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Trying times cast tourism turnaround
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-17 07:30

 Trying times cast tourism turnaround

Visitors play with windbells at a tourist spot in Lijiang, Yunnan province, last year. The popular travel destination has seen a recent drop in tourist arrivals. Liu Debin

Summer has arrived in Lijiang of Yunnan province and with it expectations of the annual peak tourist season in the popular travel destination.

But tour agent Niu Zhenlin has felt only the chill of empty streets in the city, as if the unusually heavy snowfall that hit the area in the beginning of the year has yet to thaw.

"This time last year, the famous bar street in the old town of Lijiang was so crowded you could hardly walk through it in the evening," Niu said.

"If you want to see the real Lijiang, and not the usual swarm of tourists, now is the time," he said.

The obvious plunge in tourist arrivals in Lijiang has directly impacted those like Niu, who make a living from such visitors.

As a manager of a small outdoor travel agency in Lijiang, Niu said he has received only two tour groups in the past week, compared with at least four groups a day for last year.

Even his company's most popular package - a hiking route along the Yulong Snow Mountain - has attracted just 45 customers last month, one-third of the 150 tourists from home and abroad last June, he said.

"It is unimaginable," Niu said. "This time last year, we did not even have enough time to sleep.

"But now, I have to ask my tour guides to take their holidays."

Niu himself has made plans to travel, something he could not afford in the past few years with his heavy workload.

"I will go into the wilderness to search for new routes for our outdoor trekking tours," he said.

To be sure, business in the past few years has been a breeze for people like Niu, whose wallets have swelled in line with the increasing popularity of Lijiang, since its inclusion on the World Heritage List in 1997.

Millions of tourists have flown thousands of miles to the southwestern corner of China each year - to catch a glimpse of its ingenious network of ancient waterways, quaint cobbled streets, and the fusion of various cultural traditions.

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