Poland Hotels Booking

Myanmar will grant visa-on-arrival for cross-border tourists entering by road from Teng Chong, southwestern Yunnan province of China, to travel deep into Myanmar’s tourist sites by air en route the border town of Myitkyina in the northernmost Kachin state, according to local media .
As part of its bid to promote cross-border tourism with China, Myanmar […]

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

China National Aviation Holding will soon complete the takeover of East Star Airlines, a small private air carrier located in Wuhan, Hubei Province, central China
The general manager, Kong Dong, said that early this year, Air China announced that its parent, CNAH, was in preliminary negotiations with related sides, but they had not entered into any […]

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

The illustration is of a  model of a seven-star hotel in Sanya, in which Chinese real-estate company Antaeus Group has invested RMB2 billion. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2011. The resort will be designed by the same company that designed the seven-star hotel Burj Al Arab in Dubai and will be managed by […]

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

In a sense it is possible to say the problems Macau has been facing through restricted entry will go away in the months to come. This is because the Chinese province of Guangdong and the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong are going to cooperate to develop the Pearl River Delta with the […]

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

Mandarin Oriental had no hotels in China before this year. Hong Kong and almost everywhere else in Asia (and the world), but China remained virgin territory until January, when the Mandarin Oriental Sanya opened on Hainan Island.
The design of the tropical complex was inspired by the minority culture of Hainan Island.
As well as the […]

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

Map of Heiziazi Island which will be half Chinese

Half of Heixiazi island, which was returned to China in the middle of October, could be developed as a tourist resort according to an an official from Fuyuan county, Heilongjiang province.

Yu Wenli, head of the Fuyuan tourism bureau, said the return marked the end of a 79-year dispute over the island between Russia and China, and offers new opportunities for Fuyuan, which borders the island.
‘I have received a lot of inquiries about developing the island as a tourist resort,’ Yu said.

Heiziazi Island

The Fuyuan trade and investment promotion department said more than 20 businesspeople from Guangzhou, Beijing, Dalian, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have shown interest in the tourism plan, and setting up import/export businesses.

Zhu Sijun, deputy director of the publicity department of Fuyuan, said: ‘In view of the island’s geographic location, a proposal to develop the area into a Northeast Asia free trade zone is also under consideration.’

Discussions on building a railway to connect the island with the mainland are already under way, and an airport is also envisaged.

Heixiazi Island is located at the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Wusuli rivers, and serves as a natural border between China and Russia. It was occupied by the former Soviet Union during a 1929 border skirmish.
Source: China Daily

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

Farmers creating art in China helping tourism

A program that helps farmers brush up on painting skills is becoming a tourist attraction.

A group of farmers-turned-artists in Jinshan county is bringing prominence to folk art. Home to 15 households, the Jinshan village is located 80 kilometres from downtown Shanghai.

There are some 70 such communities dotted across China as local governments are keen to set up these groups to bring in tourism dollars.

In 2006, one of the painting villages got US$1.2 million to help peasant painters set up shop.

Hu Bo Fang, vice general manager, Shanghai Fengjing Historical Town Tourist Developing Company, said: ‘In 2006, we invited them to live in the village for free. We did not charge them or take a commission from their sales of artwork.

‘We did not make a profit from it. But after half a year, when sales got better and tourists started to visit, we started to charge them rent.’
More HERE.
Source: Channel News Asia

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

Fuzhou Tai Jiang

China Yida, a leading media and tourism management company, will work with the Yongtai County Government to develop the largest leisure and tourism destination in the city of Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province. China

Yida has submitted the proposed transaction to the local government for approval and expects to reach a definitive agreement by the end of 2008.

It has the potential to become a world-class resort attracting visitors from neighboring coastal areas such as Xiamen, Quanzhou and Putian, as well as from other regions of China. In addition, the cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen are both popular destinations for business functions and conferences.

The leisure and tourism destination is located near the capital city of Fuzhou in Yongtai County and the entire scenic site has a total area of 48 square kilometers.
More HERE.
Source: PR NewsWire

author Gareth Powell, source feedproxy.google.com

China is waking up to the attraction is has within each state. Most unlikely but, honestly, Guangdong has abundant and unique tourism resources in each of its 21 cities.

They include natural attractions such as hot springs and mountains, and man-made travel spots, including the Hakka Round Houses and golf courses.

In the northern part of the capital city Guangzhou, Baiyun Mountain attracts a large number of international and local tourists very day.

Only 6 kilometers from Guangzhou’s center, the mountain’s summit, 380 meter Moxing Peak, can be reached by cable car.

The site also includes the newly built Bird Paradise, the largest aviary facility in China. A park at the summit is home to Baiyun Wanwang Pavilion.

The mountain is among the eight-most popular travel sites in Guangzhou.

Eastern Guangdong is home to most Hakka people in the nation. Their unique round houses have been built for several centuries, with those in Shizhai county of Shanwei city are the most famous.
Source: China.org.cn

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

National Park

Tangwanghe National Park, in northeastern China’s Lesser Hinggan Mountains, will serve as a pilot park for a national park system.

While there are hundreds of nominal national parks in China, they function more like national historic and scenic spots.

Tangwanghe National Park will also focus on scientific research and environmental protection education. The area is notable for its extensive virgin forests of Korean broadleafed pines and ‘geological relics’ unique to China. Vegetation covers approximately 99.8% of the park.

Let us hope and pray that those monstrous mobile holiday homes called Winnebagos which so bedevil American national parks are never seen in China.
Source: Backpacker

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

The lights of Macau

Sino Express Travel will manage a 160-room hotel in Macau for 10 years. Construction and furnishing installations of the Macau hotel are at the final stages with a target completion by the end of this year.

Macau’s economy is largely based on tourism and casino gambling; the gambling revenues from Macau’s casinos made news in 2006 by surpassing those of Las Vegas strip.

Sino believes the hotel in the vibrant market of Macau will add great value to its growing portfolio of hotels and attractions.

The potential problem is that the Chinese government may not totally agree with Sino Express Travel and Macau.

It has already started slowing down the visas issued and there is a strong change that it may go further if the financial situation worsens. 50% of the gambling money lost in Macau comes from China.
Source: MarketWatch

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Crowds at Golden Week

Retails sales and the number of tourists throughout the Golden Week holiday broke records in China’s tourism industry.

This year’s National Day holiday, which marks the 1949 founding of the People’s Republic of China, ran from September 29 through October 5.

Figures released by the National Tourism Administration (NTA) showed the country’s 119 major tourist destinations received more than 18.29 million visitors. That’s an increase of 13.2% from a year earlier. The NTA also said ticket sales rose by 16.4% from last year which means there has been some easing upwards of prices.

The country’s retail sales during the Golden Week exceeded RM420 billion (about $61.3 billion), jumping 21% from the same holiday last year.
More HERE.
Source: Window of China

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Macau gambling casinos

A report that China is imposing new visa restrictions for visitors to Macau is taking a toll on U.S. gaming stocks with properties in Asia’s Las Vegas.

The South China Morning Post said Mainland authorities have quietly changed the visitation policy for the residents of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

Residents now are allowed one trip every three months instead of two months. One of Macau’s biggest sources of customers is Guangdong.

The Hong Kong-based paper said the new policy, which quietly took effect on October 1, seems to be aimed at curbing the outflow of Mainland money and limiting casino development.

U.S. companies with hotel casinos in Macau include MGM Mirage, Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands.

China’s new visa policy follows several moves to tighten visits to Macau since June.

Andy Wu Keng-kuong, president of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, said the visa limits could hurt growth in Mainland visitors.

He still expects visitor numbers for the year to be up 10% from 2007. Visitor arrivals to Macau have been rising by almost 20% annually in recent years.
Source: CNN Money. com

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Huangguoshu Waterfall

Located almost 140 kilometers from Guizhou’s provincial capital of Guiyang the Huangguoshu Waterfall in Southwestern China’s Guizhou Province  is the biggest in Asia and one of China’s most famous tourist spots.

The Huangguoshu Waterfall Festival was set up with the stated aim of attracting even more visitors to the area.

Started in 2004, the festival showcases regional folk customs and culture. A performance offering a glimpse into the civilization and ancient rituals of Guizhou’s Tunpu people, marked the start of the festival. (The fact that such cultural events have, generally, been found to be a major turn-off for tourists is somewhat besides the point for it has already happened.)

Tour groups have made the trip to the area for the festival. And over 200 thousand people are expected to visit the waterfall during China’s National Day holiday.
Source: CCTV.com

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Olympics Birds Nest

The most popular attraction in China at the moment is the Olympic Common Domain (OCD), were the Bird’s Nest, the Water Cube and the National Indoor Stadium are located. These have has eclipsed Beijing’s traditional attractions as tourists’ first choice in the first two days of the Golden Week.

Around 283,000 people visited the OCD on Monday and Tuesday, compared to 212,800 for the Forbidden City, or Palace Museum.

However, bear in mind that Golden Week is for Chinese tourists and the figures may quickly resort to normal.

The Olympic Green, housing a forest park and the OCD, are open to the public for the week-long National Day holiday that began on Monday.

Each day there are 80,000 tickets available priced at RMB50 ($7.30) for the Bird’s Nest, and 12,000 tickets and RMB30  for the Water Cube.

Visitors have been allowed to bring their own drinks and food.

If the number of visitors exceeds 250,000 — the full capacity of the Olympic Green — police will temporarily close it.

On Monday 380,000 visitors flocked to 21 key tourism sites in Beijing, 25.6% up on last year.
Source: China Daily

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

A popular tourist attraction in the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu province is fueling controversy for its entrance fees.

The management of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, which contains the tomb of the father of the Republic of China revered by many Chinese at home and abroad, has reportedly been facing criticism for not opening its site for free to the public.

The scenic spot has an admission fee of RMB80 ($11.60 U.S. dollars), which is higher than the entrance fee for the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper quoted an official as saying the authorities will open the spot to the public for free next year.

In line with a regulation released earlier this year, museums, memorial halls and spots used for patriotic education began to open free of charge and received national allowances for rising operational costs.

Negotiations with the mausoleum’s management on the issue reportedly fell apart because the site required an allowance of RMB300 million every year, 10 times that proposed by the government.

Responding to the ongoing criticism, a publicity official of the mausoleum said yesterday that it is ‘impossible’ for the attraction to be free.
Source: Jongo News

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Macau at night

The Macau Government Tourist Office has appointed travel PR specialist Hume Whitehead to promote the territory, a special administrative region of China, as a business and tourist destination.

This will not be an easy task.

The region is already best known for its casinos, but Hume Whitehead will be selling Macau as a multi-faceted destination by emphasizing its entertainment facilities and its standing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also aiming to publicize Macau as an ideal location for business events and conventions.

UK travellers already make up most of Macau’s European visitors, but its  tourism chiefs are keen to attract higher numbers of British tourists.
Source: Brand Republic

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Zen Shaolin show

‘Zen Shaolin,’ is an outdoor spectacle and tourist attraction in Henan Province, China. The extravaganza, with a cast of 500, is staged after nightfall in a valley that sits before a huge mountain in central Henan Province, one of the cradles of Chinese civilization.

For those who were dazzled by the opening of the Beijing Olympics earlier this month, that ceremony had its roots in shows like this one, which with government backing and private financing are drawing huge audiences to some of China’s most scenic or historic spots.

The outdoor performances are part cultural event, part tourist attraction, with a dash of Hollywood and an intriguing blend of high and pop culture.

In the new China, investors and the government can team up to acquire a mountain, hire the Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun and the internationally known dancer and choreographer Huang Dou Dou, and produce a spectacle that includes monks from the famed Shaolin Temple.

The project’s investors spent more than $15 million to build a theater set in a valley below three mountains, one rising 4,921 feet, with temples, a wooden pagoda, a martial-arts school, an arched bridge, a stream and a small village with a stone pathway.

One of the hopes of the producers was that “Zen Shaolin,” which opened in May 2007, would bolster tourism in a province that has 100 million residents and has largely been left behind by China’s economic boom. Much more HERE.
Source: New York Times

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Annual installation ceremony for graduation of new monks, Qiangabling Monastery, Chamdo

Trevor Sofield is the Foundation Professor of Tourism, University of Tasmania, Australia and he has written a long report on the future of tourism in Tibet. You can download the complete report HERE.

A major commitment, supported by more than US$20 billion, has been made for the economic development of China’s western provinces (the Western Development Plan) because of their relative under-development compared to the booming eastern coastal provinces.

The Lin Zhi Prefecture and four counties in the south east of Tibet Autonomous Region abuts Myanmar and India to the south, is in a part of Tibet not yet opened to international tourism.

A master plan is being formulated under the auspices of the China National Tourism Administration, a key aim of which is to promote Tibetan culture.

The development plan submitted for the pilgrimage town of Chamdo in central eastern Tibet, home of perhaps the most famous Yellow Hat sect Buddhist teaching monastery in Tibet with currently more than 2000 resident monks, Qianbaling, provides such an example.

Chamdo is surrounded by eight ancient monasteries and temples located high up in the surrounding mountains, each one at the end of a road that radiates out from Chamdo like the spoke of a wheel.

Each temple requires a full day in a 4WD vehicle to reach and return to Chamdo.

This configuration lends itself to a classical hub-and-spokes cluster development and the concept incorporated in our Tourism Development Plan utilises the Tibetan prayer wheel or circle of life to emphasize the cultural richness of the experience.
Much more HERE.
Source:4Hoteliers

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Luxury train to Tibet

China still aims to launch ‘the most luxurious train in the world’ from Beijing to Tibet despite potential security problems.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported in early March, just days before local problems started in Tibet, that the train would go into service on September 1.

But an official at the Qinghai Tibet Railway Company, who also asked to remain anonymous, says there is no timetable yet for the train’s maiden voyage.

Xinhua said earlier a ticket of the 96-seat train, decorated ‘according to the standards of a five-star hotel’, would cost about RMB40,000 ($5,800), or 20 times the ordinary fare for a train ride to Tibet.

Foreign visitors were only allowed back in Tibet at the end of June.
Source: AFP

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com