Kunshan's tourism industry


(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2013-07-10

Kunshan's tourism industry provides four major products and services: Tours to the old water towns, Kunshan's most popular tourism product. Zhouzhuang, which is referred to as the "Venice of the East", is China's only tourist attraction with an AAAAA rating ancient cities, towns and villages. Visitors can enjoy the style and features of a typical water town and their way of life, such as gathering oysters. At night, there is the "Zhouzhuang in All Seasons" show which recreates the original simple life of a water town, with a natural watery stage at Jiangnanrenjia. Jinxi, and other water towns near Kunshan, has a culture and atmosphere that is completely different from that of Zhouzhuan. Jinxi is regarded as a Chinese folk museum, known for its bridge and brick-tile structures. The town of Qingdeng is a new tourism site with sophisticated tourist facilities and is the birthplace of Kun opera and home of Gu Yanwu, the scholar. It has other cultural items such as the largest Jade Reclining Buddha.

The ecology sites, another Kunshan tourism product, include Kunshan Holiday Resort, one of Jiangsu's first province-level holiday zones, which consists of two tourist centers -- Yangcheng Lake, to the south and Dianshan Lake, to the north. There is a golf course, yacht club, sports park and ecological farm along the lakes. Yangcheng Lake is a new tourist and holiday zone that is expected to drive Kunshan's tourist development. The town of Ba, near the lake, is famous for its delicate, tasty crabs, and for its AAA-rated lake center, Chuodun, the Chongning Temple, old streets, an ecological farm, vineyards, and an international golf course.

The rural parts of Kunshan integrate agriculture with tourism, and are is regarded as the city's third major tourism product. The 17-square kilometers of agriculture demonstration areas holds many rural sightseeing projects, where visitors can glimpse the interesting wildlife in the Dangui Garden, visit the enormous farm in the Datang Garden, have fun in Crocodile Valley, and emjoy the beautiful flowers in the landscaped garden. Sighting tours give city dwellers an opportunity to escape their work and get a refreshing look at nature.

A forth tourism service is the urban leisure program, where, for example, you can climb Mount Yufeng in the city center, for a panoramic view of the whole city. There are many gardens and pavilions that show Kunshan's "three treasures" -- kunshan stones, jade flowers, and the lotus flowers. The environment of the 200-hectare national wetland park is fresh, making it a rare natural-oxygen bar. Visitors can also enjoy the scenery of a 12-km scenic area that stretches along the river, via the canals. Meanwhile, the modern enterprises, such as Kone Elevator, Giant, and Suntory Beer, give travelers a chance to see the manufacturing strength of the city.

Kunshan has one AAAAA-rated tourist area, three AAAA-rated areas, one AAA-rated area, 10 national industrial and agricultural demonstration zones, 10 agro-tainments, 25 star hotels (two five-star, five four-star), 25 travel agencies, and two tourist information centers, which provide complete, very satisfactory services. In 2009, Kunshan had 11.3 million tourists form all over the world, bringing it 11.5 billion yuan ($1.85 billion) in revenues. In 2010, the tourist figure reached 15.2 million and related revenues, 16.1 billion yuan. The city has established a "Kunshan, South China jewel" brand.

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