Various folk activities at Meixin Wine Town attract tourists. (Photo/Meixin Wine Town)

Chongqing - During the recent Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) holiday, many homestays in Chongqing gained popularity due to their personalized, distinctive, and high-quality services. 

According to data from Meituan Travel, Chongqing is ranked among the top 10 tourist destinations in China for holidays. On Ctrip, an online travel platform in China, hotel and homestay bookings in Chongqing saw a 24 percent increase compared to last year, with many homestays experiencing high demand and limited availability.

Homestay boom

Rural tourism became a popular travel choice for the Qingming Festival holiday. According to data from major travel platforms, orders for rural tourism in Chongqing increased by 20 percent compared to last year. Themes such as ancient town exploration, flower viewing, and folk culture were among the top attractions, driving a surge in business for local homestays.

At Meixin Wine Town in Chongqing's Fuling District, riverside homestays and courtyard homestays saw a peak in bookings during the Qingming Festival holiday.

"Many homestays have now become tourist destinations themselves," said a representative from Meixin Wine Town. The representative added that these rural homestays, characterized by a slow pace and a close connection to nature, offer urban tourists a refreshing experience in the countryside and allow foreign visitors to experience the unique charm of rural China.

Some homestays have introduced innovative offerings to enhance tourists' experiences. For example, several homestays in Meixin Wine Town offered packages that included banquets set amid blooming rapeseed flowers, allowing tourists to experience traditional folk customs. Locally made seasonal treats, such as qingtuan (a traditional Chinese snack with a modern twist), further contributed to the festive atmosphere. The representative said the scenic area received over 310,000 visits during the three-day holiday.

Other homestays have adopted similar strategies. In Hong'an Ancient Town in Xiushan County, most local homestays are located near the town, allowing tourists to enjoy live performances and participate in traditional folk activities. In Dongsheng Village in Beibei District, rural homestays have combined farming culture experiences with other activities, attracting a large number of families from the city center.

Unique experiences

Beyond meeting tourists' basic accommodation needs, more and more homestays are exploring integration with other industries to enrich the visitor experience.

In Jingzhu Village of Wulong District, the "Guiyuan Town" cultural and tourism project has been introduced in recent years. It adopts an integrated development model of "tourist attractions + rural complex + themed town + beautiful countryside construction."

"The designers used local stone bricks and wood to transform old farmer houses into rural homestays and forest libraries," said Chen Ju, Party Secretary of the Village, adding that maintaining the original rural beauty, more and more tourists have been visiting for village tours, and the unique homestays are often fully booked.

Visitors here can not only experience distinctive rural homestays but also enjoy local village cafes transformed from tobacco-drying houses and cave restaurants carved out of natural caves, attracting many tourists specifically for these experiences. According to Chen, what was once a desolate mountain village has now become a resort full of rural charm.

Similarly, in Sanhe Village, Shapingba District, the local homestays have partnered with the Sanhe Art Museum, which hosts over 150 young artists, to provide services such as art study tours for visitors. Pottery-making and architectural design experiences, which are offered by another project in the area, have also become favorites among visitors.

"Nowadays, the main consumers of homestays focus more on emotional value and cultural experiences," said Wang Dingguo, President of the Chongqing Culture and Tourism Association, adding that homestays are a culturally innovative tourism product, and its content needs continuous iteration and optimization.

Brands with distinct characteristics

Many homestay industry professionals have shared that well-organized, unique activities can become a homestay's feature, attracting tourists to share their experiences on social platforms, which in turn brings more traffic and exposure.

During the Qingming Festival holiday, a homestay in Anfeng Community, Zhushan Town, Liangping District was popular among visitors. Wu Mei, the homestay's manager, explained that, in addition to its ecological advantages, the secret of the homestay's success is its cultural foundation based on the integration of transportation and tourism.

Wu said that the homestay relocated or made rubbings of six iconic ancient post road stone tablets to the original school playground site. The former school auditorium has been restored to feature landscapes of ancient roads and bridges. Inside the homestay, a transportation culture exhibition hall showcases the history and culture of Liangping's transportation.

"To stand out in the competitive homestay market, the Chongqing homestay industry must develop brand awareness and create homestay brands with distinct Chongqing characteristics," said Zhang Chang, Deputy Director of the Resource Development Department of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development.

Wang believed that homestays in the city need cross-industry cooperation. Using industry platforms, they should develop more competitive cultural tourism products. This way, tourists can enjoy the quality service of star-rated hotels while experiencing the unique nostalgic warmth of homestays in Chongqing.

(Dai Xuelin, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)

(Chongqing Daily contributed to this report.)