Hundreds of tourists pass through Su Yingli's living room every day just to look at her and how she lives after a theme park was built around her home in Baoting county. Huang Yiming / China Daily

"We increasingly do have foreign tourists from Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, and we stock more items for them such as coffee."

Li Bing, 26, works in her parents' cafe, Changrong Tea House, also in Zhongyuan, as well as earning up to 2,000 yuan ($322; 292 euros) a month in the local tourist visitor center.

She says opinion is divided in some parts of the island, with some believing the local government should invest more in healthcare and not just tourism, given local wages are lower than other cities.

"Although the main resorts of Sanya and Haikou benefit most from tourism, it does also boost businesses inland. Local businesses get revenue and it does create jobs."

Tourism has already benefited many of the ethnic groups on the island.

Hundreds of tourists pass through the 63-year widow Su Yingli's living room every day just to look at her and how she lives.

Although she has lived in the house all her life, a multimillion dollar theme park dedicated to the Li and Miao ethnic groups - the Binlang Valley Cultural Tourism Zone in Baoting county - was built around it 18 years ago

"I have never seen so many people in my life before this. I actually don't pay too much attention to them as they walk through and rarely talk to them," she says.

Su struggles to understand Mandarin and speaks Sai, one of five dialects spoken by Li people, who are unique to Hainan.

She lost her husband, Tan Jianrong, four years ago when he was 72, and now lives with two other women.

The house is basic, but one of the advantages of having a theme park on your doorstep is that there are cafes, places to watch TV and other modern facilities.

"There is plenty to do here. It is actually quite sociable. There are no special rules here. I just have to keep my house neat and tidy for the visitors."