Domestic tourism on the rise

The domestic tourism industry of China has recovered steadily throughout 2021, in spite of sporadic cases of COVID-19.

Chinese visitors are increasingly looking to explore and enjoy domestic destinations. They appear to prefer in-depth travel experiences with diversified themes and focus more on neighboring regions. Many decide on their travel plans based on online recommendations.

Some big tourism events throughout the year have hit the headlines and stirred hot debates, influencing the choices of visitors.

Red sites prove popular

As 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Red tourism has become increasingly popular among Chinese travelers, especially younger generations.

Meanwhile, the Red tourism industry has developed quickly by integrating with other industries such as culture, science and technology.

Travelers can visit revolutionary sites and watch dramas based on real events to learn about the heroic deeds of martyrs.

The Chinese government unveiled 100 classic Red tourism routes in early 2021, with extensive themes ranging from the CPC's history to China's poverty alleviation and rural vitalization.

According to tourism authorities, from 2014 to 2019, the number of tourists involved in Red tourism in China increased from 140 million to 1.41 billion.

Chinese tourism website Mafengwo and the China Tourism Academy recently unveiled a report about Red tourism. In the report, over 41.7 percent of those surveyed said they visited Red tourism sites more than three times in 2021 and 40 percent said they made their own choices to go on such trips.

The respondents said they most preferred Red tourism themed homestay and performances.

The popularity of Red movies and TV series has made their shooting locations and related historical sites popular.

The war epic The Eight Hundred has drawn many visitors to Shanghai's Sihang Warehouse Memorial Hall, the site of a critical battle in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

The report also revealed that the top five popular Red tourism cities are Beijing, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, Shanghai, Changsha in Hunan province and Chongqing.

Most Red tourism travelers were from first- and second-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Touching tales

While summer vacation is a peak season for tourism, the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, led the city to temporarily close all scenic areas. Local citizens were confined to their homes and all communities adopted closed-off management.

Zhangjiajie's scenic spots are known for their stunning karst scenery with distinctive views throughout the seasons.

The sudden closing was a heavy blow for the city's pillar industry of tourism, which was counting on the peak season for recovery, but it's a decision that had to be made, so as to prevent the pandemic from spreading to other regions.

Zhangjiajie's authorities wrote a sincere open letter to visitors, persuading them to get tested for COVID-19 at exclusive spots three times before leaving the city, for the health of themselves and others. The city offered all necessary help to visitors, including a 24/7 consultation hotline.

The city's scenic areas released a group of posters of their picturesque views, which went viral online, with touching messages on them inviting travelers to visit the city again when the COVID-19 situation was under control.

Netizens spoke highly of Zhangjiajie's actions because of "the warmth" they contained.

Indeed, the tourism industry in China has been influenced greatly due to the ongoing pandemic, yet those who still work in the industry stick to their posts, ensuring rights and interests and the safety of visitors.

For the convenience of visitors, travel operators, airlines, hotels and scenic areas offer special policies of refunding, postponing and changing tickets, targeting those who were affected by the situation.

On the night of Oct 31, while marvelous fireworks were exploding above the romantic castle at Shanghai Disney Resort, medical staff were working hard to take on-site nucleic acid tests for tens of thousands of visitors before they could leave the theme park.

That was because the resort had to deal with an epidemiological investigation related to other provinces.

As Sichuan-based news outlet Red Star News reported, tourist Xiao Hong (pseudonym) said that everyone remained orderly and lined up patiently and that working personnel looked after pregnant women and children when they were in need.

She said many visitors were dressed up in costumes because it was Halloween. It was an indelible experience for them to take the test and watch fireworks at the same time. She was satisfied with the prompt and well-organized measures.

Trips for Quan Hongchan

In August, 14-year-old Quan Hongchan won the gold medal of the women's 10-meter platform diving in the Tokyo Olympic Games, breaking the world record.

In a media video interview, she said that during holidays, she could only go home and was not able to travel to other places because her family had no money. She had never visited an amusement park or a zoo before.

Touched by her story, some netizens called for tourism enterprises to help Quan to grant her wishes.

Chimelong Safari and Paradise parks in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, were the first to take action.

They announced that they would provide Quan and other Olympic athletes from the Chinese diving team annual cards for the parks, with VIP services.

On social networking platform Sina Weibo, over 50 culture and tourism bureaus and 80 scenic areas, including theme parks and zoos, across the country, warmly invited Quan for a trip when the pandemic eased.

They also shared travel tips and pretty photos of destinations, and interacted with netizens－making it a good opportunity to promote themselves online among potential visitors.

The hashtag "Quan Hongchan was favored greatly by the tourism industry" soon became a top trending topic on Sina Weibo, gaining about 190 million views. Netizens commented that "she deserves it".

Universal appeal

On Sept 20, Universal Beijing Resort officially opened to the public, including the Universal Studios Beijing theme park and the Universal CityWalk Beijing.

It is expected to receive over 10 million tourists a year, bringing in an annual revenue of about 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion).

Tickets for the resort's opening day sold out within about a minute when they went on sale.

At the site of Hogwarts Castle and Diagon Alley, young Chinese guests dress up in robes and wield magic wands, fulfilling their dreams of becoming the classmates of Harry Potter.

Besides familiar characters like the Minions and giant dinosaurs from Jurassic World, visitors can enjoy traditional Chinese elements at the Kung Fu Panda themed land.

Visiting the theme park has become a trending topic on Chinese social media.

Tourists like to share their travel tips online via beautiful photos and short videos, including the exciting experience of bumping into Chinese celebrities there.

The most famous celebrity at the theme park is probably Megatron, the giant-sized Decepticon that rivals the heroic Autobots.

People line up to interact with Megatron onstage and take photos with him, after watching online video clips of him conversing entertainingly with visitors.

He is dubbed a social butterfly and stand-up comedian, delivering punchlines on various topics.

Currently, the resort is planning its second phase of construction, covering 2.2 square kilometers, with five more hotels to be built.

Love for LinaBell

On Sept 29, the pink fox LinaBell, the newest member of Duffy and Friends, made her global debut at Shanghai Disney Resort.

Unlike other Disney characters, LinaBell has never been in any cartoon series or film. She meets Duffy in the forest and helps him find his way home.

The life-size plush animal has quickly won the hearts of Chinese fans, due to her adorable appearance, charming personality and detective-like talent.

Her soaring fame has almost made her a superstar.

Young Chinese, mostly females, are willing to line up for several hours for her meet-and-greets, just for an interaction with her for one minute.

LinaBell's souvenirs, especially stuffed dolls, sell out instantly and demands exceed supply. Scalpers resell them for a much higher price online. Her ubiquitous short videos online have won her more fans.

She doesn't speak but uses various gestures and body language as a reply to those who talk with her.

"Cute" is the most common word used by her fans, who are obsessed with her actions.

She plays rock, paper, scissors, gives "hand heart" gestures, dances happily and flicks her tail. When tourists are impolite, she pretends that she has a sword in hand and draws it from its sheath and stamps her foot.

Altered photos stir debate

Netizens complained that they were misled by overly retouched photos of the so-called internet-famous scenic spots.

A small blue house nearby the ocean in Hainan province turned out to be dilapidated and overgrown with weeds.

Standing on a white ladder leading upward into the sky, you would get a fantastic photo that resembles a classic scene from the movie The Truman Show.

In reality, it's just a small ladder on a beach, set up especially for taking such photos.

Many shared similar experiences, claiming that they were unpleasantly surprised in a similar fashion, as with the contrast between the goods one sometimes sees described so well online and what one actually receives.

Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), a Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform, said in an announcement that they sincerely apologize to its users for the incident of such overly retouched photos.

It admitted that some users overly retouched their travel photos, and when others visited on-site, they would think they're deceived when the reality didn't match expectations.

The platform said it would offer users diversified information, such as avoid-to-visit lists.

The internet user who posted the blue house near the ocean in Hainan showed the original photos on her social media and said she didn't overly retouch them, and that they were taken on a sunny day. She said the blue house was a place free to visit and she was just sharing her favorite photos.

Li Xinjian, dean of the School of Tourism Management at Beijing International Studies University, says it's like selling second-rate goods at best quality prices－these heavily filtered photos disappoint visitors because they're not qualified scenic areas.

He suggests that platforms should establish a mechanism to identify such misleading photos and tourists need to learn to discern them. Visitors should not be too credulous of online reviews and should focus more on the travel experience. Destinations and scenic spots should also pay attention to their online reputation timely. "In the mobile internet era, we should not stay in the first stage of tourism, knowing nothing about the destination except taking photos," he says.