The "family inn" phenomenon is a growing trend in China where home-owners open their unused properties to short-term lodgers, usually tourists.
The industry has seen explosive growth, according to a report released Wednesday by a branch of China Tourism Association.
The number of family inns on the Chinese mainland has reached about 200,000, a year-on-year increase of 300 percent, with more than 20,000 such businesses established in the southern province of Guangdong alone, the report said.
According to the report, chain stores and a concentration of family inns boost the development of regional tourism markets, which in turn increases the value of the inns themselves.
China's domestic tourism industry earned about 3.9 trillion yuan (589.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, and there are plans to raise tourism revenue to 7 trillion yuan by 2020.
China is working to develop tourism into a major driver of economic transformation. By 2020, investment in tourism is expected to grow to 2 trillion yuan, and the sector will contribute more than 12 percent of GDP growth, according to a State Council five-year tourism plan (2016-2020).
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