Dahua Dahong town: A model for Guangxi's night economy

Dahong town in Hechi's Dahua Yao autonomous county is a place for poverty alleviation relocation, whose night tourism economy is developed through the snack town construction. 

Dahua is located on the banks of the Hongshui River, and is known as the "hometown of longevity in China" and the "national ecological food demonstration base". It is only a 1.5-hour drive from the regional capital Nanning. In order to develop its tourism industry, the county has vigorously improved its urban appearance, built a corridor on both sides of the Hongshui River, and decorated the night landscape with lights.

Dahua Yao autonomous county at night. [Photo/Wechant account : dahuashidian]

The beautiful landscape and delicious foods make nightlife attractive in Dahua, attracting more and more tourists every day. Dahong town now has 12 hotels, about 300 restaurants, and 11 entertainment venues, which mainly cater to night tourism. Last year, the night food market in Dahong town was named in "Guangxi's Top 10 Food Night Markets.”

"I feel that the Zhuang and Yao ethnic groups' food is very good, and original delicacies," said Zhang Zhike, a tourist from Shenzhen, Guangdong province. He said that Dahua's fantastic nightlife is very impressive.

The night economy has become a new bright spot for the economic development of Dahua. From January to June this year, Dahua has received a total of 1,674,500 tourists. Among them, the night snack market received 580,000 tourists, accounting for 34.7 percent. The total tourism consumption was 2.37 billion yuan ($367 million) in the first half of 2021, of which the total consumption of night snack market tourism was about 580 million yuan, accounting for 24.5 percent.

In recent years, major cities and some villages in Guangxi have been making efforts to explore a night tourism economy model suitable for local development in order to release the huge potential of night tourism consumption.