The tourism market across China has entered its peak season as the bustling summer vacation season kicks off, boosted by a rising influx of international travelers taking advantage of visa-free policies.
Multiple parks and tourist attractions in Beijing have adopted innovative approaches to enhance tourist experiences, introducing nighttime tours and adding extra excitement.
Jingxinzhai, a delicate garden in the capital city's Beihai Park, has launched immersive cultural activities for evening tours that seamlessly blend diverse cultural elements including gardening, traditional opera, and intangible cultural heritage. Visitors are presented with a unique opportunity to experience the captivating charm of traditional arts firsthand.
In northwest China, Kalajun Grassland in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been experiencing a surge in tourism these past few days. The daily number of visitors to the area has exceeded 10,000. Renowned for its expansive green pastures, rolling hills, and diverse flora and fauna, it is significant for its natural beauty and serves as a habitat for various wildlife species. Visitors can explore its serene and breathtaking landscape.
In addition to traditional attractions such as snow-capped mountains, forests, and a sea of flowers, visitors can also experience activities like rafting, rock climbing, cable cars, hiking, and paragliding.
Meanwhile, cultural tourism in southern Xinjiang has become a new highlight of summer travel this year.
"If you're planning to have fun during summer vacation, Kashgar in Xinjiang is definitely an excellent tourist destination. It's not just the delicious cuisine, it also has unique and stunning landscapes that I haven't experienced in other tourist areas," said Fan Misuo, a student from Nanjing University.
During the summer travel season from July 1st to August 31st, the volume of flight bookings for travel to and from Xinjiang in various provinces and regions across the country has increased by approximately 27 percent compared to the previous year, according to the latest data.
As an increasing number of countries have been added to China's visa exemption list, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of foreign tourists entering the country for tourism purposes.
"Because of this, we don't have a burden of all the bureaucracy that comes with a visa. And so that's great. It saves time and saves money," said a Polish traveler.
"In the first half of this year, the number of foreign tourists entering through the Hangzhou port without a visa exceeded 45,300, marking a remarkable growth rate of over 74.5 times compared to the same period last year," said Zhao Zhangyi, deputy captain of the fourth border inspection team of Hangzhou entry-exit border inspection station.
China's tourism market enters peak season as summer vacation kicks off
Visiting boundary markers seems to have become a new trend in holiday-making on frontier regions in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province neighboring Russia so far in the week-long National Day holiday that started on October 1.
At the border gateways and boundary monuments on the 2,981-kilometer frontier in Heilongjiang, tourists from all over the country are seen stopping to have photos taken with the boundary monuments or markers, with some listening to stories told by frontier police officers about past events associated with the frontier regions.
In China, the National Day holiday is a peak travel and tourism season.
Lying in the easternmost point of China is the Wusu Town Dongji Square in Fuyuan City of Heilongjiang Province. Next to the huge sculpture bearing the Chinese character of "East" in the square, the five-star Chinese national flag is fluttering in the wind. Just beside the national flag is a boundary monument, which has become an attraction to visitors.
Many of the visitors say that having a picture taken with the boundary monument on the occasion of the National Day holiday would make them feel honored about happy powerful their motherland is.
Li Xin, a police officer with the Wusu Town Border Police Station on duty at the Dongji Square, said he has felt the enthusiasm of visitors.
Li said that the number of tourists visiting the Doingji Square so far in the National Day holiday has doubled compared to the same period of last year.
In Mohe, the northernmost city in China which is more than 2,000 kilometers away from Dongji, visitors are also seen flocking to the Beiji (North Pole) Village to have pictures taken with the local boundary marker.
Zhang Jiale, a police officer with the Arctic Border Police Station in Mohe, expressed the same feeling as Li Xin.
In Suifenhe, another frontier city in Heilongjiang, tourists also seen enthusiastically flocking to the boundary monument beside the third-generation border gateway to have pictures taken with it. The Suifenhe Gateway Scenic Spot is located at the zero point of Suifenhe Highway Port G10 Suiman Expressway, the largest land port to Russia in Heilongjiang Province. It is the only longitudinal cross-border scenic spot in China and the only one that integrates three generations of border gateways in China's gateway scenic spots.
In this scenic spot, tourists frequently ask Wang Jiaxing, a police officer with the Suifenhe Entry-Exit Border Checkpoint on duty, to help take photos or ask about how to make a tourist travel to the neighboring country.
Ke Zunlei, a tourist from Shanghai, visited the site with his wife and young daughter.
"Standing at a frontier region of my own country, I feel that this place is quite sacred," Ke said.
In Hutou Township of Jixi City in the province, the boundary marker "292-1-2014," which marks the starting point of the Wusuli River between China and Russia, also attracts many visitors to make a visit and take photos.
Visiting boundary markers becomes new trend in China's National Day holiday travel
