Tourism industry in Bama sees rapid recovery

As the leader of the tourism industry in Hechi, Bama Yao autonomous county adopted three important measures in April to enable its tourism industry to quickly recover from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In early April, the Bama cultural tourism department held a forum with 46 business representatives from the county's tourism industry associations. After extensive consultations, Bama issued a number of measures to support the development of cultural tourism companies in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting cultural tourism enterprises registered in Bama, such as tourist attractions, rural tourist areas and farmhouses, hotels, travel agencies, as well as homestays to overcome difficulties from five aspects, spanning credit, finance, staff training, marketing, and project construction.

Moreover, in order to encourage travel agencies to expand the tourist source market through multiple channels, the county introduced a new policy that from May 1 to July 31, tour groups with more than 30 people registered in the county will receive a one-time subsidy of 2,500 yuan ($358.99). During this period, a total of 200 tour groups were subsidized, and the subsidy fund reached 500,000 yuan.

In addition, the county has issued cultural tourism consumption vouchers worth 1 million yuan to tourists from all over the country since July.

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, enterprises in Bama's tourism industry conducted online training to bolster the professional level and service capabilities of employees, as well as accelerated product innovation and research to make full preparations for the recovery of the tourism market and to further enhance their brand influence. The county has also adopted an active investment promotion policy to introduce new projects and create new tourism product formats, planned a number of tourist routes, as well as carried out online promotion events.

Since May 1, the number of visitors to various scenic spots in Bama has been increasing. The number of tourists and the total social tourism consumption from May to July have exceeded the same period of the previous year. It is expected that Bama received 896,800 domestic and foreign tourists in July, a year-on-year increase of 16.8 percent.