Inner Mongolia turns scenery into stories and experiences

Videos of people in spacesuits walking across black volcanic rocks once went viral on Chinese short-video platforms. The "Martian surface" was not a special effect. It was the Ulan Hada volcanic cluster in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Located about 400 kilometers from Beijing, the site has become a popular destination among young travelers for its distinctive basalt landscape. In less than two hours by high-speed train, visitors can reach this striking scenic area from Beijing. Upon their arrival, they find that its appeal goes far more beyond a single "space photo". The story of Ulan Hada is a vivid example of how Inner Mongolia's tourism is moving from sightseeing to deeper experience.

The rise of the Ulan Hada volcano cluster have caught many tourists by surprise. Only a few years ago, this "natural volcano museum" attracted mainly geologists, but very few tourists. The turning point came with short-video platforms. Visitors noticed that its surface resembled that of Mars, put on spacesuits and filmed themselves like "walking on Mars". As the videos spread, a volcano dormant for nearly 6,000 years has become a sought-after tourist destination online.

But online traffic comes fast and fades fast. Ulan Hada's answer is to turn a quick photo stop into a full-day experience. The scenic area has developed a four-season volcano tourism system to break seasonal limits. Visitors can now camp under the stars, attend music festivals and experience volcanic hot springs.

A livestream of the Geminid meteor shower in December 2025 drew more than 15 million views. In 2025, Ulan Hada received 5.07 million tourists and generated more than 3.77 billion yuan ($55.5 million) in tourism revenue, directly helping more than 2,000 farming and herding households transform their livelihoods and increase their incomes.

Its success reflects what today's travelers increasingly want. They not only want to see scenery, but also want to become part of it. When a volcano can offer a one-of-a-kind "social currency", it is no longer a barren "Martian wasteland". It becomes a lifestyle scene worth traveling for.

More than 200 kilometers west of Ulan Hada, the "Village Super League" horse races are in full swing on the grasslands of Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner. The races are organized through points-based leagues, with outstanding riders and horses selected from local villages. Many herders raise their own horses and organize horse races themselves.

From 2024 to March 2026, 21 races have been held, drawing more than 480,000 tourists and 1,834 horses from inside and outside the region. The event has generated 54.2 million yuan in integrated culture-tourism revenue. Tourist numbers rose 29.8 percent year-on-year, while culture-tourism revenue increased 26.7 percent. It also gained more than 10 million online views.

In the past, a two-year-old horse might sell for only 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. Today, a foal can start at 30,000 yuan, while a high-quality horse can fetch up to 100,000 yuan. Racing and the horse industry are now reinforcing each other.

On this grassland, the most moving scenery is the meeting of people. Riders gallop forward as spectators cheer. At the Nadam fair, herders and tourists taste traditional food and experience Mongolian culture together. Nearly 200 supporting cultural activities have brought traditional customs such as ceremonies honoring outstanding horses and celebrations of twin foals from deep inside the grassland into public view.

Inner Mongolia's immersive tourism map extends far beyond these examples. In 2025, the region received more than 300 million domestic tourists and recorded over 450 billion yuan in domestic tourism revenue, both reaching historic highs.

Winter, once the off-season, has become a new growth engine. During the 2025-26 ice-and-snow season, Inner Mongolia launched the "Daily Nadam" brand, covering 159 activities and 17 high-quality ice-and-snow sports tourism routes. Winter grasslands now offer attractive destinations everywhere: Manzhouli's three-country culture, Baotou's Yellow River ice viewing, Arxan's hot springs and rime landscapes, Chifeng's international events, and Alxa League's space-themed viewing experiences. During this period, 45 distinctive ice-and-snow routes were also launched, turning winter into a season of lively consumption.

Roads, too, are becoming destinations. The G331 national highway winds along the China-Mongolia-Russia border and is known among self-driving enthusiasts as a "northern epic". In Bayannur, a 1,600-kilometer self-driving corridor links deserts, canyons, grasslands and historical sites, allowing travelers to immerse themselves in border scenery.

Cultural heritage is also being brought to life. The Inner Mongolia Museum has become a "first stop" for visitors seeking to understand the region's history and culture. Cultural products inspired by relics continue to attract attention on social media. Cultural relics are not only coming alive, but are attracting more viewers.

To further upgrade Inner Mongolia's tourism experience, the region should focus its efforts on three areas.

First, the region should build landmark products based on its own strengths. Tourism is, in essence, about entering an unfamiliar scene and gaining an experience of it. For many visitors, Inner Mongolia itself is such an attractive scene. With grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes, deserts and ice-and-snow resources, it should avoid homogeneous competition, define the core themes of each league and city, and cultivate landmark immersive projects such as nomadic culture on the grasslands, wellness vacations in forests, and featuring slow-travel experiences like fruit picking, hiking, birdwatching, and medicinal cuisine, off-road adventure and stargazing in deserts, and stronger ice-and-snow Nadam brands in winter areas.

Second, it should deepen culture-tourism integration and strengthen cultural identity. The goal is to move visitors from curiosity to understanding and emotional connection. The region can develop cultural routes that foster interactions and exchanges among ethnic groups. Visitors can also engage in interactive quests, including riddle-solving and adventure challenges, to make the journey more immersive.

It can also leverage museum collections and industrial tourism resources in aerospace, mining, defense industries and dairy production. By shifting from simply displaying sites and facilities to telling stories of innovation, perseverance and shared achievements, these experiences can make history more vivid and meaningful for visitors.

Third, public services should be improved. Inner Mongolia has four distinct seasons and long, cold winters. Traditional tourism has long been concentrated in summer and autumn. To boost all-season tourism, products must stand the test and services must keep up with tourist demand. Season-specific safety warning systems should be established for spring thaw, summer thunderstorms, autumn fire prevention and icy winter roads. Tourist service centers, medical aid points and vehicle rescue stations should be added at key scenic areas and transport nodes, so visitors can feel Inner Mongolia's sincerity and warmth amid its vast grasslands and pure snowfields.

The development of Inner Mongolia's culture and tourism industry shows that when tourism scenes naturally carry symbols of home and country and awaken patriotic feeling, the sense of community for the Chinese nation grows through shared cheers, cooperation and emotion.

In Ulan Hada homestays, visitors receive spacesuits bearing the national flag from local farmers and herders; at the Darhan Muminggan racecourse, riders and spectators cheer together for the winner; at the national gates along the G331 border highway, self-driving travelers from across the country spontaneously sing the national anthem; and in the Inner Mongolia Museum, relics connect the long history of exchanges, interaction and integration among ethnic groups.

This vast land is the shared home of all ethnic groups. Resources define the direction of tourism, culture determines its depth, and service quality shapes every visitor's experience. By using resources wisely, telling cultural stories effectively and providing quality services, Inner Mongolia can turn every visitor's journey into an experience worth remembering. When travel feels like coming home, online attention gains a human touch, and distant places feel closer than ever.

Zhou Tianyi is a lecturer at the Central Academy of Culture and Tourism Administration, and Sun Jiashan is a researcher at the Central Institute of Socialism.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

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