Starting from Dapu, Meizhou, the Lotus Mountains stretch from northeast to southwest, stretching over the land of eastern Guangdong. The mountain ranges have crisscross branches and peaks, all across the territory of Huidong County. They not only bring rich forest resources to the local area, but also breed precious hot spring resources.
Andun and Baipenzhu are the main gathering places of Huidong hot springs, with abundant hot springs. Entering autumn and winter, waves of cold air "heat up" hot spring tourism in Huidong Mountains. There is an endless stream of "hot spring guests" who come here to enjoy the comfort of hot springs deep in the mountains.
However, compared with "China's Hot Spring Town"Longmen, hot spring tourism in Huidong mountainous area is still in its infancy, the development method is relatively extensive, and the popularity of hot springs is not high. How to create a distinctive hot spring brand and promote hot spring tourism to "go out of the circle", Huidong is exploring the road to transformation.
In Retang Village, Andun Town, Huidong County, hot spring water with a temperature of nearly 90℃ flows out continuously.
Mountain hot spring tourism is booming
As autumn and winter enter, an endless stream of tourists breaks the tranquility in the mountains of Huidong. They come here because they want to experience the pool of "hot soup" that gushes out from the ground.
Drive from the Baipenzhu exit of Chaowuan Expressway and drive another 14 kilometers before entering the hot spring area of Hengjiang Village, Baipenzhu Town. There are more than 20 hot springs distributed underground here. The water quality is clear and clean, with an average water temperature of 51°C. It is rich in metasilicate, , sodium and other minerals. Various types of characteristic hot spring hotels are located on both sides of the provincial road, providing tourists with a variety of options such as wooden houses and courtyards.
If you drive more than 30 kilometers deeper into the mountains, you will reach the hot spring area of Retang Village in Andun Town. The Retang River passes through the village. Within 300 meters of it, hot water may emerge as long as the surface sand and gravel are removed. The hot spring water here has a temperature as high as 90°C and is rich in sulfur, fluorine and other elements. Many tourists come here for the natural sulfur spring.
As the main distribution areas of Huidong hot spring resources, Baipenzhu and Andun can also welcome many tourists on weekdays after entering the peak tourist season. Cars with Guangdong B and Guangdong S license plates drove over the mountains and into the small villages in the mountains.
Last Monday, Mr. Yao, a tourist from Dongguan, specially asked for leave and drove for two and a half hours to take his whole family to hot springs. "The hot springs here are really good, and the air in the mountains is good, so you can get more oxygen." Mr. Yao said that he planned to wait until his children are on winter vacation before taking his family to the hot springs together.
This bustling scene is something that the locals have never imagined. The hot soup that their ancestors have had at their fingertips for washing, bathing, and killing chickens and geese can one day turn into the "golden water" that makes them rich.
Villager Zeng Zhiwei was one of the first people to build a hot spring B&B in Retang Village. In 1993, he built a row of bungalows on his homestead and arranged a dozen guest rooms with hot spring bathtubs according to the configuration of a guest house. He also built several public bathing pools for people to soak in, and named them "Hedong Hot Springs".
"It costs three to five yuan to wash a bath, and it costs dozens of yuan to stay a night." Zeng Zhiwei remembers that bathing in hot springs was very cheap in those days, and most of the guests came to the village on bicycles or motorcycles to bathe in hot springs. "There are some in Huidong and some in Huizhou." . But the good times didn't last long. Within two or three years, the business slowed down. "The mountainous areas are remote and there are sandy roads. Sometimes I only earn more than 1,000 yuan in a winter." He had no choice but to leave the B&B idle and start a side business.
It was not until the Chao-Wan Expressway was completed and opened to traffic, opening up the communication channel between the Huidong mountainous area and the outside world, that the sleeping hot spring resources were reawakened. Zeng Zhiwei recalled that from 2014 to 2016, local hot spring tourism began to flourish. "Many hot spring hotels and B&Bs were built in the village, and more and more tourists came from Shenzhen and Dongguan."
Shuimei Hot Spring Resort is located in It was built and opened during that time. Different from traditional B&Bs such as Hedong Hot Spring, Shuimei Hot Spring is the first large-scale hot spring hotel in the area. It not only has nearly a hundred rooms, but also has outdoor swimming pools, gyms and other facilities. "At that time, many elderly people were using crutches to see why there were such tall buildings in the village." said Zhang Yanke, the person in charge of the hotel.
Driven by modern hotels such as Shuimei Hot Spring, family-style hot spring B&Bs are constantly being renovated and upgraded, and rooms are configured according to hotel standards. Over the past few years, Andun has more than 50 hot spring hotels and B&Bs, forming a hot spring accommodation pattern dominated by small B&Bs and supplemented by mid-to-high-end hotels. Baipenzhu has built a hot spring resort represented by 5 boutique hotels. district.
Today, in the hot spring area of Huidong Mountain, during holidays, each mid-to-high-end hot spring room can be sold for at least more than 500 yuan a night. According to rough statistics, the number of tourists received by the two towns in one year can exceed 300,000.
Retang Village, Andun Town, Huidong County, has developed many hot spring resort projects based on local conditions.
Hot spring resource development needs to be standardized
Walking into Retang Village, there are a dazzling array of shop signs on both sides of the main road. There are not only hot spring hotels and B&Bs, but also farm hotels and souvenir shops; there is a public spring next to the Retang River. There is a plaque saying "The First Spring in Lingnan", and many tourists come here to take photos and check in...
Because of the hot springs, the originally sparsely populated small mountain village has become bustling. "In the past, the village was basically empty of people, leaving only the elderly and children, and the permanent population was only a few hundred people; in recent years, due to the development of hot springs, more than 1,000 people have been living there." said Wu Weidong, secretary of the Party branch of Retang Village and director of the village committee. .
This is the epitome of the development of hot spring tourism in Huidong mountainous area. Over the years, the local area has used hot spring resources as the engine of development, forming a hot spring tourism industry that has begun to take shape. Hot spring tourism has become popular, and the mountainous areas have also become prosperous.
However, behind this prosperity, there is also a crisis. At present, the development of hot spring resources in mountainous areas is still in a disorderly state, and the development of hot spring tourism is relatively extensive. Compared with Baipenzhu, which has only 5 hot spring hotels, Andun has more prominent problems in the development of hot spring resources.
Wu Weidong introduced that the development of hot spring resources in Retang Village is mainly based on the villagers' own use model. When villagers want to open a B&B, they dig wells, lay pipes, and introduce hot spring water into the guest rooms. Although private wells are not allowed to be dug in the village starting in 2018, there are currently more than 100 hot spring wells in the village.
These hundreds of hot spring wells are the crux of the matter. In accordance with relevant laws and regulations, my country's mineral resource exploration and mining implements a license system, and the geological and mineral authorities should implement administrative licensing through bidding, auctions, listings, etc. Hot springs are geothermal resources, and mining hot spring water requires obtaining exploration and mining rights in accordance with the law. This means that mining hot springs has a certain professional threshold, requires corresponding cost investment, and is limited by the amount of mining. However, due to various reasons, the development of hot springs in Huidong Mountains is still in a gray area.
Promoting the orderly and standardized development of hot spring resources is a top priority for the development of hot spring tourism in Huidong mountainous areas. But this is not an easy task, especially since local people have enjoyed the gifts of nature for generations. The standardized development of resources must balance the relationship with the villagers' water tradition.
"We plan to coordinate the hot spring resources and supply hot spring water in a unified manner." Wu Weidong said that Huidong plans to refer to the centralized supply model implemented by Longmen in recent years and introduce Huidong County Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd. to acquire the geothermal resource mining rights in the Retang area and build The hot spring water plant uniformly supplies hot spring resources. As a result, the private hot spring wells in Retang Village will be gradually closed, and hotels and B&Bs will need to purchase hot spring water from the water plant for a fee.
This has triggered concerns among many local industry insiders that the pressure of rising water costs will be passed on to consumer groups, and the price of hot spring accommodation will inevitably rise, further affecting the source of customers. Zeng Zhiwei is worried that given Andun’s existing location and supporting facilities, weekend house prices will rise to more than 1,000 yuan, which will cause the loss of many guests and make it difficult for most B&Bs to survive.
"National resources should definitely be developed in a standardized way, but there must be a plan." In Zeng Zhiwei's view, if a large company enters and builds a local hot spring tourism brand, then even if he cannot do the hot spring business, he can still make money selling local products. “Promoting only paid water supply may cool down tourism in Andun Hot Spring,” he said.
Wu Weidong said that according to his vision, only by coordinating the hot spring resources, making detailed planning, and truly utilizing the resources can it benefit the local area."When hot soup is developed, it can serve as the leader in the development of Andun and drive the development of the entire old mountain area." He said.
A high-end B&B project has been developed on the banks of the Baima River in Hengjiang Village, Baipenzhu Town, Huidong County.
Planning and building a hot spring tourism cluster
To make hot spring tourism an industry that enriches the people, the most important thing is to make tourists stay. When tourists come, they must not only have fun, but also have fun and live comfortably, in order to promote the sustainable development of regional tourism.
After tourists arrive in Andun and Baipenzhu, besides soaking in hot springs, what else can they do? In order to solve this problem, the two towns are actively using hot spring resources to leverage more tourism resources and create richer tourism products.
In Andun Town , Shuimei Hot Spring Resort is developing red tourism routes, linking with red attractions such as the Guangdong-Jiangxi-Hunan Border Column Memorial Park, making full use of the red resources in the old revolutionary areas to attract more group tourists.
In Baipenzhu Town, Shunyi Oriental Hot Spring Hotel is building an organic farm to grow sweet potatoes and rice, and is linking with surrounding orchards and tea gardens to develop cultural tourism products such as farming experience, agricultural science popularization, and fruit and vegetable picking tours...
"Come Bubble hot spring , check in at Baipenzhu Reservoir , try some farmhouses, and take some agricultural products with you when you leave. "Lai Weiqiang, vice president of Huidong County Tourism Industry Association and person in charge of Shunyi Oriental Baipenhu Hot Spring Hotel, believes that tourists come. Staying for one night can produce real economic benefits. To develop hot spring tourism in mountainous areas, we must take advantage of the east wind of rural revitalization, make good use of green waters and green mountains, create rich and diverse cultural tourism products, promote the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and drive tourism in the entire mountainous area.
"The development of hot springs in Andun and Baipenzhu is relatively scattered and not large-scale." Luo Yunfeng, deputy director of Huidong County Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau, pointed out that the current development of hot spring tourism in Huidong mountainous areas is still in the original development stage, and the utilization rate of hot spring resources and the regional The influence is relatively low. There are problems such as homogeneous tourist facilities construction and backward tourist supporting facilities. The tourist experience needs to be improved.
Luo Yunfeng said that in response to existing problems, Huidong will gradually standardize the development and utilization of hot spring resources in the future, increase efforts to rectify hot springs in Baipenzhu, Andun and other places, introduce companies with hot spring development experience and strong financial strength, and rationally utilize hot springs. resource. At the same time, by integrating policy funds and market funds such as new countryside, rural revitalization, and four good rural roads, we will improve tourism infrastructure and public service supporting facilities such as tourist toilets, tourist signs, and tourist scenic avenues, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the hot spring tourism industry.
On this basis, Huidong will plan to build a hot spring tourism cluster. In the Baipenzhu Hot Spring Tourism Cluster, we will strengthen the protection of hot spring resources, coordinate Baipenzhu Hot Spring and pastoral agricultural resources, and link up with Baima Ancient Kiln to build a "slow life" hot spring tourist cluster; in the Andun Hot Spring Tourism Cluster, Seize the opportunity of the construction of the Hehui-Shantou Expressway to promote the integrated development of "hot springs + southern medicine", guide the concentrated development of projects, and create a hot spring tourism brand with Huidong characteristics.
Tourists visit the "First Spring in Lingnan" in Retang Village, Andun Town.
Extension
Andun: Build a hot spring water plant to supply geothermal resources
Andun town is located in the mountainous area in the northern part of Huidong County. It is the birthplace of the Guangdong-Jiangxi-Hunan border column and is rich in geothermal resources and forest resources. In recent years, with the development of hot spring tourism and red tourism , this mountain town has gradually become prosperous.
"Currently, the development of the core hot spring resources is still under further integration planning, and the development of the hot spring industry needs to transform from a 'small workshop' to a 'brand'." Yang Zhirong, member of the Party Committee and Deputy Mayor of Andun Town, said, Due to the influence of location conditions, traffic conditions, land space, hot spring resource management and control, the development of local hot spring tourism is still in an extensive mode.
Yang Zhirong introduced that Andun is compiling the "Rural Revitalization Plan for Retang Area", which will use hot spring resources as the core to connect Retang Village, Shuimei Village, Dabu Village, Yangtan Village to develop the big health industry , as well as related ecological agriculture industry, cultural and creative industry, tourism and leisure industry, sports industry, outdoor study and tourism and other related derivative industries, to build a new situation of integrated and linked development of the three industries.
Currently, Huidong County Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd. is preparing to build a hot spring water plant in Retang Village to promote the orderly and rational use of geothermal resources. It is reported that Andun will learn from the Longmen model. The county tourism group will acquire the local geothermal resource mining rights and build a hot spring water plant. It will not only centralize the paid supply of hot spring resources, but also monitor and monitor the quality of hot springs at any time to provide tourists with a high-quality hot spring experience. .
In addition, Andun will build a hot spring geopark under the guidance of the requirements for creating a provincial tourist resort and build it into the core area of the resort; introduce international brand hotels and build a hot spring reception center, hot spring water research center, and hot spring skin beauty research and development center. A hot spring resort hotel with central and other functions.
Baipenzhu: Creating a health-preserving, leisure and sightseeing belt
As one of the main distribution areas of hot spring resources in Huidong mountainous area, in recent years, a number of hot spring resort hotels and rural boutique B&Bs have been created in the hot spring belt of Hengjiang area of Baipenzhu Town. Currently, there are 15 tourism businesses in and around Hengjiang Village, which can provide more than 1,200 tourist reception beds.
However, since the development of the local hot spring industry is still in its infancy, there are still many problems in the development of hot spring tourism. According to Liao Sufang, member of the Baipenzhu Town Party Committee and deputy mayor, the current development of hot spring resources in the town is somewhat blind. Although a detailed control plan for the area has been compiled, there is no tourism development plan and tourist destination creation plan. Linked development The mechanism has yet to be formed. Moreover, due to current policy inclinations and insufficient project land quotas, many high-quality projects that intend to settle in Baipenzhu have been unable to land.
Liao Sufang said that currently, Baipenzhu is taking the opportunity of building a municipal-level "rural revitalization comprehensive demonstration zone" and creating a "demonstration town for the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries", combining the unique landscape and ecological resources to create an outdoor park based on Buxin Village. A national-level outdoor sports base with the sports base as its core, a hot spring tourism and health care town with the Hengjiang Hot Spring Zone as its core, planning and construction of a tourism service center, and striving to become a leisure center and health and wellness center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area .
"The Hengjiang Village Xinqiansheng Hot Spring Project, the Herunhe Health Care Project, and the Songyuan Yulong Mountain Hot Spring Resort Project have all completed project approval and are scheduled to start construction next year." Liao Sufang said that the town is accelerating the promotion of rural revitalization The B&B project library project in the demonstration zone has been implemented. The project library includes 14 B&B projects with an estimated total investment of 2.44 billion yuan. In the future, Baipenzhu will take the Hengjiang Village hot spring belt as the core, adhere to the principles of branding, specialization and scale, and expand and strengthen the hot spring health and wellness industry; and use Baima Village as a node to connect Baikalian outdoor sports and agricultural tourism. and the Hengjiang health care project to create a health care, leisure and sightseeing belt in the Baima area of Hengjiang.
Related:
Expert tips｜Wu Zhicai: Do a good job in developing Huidong hot spring resources from the point, line and network.
Industry voices｜Li Xingkai: Huidong hot spring tourism should take a differentiated and high-quality route
[Reporter] Yu Lei
[ Photography] Liang Weichun
[Author] Yu Lei; Liang Weichun
[Source] Southern Newspaper Media Group Southern+ client
Source: Southern+ - Create more value
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