‘ Red tourism’ gains traction over holiday
▶ Internet, technology to play a bigger role in outing, sightseeing
Travel to historical sites with a revolutionary legacy in China, or “red tourism,” continued to gain popularity during the three- day Dragon Boat Festival which ended on Monday, with bookings for red tourism products surging 60 percent yearon- year, platform data showed.
According to a report that online travel booking platform Trip. com sent to the Global Times, Beijing, Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province and Yan'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province were among the most popular red tourism destinations during the holiday.
The Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution and the Zaoyuan revolutionary site in Yan'an city were among top 10 red tourism sites.
A 38- year- old Beijing resident named Liu Jie traveled with his family to Xibaipo Village, a revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China ( CPC), in North China's Hebei Province. “We want our kid to receive patriotic education from visiting the red tourism site and understand that happiness is achieved through hard work,” he told the Global Times, noting that he plans to take his child to one red tourism attraction every year to learn from the CPC's revolutionary spirit.
According the culture and tourism department of Central China's Hubei Province, visiting historical sites and receiving revolutionary education has now become a new choice for Chinese sight- seers. Short videos promoting Wuhan's red tourism gained 18 million views on short- video platform Douyin, while red tourism accounted for more than 25 percent of the total travel revenue in Daye city, read an article on the government agency's website on Saturday.
Xu Xiaolei, marketing manager at China's CYTS Tours Holding Co, told the Global Times on Monday that red tourism in China has gained popularity over the past several years, especially in 2021, which marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of trips to red tourism sites across the country increased to 1.41 billion in 2019 from 140 million in 2004.
On May 31, the Chinese authorities rolled out 100 renowned travel routes to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, giving a further boost to the booming red tourism.
However, Xu said that in order to promote the long- term sustainable development of red tourism, travel agencies should creatively increase interactions in their products to increase fun by allowing visitors to immerse themselves in experiencing red culture -- for example, arranging a wide variety of cultural shows.
“The internet and technologies have a greater role to play in boosting red tourism,” he said.