Cloud tourism has taken over China as new means to explore the Mainland

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism also made a new policy, which involved the suspension of trips in areas where Covid-19 cases are prevalent

A trend that has recently come up during the Labour Day holiday in early May is called “cloud tourism,” which had become popular due to people not being allowed outside in fear of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, according to Xinhua. 

Through livestreaming, people can virtually go to tourist destinations without compromising their health.

Veteran tour guide Zha Liguo and hundreds of thousands of travellers enjoyed five stunning sunrises and sunsets over Huangshan Mountain, which is a UNESCO world heritage site in east China’s Anhui Province.

In less than a month, a live tour of Shanghai Wild Animal Park garnered more than 10 million viewers. During the Labour Day holiday, over 1 million people visited many cultural attractions, gorgeous vistas, and museums in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, north China.

“The epidemic has made it hard for many people to travel far away. I hope to share the magnificent view of Huangshan Mountain in different seasons from my own perspective,” said Zha Liguo. 

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Huang Jie, deputy general manager of a local tourism company, added that apart from the landscape, the tour guides also take audiences closer to local traditional folk customs and intangible cultural heritage, saying “Compared with the traditional cursory tour, ‘cloud tourism’ can give them a much deeper understanding of a place.”

Virtual reality and internet influencers have become a new way to explore the world.

CGTN covered a survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Newspaper, which revealed that out of 2,085 respondents, 74.8 percent prefer to travel online, 59.7 percent said they had a positive experience with virtual travel, and 84.1 percent said it enhanced their trip experience.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism made a new policy, which involved the suspension of trips in areas where Covid-19 cases are prevalent. The New Straits Times notes this as less rigorous than the former blanket rule, which involved travel operators stopping cross-provincial group trips if any minor areas inside the province got infected with a high or medium viral risk.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].