President Xi Jinping’s support for a campaign to build thousands of public toilets at tourist sites in China has ushered in a golden age of lavatory construction, as the government seeks to promote travel as a new economic growth engine.

While other elements of the Communist party’s ambitious economic reform plan have appeared to founder in the face of entrenched opposition, local officials are raising high the banner of China’s “toilet revolution”. According to the China National Tourism Administration, it built 14,320 toilets in 2015 and upgraded an additional 7,689.

At an event in the mountain town of Yesanpo, a popular weekend getaway in Hebei province, west of Beijing, CNTA deputy director Li Shihong said his agency would spend Rmb12.5bn ($1.9bn) this year on toilet construction, according to the official China News Service, while “tens of billions” more will be needed to complete the revolution, Mr Li added.