China Hoping Big-Budget “Toilet Revolution” Will Spur Tourism

Whether a tourist destination has dazzling scenery, famed museums, ancient ruins, or just really fantastic nightlife, there’s one thing all visitors want to find in foreign lands: plenty of clean public restrooms. That’s where China’s plan for a “toilet revolution” comes in.

Tourists can give quite a boost to the economy — dining, sightseeing, shopping, etc. — but they’ll be a lot happier if they have reliable access to hygienic bathrooms.

To that end, as part of a $290 billion investment into tourism, China says it will upgrade public toilets in a “toilet revolution” prompted by widespread complaints about gross conditions at the country’s top tourist spots, Reuters reports.

The revolution will include building or renovating up to 100,000 public toilets between now and 2020.

The efforts will help boost China’s tourism industry, the country’s cabinet said, predicting that domestic travelers will take 6.4 billion trips annually by 2020, up from 4 billion in 2015. The number of visits by overseas travelers is expected to hit 150 million, up from 134 million last year.