Ice pops find sweet spot in tourists' hearts

CHANGSHA－In a bid to enhance visitor experience as large groups of tourists swarm scenic spots during the May Day holiday, popular tourist areas have gotten creative with their icy cool offerings.

Though summer is still a month away, travelers at tourist hot spots are snatching up ice pops shaped like local landmarks or iconic treasures to mark their visits.

The sweet tooth trend began when some tourists posted pictures of ice cream bars in the shape of two millennia-old bronze masks unearthed from the legendary Sanxingdui Ruins on social media during the first day of the May Day holiday.

The ice cream is sold at the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan province, and comes in two flavors-"bronze" matcha and "excavation" chocolate.

Other tourist destinations from Wuhan's Yellow Crane Tower to a Catholic church in Shandong province's Qingdao soon followed the social media trend with their own offerings, attracting tourists to take pictures of the sites together with their ice pop miniatures.

"I would visit these scenic sites just for these ice cream bars," writes a netizen on social media platform Sina Weibo below a flurry of ice cream photos.

At Yueyang Tower, a tourist magnet along Dongting Lake in Hunan province, more than 22,000 ice pops in the shape of the ancient building were sold during the five-day holiday. The ice pops are priced at 18 yuan ($2.80) each.

"We hope the ice cream can give visitors a better 'taste' of the ancient wisdom and life philosophy that the building stands for," says Li Caixia, director of the Yueyang Tower tourist site management.

Chinese tourist sites and cultural institutes have invested heavily in the development of creative cultural products, which is believed to have contributed to the boom in cultural tourism in recent years.

"The trendy, unique and creative cultural products like the ice cream have won over many consumers in the younger generations," says Zhou Yunqing, a sociology professor at Wuhan University. "It is also a sign of China's growing cultural confidence."

China's tourism market has seen a strong comeback during the May Day holiday thanks to the effective control of COVID-19. According to official data, the total passenger trips made during the May Day holiday reached 230 million, representing a significant increase as compared with the same period last year.

Xinhua