{"id":1872,"date":"2017-12-05T15:48:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T15:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/?p=1872"},"modified":"2018-08-01T14:58:45","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T13:58:45","slug":"toilet-tourism-boost-for-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/?p=1872","title":{"rendered":"Toilet Tourism boost for China"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Xi Jinping, now a bathroom aficionado after frequent visits to inspect the facilities in rural homes, has announced he’s doubling down on a campaign for a Chinese “toilet revolution” that he launched in 2015. Voicing the concerns of many a wary traveller, the communist leader said clean toilets were the cornerstone of a civilized society and would help boost\u00a0travel\u00a0to China as well as improving the hygiene of the masses.<\/p>\n

China has opened about 68,000 improved bathrooms in tourist areas around the country since Xi began his campaign. Good news for places in China that have long had a notorious reputation for appalling standards of public restroom hygiene. Once deterring visitors with its doorless dry toilets, Jiuzhaigou Natural Reserve in southwestern Sichuan province has just welcomed a series of\u00a0new eco-toilets\u00a0around the area.<\/p>\n

Last year, Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, held a competition to select the most outstanding toilets in tourist attractions. Lijiang Old Town — previously known for toilets without individual cubicles –claimed top prize\u00a0for offering facilities with odour eliminators, a motion sensor dustbin and green plants.<\/p>\n

\"toilet<\/p>\n

“Toilet issues are not petty matters but an important aspect of satisfying the public’s desire for a decent and healthy life,” Jack Sim, founder of global sanitation campaigner the World Toilet Organization.<\/p>\n

Sim, aka “Mr. Toilet,” says a lack of clean facilities could harm China’s tourism industry in the long run. “China is a beautiful country with rich natural landscapes and culture and a long history,” he says. “But the lack of clean toilets made tourism impossible to be promoted as the tour agencies always get bad reports and complaints after the tour — as the stench, filth and terrible condition of many Chinese toilets horrified foreign visitors.”<\/p>\n

China’s government says it now wants toilet improvements nationwide — from tourism spots to cities to rural backwaters. One of the biggest challenges, according to the WTO, is changing cultural attitudes.<\/p>\n

\"toilets<\/p>\n

“In many cases, money is not the problem, but it is a mindset problem,” says Bai Lin, WTO’s China project manager. “If we are able to make toilets fashionable, just like a cell phone, a TV, or a dream, we can change the toilet culture of China.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Xi Jinping, now a bathroom aficionado after frequent visits to inspect the facilities in rural homes, has announced he’s doubling down on a campaign for a Chinese “toilet revolution” that he launched in 2015. Voicing the concerns of many a wary traveller, the communist leader said clean toilets were the cornerstone of a civilized<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1872"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1878,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions\/1878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btaloos.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}