After constant complaints by travelers about the poor sanitation facilities at popular tourist destinations in Yunnan Province, it seems that the government has finally decided to act.
The Yunnan Tourism Bureau has said that it will build 600 “three-star-rated” toilets in the wake of a national call for a “toilet revolution.”
The local administrations will build 336 new toilets at popular tourist destinations and upgrade 265 toilets. They will invest 30 million yuan ($4.7 million) every year until 2017.
The announcement comes following an ugly controversy online, as frustrated tourists began venting about their miserable experiences in some of the famous tourist sites.
A user named jonhson_q complained about his experience while travelling in Tengchong, Yunnan.
"The toilet is poorly managed and disgusting; but what pissed me off was that when I left, an old woman charged me 1 yuan," he wrote.
“The women’s toilet at Zhejiang’s Putuo Mountain is so disgusting, and the queue was so long…,” wrote another user named @zhanchitiankong8.
Just last month, Li Jinzao, Chief of the National Tourism Bureau, said that the central government plans to improve toilets at tourist sites in the next three years.
A five-star toilet in Yangzhou
By 2017, toilets at the nation’s big tourist sites, including travel routes, restaurants, entertainment venues and transport hubs, would all be upgraded to “three-star-rating” facilities. That means improved quality, better hygiene and better management.
