Travel Weekly Blog

A while ago we flagged up the womens' floor at Oslo hotel The Grand. Turns out that's just peanuts. The Shuangqiao District of China is attempting to boost tourism with a whole town ruled over by women.

Apparently Xinmin Village has long been run as a female-dominated society, and the region's tourism bureau wants to capitalise on that with an 'entertainment showing feminine culture'. Nothing wrong with leveraging your cultural assets, and China.org.cn's report points out that Xinmin is just 26 miles from the Dazu Rock Carvings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that already draws tourists into the area. Come for the carvings, stay for the matriarchy.

Anyway, I've a feeling it won't just be armchair anthropologists who come to Xinmin:

"Love whip" will be a feature of the scenic spot according to the program. In this area, a "Female Court" composed of "judges" and "captains" will be set up. Male tourists visiting here will be "whipped" by female tourists if, for example, they can't remember their sweethearts' eating habits quickly or the brand of her cosmetics.

Wonderful. Now that's niche tourism.

Nathan Midgley, Travelweekly.co.uk