Protection and development

Tourism in Hunan is also marked by environmental awareness. From water-saving toilets to electric and hybrid cars, advanced facilities are employed to protect the environment.

Millions of tourists flock to tourism spots everyday, but garbage is hardly found on the streets. Behind the cleanliness lie the efforts of a group of volunteers.

According to an old lady who carried her little granddaughter in a backpack, volunteers are encouraged by the local government to pick up empty beverage bottles left on streets by tourists in order to protect the environment and also earn some extra income by selling the bottles at the waste collection stations.

She told ChinAfrica that although these actions seem insignificant, they will determine whether or not her granddaughter can still breathe pure air in the future.

With wonderful natural resources, rich cultures and awareness for environmental protection, tourism in Hunan also faces some problems. According to Zhou Zemeng, the main problem is the large number of tourists exceeds capacity. These may have a negative impact on scenery spots. Fenghuang today is quite different from several years ago. To relieve some of the pressure of too many visitors, the local government is working on a project to build a new city near Fenghuang.

"We do not lack tourists, but the structure needs to be improved," said Zhou. "Foreign tourists are mainly from South Korea and Southeast Asia, while there are not that many European and North American visitors. In the future, we will continue working on strengthening communication and coordination with outside. Twelve of the top 100 travel agencies are already located in Zhangjiajie. I believe that the tourist structure will be gradually improved in the future."