Tourism in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture

In 1988, Dehong Prefectural Tourist Bureau was founded. Until 1991, the tourist bureaux in the counties and cities had been established one after another. On the 9th July of 1990, approved by the State Council, Luxi County, Wanding Town and Ruili County were opened up towards the foreigners. The prefectural committee of C.P.C and the prefectural government worked out a developing guideline of tourist trade, "Focusing Mainly on Tourism, Supporting Tourism with commerce and Promoting Commerce by tourism so as to Develop Manufacturing Industry of Tourism Product". On April 9 of 1991, the program of "One Day Tour for the Border Area of Sino-Myanmar " was started up and it facilitated the tourism in full flourish；in the same year，the transnational tourists reached more than 40,000 and there were 7 travel agencies, of which 4 reached the rank of second grade and 3 were third grade; there were 2 companies of tourist serving, 7 assigned guesthouses and restaurants concerning foreign affairs, 1 shopping center concerning foreign affairs, and 1 corporation of tourist automobile transportation.

In the prefecture, there were 121 tourist automobiles, of which 6 were large passenger buses, 107 were small passenger buses and 8 were cars. There were 700 employees whose jobs involved in the tourism; 3354 foreign tourists were received and 6.08 million dollars of foreign exchange was earned; 2373 tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were received and 430,000 dollars of foreign exchange was earned; 2.98 million domestic tourists were received and the gross income was 178.02 million Yuan. In 1992, 40,000 persons participated in the program of "Sino-Myanmar Transnational Tour". In the following years, led by the rapid economic development in Dehong Prefecture, the tourist trade was developing into a new high stage year by year and created such a favorable situation that for a time, the guesthouses, hostels and travel agencies in Dehong could not provide enough rooms to accommodate the tourists and the tourist trade impelled the rapid booming of the other correlational industries.

In 1996, the preferential policies for border trade in Dehong Prefecture came to an ending and the tourist trade ever promoted by border trade therewith let down, in particular, after the Asia Financial Crisis in 1997, the tourist trade in Dehong Prefecture got into a all-time lower stage. During the period of “The Tenth Five-year Plan”, tourist trade was labeled as the mainstay industry to be developed by the prefectural committee of C.P.C. and the prefectural government; a series of policies and measures were been issued and taken for the tourism industry; in December of 2003, " the resolution regarding further accelerating tourist trade development by the prefectural committee of CPC and the prefectural government " was promulgated.

In 2004, in the Sixth Plenary Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Prefectural Committee of CPC, the developing thought of "Prospering the Development of the Prefecture by Tourism" was put forward; the tourist industry again met a great opportunity in Dehong Prefecture. Up to the year of 2005, two excellent tourist cities, Ruili and Luxi had been established successfully in Dehong Prefecture; among the prefectures and cities in Yunnan Province, Dehong was the only region that owned two excellent tourist cities; it established successfully the first demonstrative agricultural tourist spot----Dadenghan Dai Village in Ruili and six tourist scenic spots of country level, of which Nandian Xuanfu Administration Office, Moli Scenic Spot of Tropical Raining Forest in Ruili and the Mengbanaxi Garden for Rare Animals and Plants were assessed as tourist scenic spot of 4 A class; the construction work of tour routes had been done for Yunyan Mountain in Yingjiang, the Eastern Jewelry City in Ruili, the Ruilijiang Square, Mangshi Square, Yingjiang Square, Munao Square in Longchuan, the King of Banyan Trees and other scenic spots. The restoring of the former residence of Li Genyuan, the restoring and rebuilding of the Wanding Bridge, the newly-built Monument for Nanyang Mechanical Workers and the rebuilding for part of the guesthouses, largely improved the construction of tourism infrastructure and tourism circumstances in Dehong Prefecture.

The principal natural, human and cultural landscapes in Dehong were: the Mengbanaxi Garden for Rare Animals and Plants, Mangshi Pagoda Wrapped by Banyan, Mangshi Bodhi Temple，Wuyun Temple，Bukkoji，Kwan-yin Temple，Mangshi Peacock Lake, Three Celestials' Hole in Mangshi, the River Drifting Tour in Wanding Primitive Forest in Ruili, the Terminal of Yunnan-Myanmar Road---Wanding Bridge, Wanding Ecological Park, Moli Scenic Spot of Tropical Raining Forest and the Buddha Footprint, Jiele Pagoda of Golden Bear, Jiegao Port, Leiyun Relic of Aircraft Factory, Dadenghan Dai Village, the Site of Ancient Luchuan City, the Washing Field of Gem, A Bordering Street Across China and Myanmar, the Jingkan Pagoda of Jade Rabbit in Longchuan, China Jingpo Park in Guangshan and the Green Leave Feast, the Shanguan Yamun of Jingpo People in Bangjiao, Yunyan Buddhist Pagoda in Yingjiang, the King of Banyan Trees, the Monument of “Majiali accident”, Kaibangya Lake, the "Eight Passes and Nine Narrows", the Celestial Being Hole in Jiemao, Tiger Jump Stone, Water Leaking Hole, Nandian Tusi Yamun, and the Former Residence of Li Genyuan in Zhedao. Owning the beautiful subtropical scenery, colorful ethnic custom and habits, the ample religious Buddhist temples and pagodas, the brilliant border ports and prosperous jewelry trade, Dehong Prefecture bears such a good reputation of "Homeland for Peacocks", "Land for Mythology", and "Land for Ethnic Singing and Dancing" that it is abundant in tourism resources.

During the period of “The Tenth Five-year Plan”, the total received population in tourist trade was 1,183,550,000 in the prefecture, of which 21,340,000 were overseas tourists and 1,162.21million were domestic tourists. 26,800 million Yuan was realized for the earnings of foreign exchange from tourism; 645,900 million Yuan was realized for domestic tour income and the gross income for tourist trade was 865,300 million Yuan. The population entering the country from ports was 432.09 million.

By the end of 2005, there had been 27 travel agencies in Dehong Prefecture, among which 3 were international travel agencies, 24 were domestic travel agencies; there had been 172 registered tour guides and 35 guesthouses and hotels of star grades, of which 1 was a four-star hotel, 2 were 3-star hotels, and 31 were 2 -star hotels; the employees involved directly or indirectly in tourism were more than ten thousand; the received population all year around in tourist trade was 292.02 million, of which 47773 were overseas tourists and 287,240,000 were domestic tourists; 6,382,850,000 dollars was realized for the earnings of foreign exchange from tourism(including the port income) and 268,200 million Yuan was realized for the gross income of domestic tour; the One Day Tour population who entering the country through the ports was 85,490,000. The contribution of tourist trade to the socio-economic development in Dehong Prefecture become more and more apparent and its feature of "smokeless industry" in the national economy is gradually showing up distinctly.