl River Delta in South China. I think the Yangtze River Delta, where Huaxi village is located, will follow soon."

"By then, we will have already accumulated some experience in running this business," Wu says. "I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the helicopter tourism sector."