Chapter 181 Let’s Just Talk About the Present
Wang Min, however, keenly grasped another point Lin Ruoyan was making: "Boss Lin, what do you mean by the vegetable experimental base being open to the public?"
"Tourism is diverse. It's not just about seeing mountains and rivers and scenic spots, but also about agricultural tourism. Just like there are fruit and vegetable picking gardens in the suburbs of Beijing, we have a high-tech greenhouse here dedicated to developing vegetable growing techniques. We've invited agricultural experts from Beijing and the province to build a laboratory here, and we've also applied to designate this place as a teaching demonstration base."
Lin Ruoyan casually mentioned a few things about future agricultural tourism and youth research bases. "In the future, students from Hebei Province and Beijing, as well as various agricultural departments and companies, will come here for research and study. Isn't that tourism? They'll need a place to stay, so the hotel will have no shortage of customers. Mr. Wang is most familiar with hotels, so they must retain their conference functions. The two hotels to the south are for hot springs, and you can experience skiing here... We can even set up a chain operation and get some discount cards to attract customers from both hotels."
Wang Minxi said happily: "Yes, I am originally in the hotel business. Let's take it step by step and build the hotel first."
Li Li also said, "That makes sense. I think I know quite a few experts in the food processing industrial park and the high-tech vegetable greenhouse growing pilot zone. I also graduated with a food science degree, so I'll go back to my alma mater to look for old classmates and professors. Setting up a small-scale demonstration and donating a laboratory would only cost a few million yuan. Setting up a vegetable greenhouse costs much less than building a house."
"Yes, we will build a greenhouse first, and then we can bring in other people to run the food processing factory. You can just ask those people for benefits when the time comes." Lin Ruoyan saw that the two people's minds were open, and she began to talk about what she could participate in.
"As for me, I have a team specializing in hotel management. If Mr. Wang doesn't mind, I can help consolidate your hotels once they're built. I also own several B&Bs and designer hotels. If we can create a joint card, wouldn't that give members even more benefits?"
Wang Min nodded.
Li Li smiled and said, "You need to give me a few of these cards with internal rates. I heard that Mr. Lin's courtyard homestay is very unique. When can I go stay there?"
Lin Ruoyan smiled and said, "When you and Mr. Wang come, you can stay at my house. It's more spacious than the B&B. It's a proper old courtyard house, and all the furniture is real antiques."
If Wang Min and Li Li weren't both over fifty, old enough to be Lin Ruoyan's father, she wouldn't have dared to speak so intimately. Now, as they ate barbecue and drank beer, discussing future collaborations, the previous gloom was gone.
That night, Lao Zhan and Feng Qiang did not come to dinner. Lin Ruoyan assigned them another task, which was to investigate the situation on both sides of the main roads in and out of the county town to see if any foreign companies had done any development.
The next morning, the three of them from Lin Ruoyan held a meeting.
Lao Zhan and Feng Qiang started driving around the county town as soon as it got dark. It was only fifty kilometers from the prefecture-level city, a suburb by Beijing standards, yet it felt so desolate.
The only brightly lit area was within the county seat, which had a population of just over 30,000, less than the population of a middle school in the Central Plains. Around the county seat, the roads leading to the outside were practically dark, leaving few outsiders, let alone businesses, to visit the county.
Lao Zhan was looking at a car repair shop, but after asking around, he discovered they only fixed large trucks and had never seen a good car. Meanwhile, Feng Qiang focused on the layout of the various restaurants in the county, the availability of private rooms, and the prices of dishes and wine—you could tell a lot about the local economic situation. He felt a chill in his heart when he asked about it.
When locals come to the county town, the most expensive thing they spend is eating and drinking lavishly during weddings and funerals. Otherwise, there's really not much else. Foreign companies investing in the county town usually go to the prefecture-level city first. Who would come to this remote place?
Lin Ruoyan recalled the location of the ski resort described in the book, as well as the future where Chongl County would become Chongl District, the Seventh Ring Road would pass through the district, and the locations where high-speed rail stations would be set up. She then had a relatively clear plan in her mind.
The hotel and ski resort must be located near the high-speed rail station, with relatively convenient transportation. Building a road up the mountain is a necessary investment. As for other roads, the provincial highway is currently a rough but accessible one. With the announcement of the Winter Olympics, the site for the national highway and high-speed rail will also be quickly finalized.
Thinking in reverse, if there was no ski resort and no foundation for the ice and snow industry at the beginning, then this place would not have been chosen for the Winter Olympics. Therefore, in the very difficult initial stage, we have to rely on people like Li Li who persist in pursuing their ideals.
She couldn't tell them now that this place would become the most dazzling area in the future because of the Winter Olympics, but now that they had survived ten years and taken root in the local area, they must have gained more than they had paid.
She wanted to be involved in this project. She had to take a stake in the hotel. Li Li had the funds for the ski resort. She could also invest in the construction of apartments or a ski town surrounding the hotel.
On a macro scale, the Chongl County town with a population of 30,000 is the initial layout of the town. In the future, it will be all industrial parks, and high-tech vegetable farming will be equivalent to a model group. Hotels and the first phase of ski slopes are also large-scale supporting facilities for the ski town.
That morning, the three of them followed this line of thought, starting with the vegetable greenhouses and moving on to the hotel and supporting facilities. After this persuasion, the county finally agreed that the project was feasible. Wang Min was in charge of the funding and the team. At the very least, these projects would provide local employment for the county's migrant workers, and the vegetable greenhouses could be used to receive agricultural subsidies from the city.
After convincing the county, Lin Ruoyan said goodbye and returned to Beijing, planning to find a professional design and planning unit to make a major plan for the local area.
However, on the way back, Feng Qiang was still a little worried: "Boss Lin, if we invest this purely in the county, let alone make money, when can we recoup the cost? The local consumption level is very low."
Lin Ruoyan said, "To put it more noblely, our poverty alleviation efforts are also a meritorious service. People with poverty have limited aspirations. If we tell them now that we can achieve something even further, and they don't believe us, then we can start with what they do believe. The initial investment in a hotel won't require more than a few million, and we can even ask the county for land. These are all invisible benefits."
"Houses in this area can't be sold at a high price, so how can the land price go up?"
Lin Ruoyan smiled mysteriously. "If the ski resort here really gets built, it will be a treasure trove in the future. If you grab the land now and wait a few years, you might be able to turn a profit. You might not make a lot of money by building apartments and selling them, but if you resell it to someone else who wants to build a ski resort and hotel, it will be expensive."
Feng Qiang seemed to understand: "Mr. Lin, are you saying that if we build a ski resort, others will come and invest here?"
"Skiing is about scale and aggregation. Li Li's funds are limited, so the scale of the ski resorts he can develop is also limited. However, there are so many mountains here that there is room for several ski resorts. The county will eventually realize that a single dominant player is not good, and will try to attract other companies. I'm not sure whether the ice and snow industry can be developed, but there will definitely be a lot of ski resorts and hotels."
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