As attractions, museums, zoos, and theme parks throughout Europe begin to reopen as the spread of COVID-19 slows, China moves even further ahead with reopening plans. Momentum across the Chinese tourism industry has been gathering ahead of the Children’s Day celebrations. Data collected from Qunar shows that by the end of May, over 7000 attractions had reopened in China, including over 600 theme parks, 2100 natural attractions, and more than 1000 historic sites.
In Trip.com’s latest survey, they found that over 90 per cent of the attractions participating had launched online reservation systems, to monitor guest flow and avoid a further outbreak. As one of the attractions to reopen in May, Chimelong Water Park announced that over 10,000 tickets were sold over the first three days of reopening.
As one of the worst-hit industries amid the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was one of the main focuses at the 2020 Two Sessions summit. A series of methods, including tax cuts and financial support, will be used to help businesses survive throughout the global crisis. The Chinese Government are also heavily encouraging a digital transformation throughout the tourism sector.
Recently, discussions have taken place over whether to make Beijing the ‘City of Museums.’ Talks included institutions such as the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, and the Beijing Museum Society. As it stands, there are currently 187 registered museums of different sizes and themes within the city, making Beijing one of the most important museum cities in the world.
The Zhongyuan Sunac Resort, the biggest winter-themed resort in central China, held a groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month. Situated in Xinxiang City, Henan Province, this project will cost around 5 billion yuan, and will include attractions such as a snow park, ice park, water park, hotel complex, sports park, water sports area, and a lakeside business town.
As restrictions on large scale exhibitions and conferences in China have been lifted, the Guangdong Government have ordered exhibition centres to reschedule several events in the calendar for this year. One of which, the Asia Amusement and Attractions Expo has been left with no choice but to reschedule, to take place one day earlier than first announced. The new date for the expo is August 3-5, 2020.
