The Wannian Ice Cave, outside Xinzhou city, Shanxi province, maintains a year-round sub-zero average temperature.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
China’s tourism market has continued to gain robust momentum this summer. Tourism platform Mafengwo unveiled its summer travel trend report on Thursday, showing that searches related to summer travel have skyrocketed 238 percent month-on-month in the past week.
As the national college entrance examination ended in early June, searches for graduation trips jumped 175 percent year-on-year from the previous week, while parent-child tour searches have increased 166 percent. Travel keywords featuring summer retreat stays and long-distance self-driving tours have seen an average search increase of 140 percent compared to last year, while terms linked to extreme sports and outdoor hiking have climbed 126 percent on average.
Guizhou, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Guangxi are among the most popular provincial-level regions for summer travel destinations. Summer resorts in southwestern and northwestern regions have become top travel picks for tourists, and destinations like Xinjiang and Yunnan have tapped into the booming demand for long-haul travel, with iconic self-driving routes.
Young travelers prefer visiting filming locations and scenic spots featured in popular movies and TV series, and such screen-inspired travel alongside immersive cultural projects is also fueling the summer travel boom.
The recent hit film Dear You has driven interest in locations and food in Chaoshan region in Guangdong province. Travelers also want to visit the Palace Museum in Beijing, which served as a core narrative backdrop in the 2011 hit TV series Empresses in the Palace.
Inspired by the Chinese literary classic A Dream of Red Mansions, the immersive theater complex known as Unique Dream of Red Mansion, in Langfang, Hebei province, has become a popular tourist choice, where visitors can experience various theatrical performances.
With pleasant cool weather, unique karst landscapes, ethnic group cultures and great value-for-money travel experiences, Guizhou has emerged as this summer’s popular destination for Generation Z travelers. They favor outdoor activities such as white-water rafting and stream trekking.
Besides that, ancient architecture exploration, ecological wildlife experiences and industrial cultural tours are popular programs for upgraded study tours in summer.