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

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

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

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

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

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

Stanley Ho

Last month Stanley Ho, the Hong Kong-born gambling magnate, announced plans to tear down his flagship Lisboa casino and hotel and build his biggest and most opulent showcase yet, at a cost of $1.54 billion. The amazing 86-year-old also pushed through a long-delayed initial public offering for the company he controls, SJM Holdings, raising $494 million.

Since 2002, when this former Portuguese colony allowed others to break into Stanley Ho’s longtime monopoly here, Las Vegas heavyweights have had massive casinos built.

The combined gambling revenue for all Macau’s casinos increased 80% to $10.3 billion between 2005 and 2007, making it bigger than Atlantic City and the Las Vegas Strip combined.

Over the same period, revenue at SJM’s operating subsidiary, Sociedade De Jogos de Macau, fell to $4.1 billion from $4.3 billion, as business dropped off at its older, comparatively cramped casinos.

SJM owns 19 of Macau’s 29 casinos and 29% of the market’s gambling revenues. Las Vegas Sands, which owns two casinos, is close behind with 21%.

SJM and Stanley Ho, its chairman, are now going on the offensive.

In view of the possibility of China restricting access for locals to Macau this seems interesting timing. Much more on this HERE.
Source: Wall Street Journal

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

Macau gambling casino

Uncertainty over Beijing’s policies is worrying major casino operators in Macau’s fast-growing gambling market.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands and MGM Mirage fell when Portuguese news service Lusa reported that Beijing might make it harder for mainland Chinese to visit the one part of the country where gambling is legal.

China’s government has previously taken incremental steps to limit visitor numbers from the mainland in an apparent effort to cool Macau’s scorching economic growth and keep inflation in check.

According to the report, the central government might soon allow mainland Chinese to visit Macau only once every six months. Current rules allow them to visit once every two months.

The question is: how much business does Macau get from China and the SARs? If Beijing seriously clamps down on visas then there will be problems. Much more HERE.
Source: Wall Street Journal

A pilot scheme for Mainland-authorized Hong Kong travel enterprises to organize group tours to Hong Kong for non-Guangdong residents in Shenzhen —  these are currently allowed — will bring extra Mainland tourists to Hong Kong and contribute to the Hong Kong economy.

The Tourism Commission said the scheme is part of the Central Government’s policy. And that it should happen quite soon as part of services liberalization and facilitation measures.

Depending on the results, it is hoped the Central Government will extend it to other cities in Guangdong Province.

China Travel Service (Holdings) Hong Kong has been authorised to operate this business and is discussing the details with Mainland authorities.

The company plans to organise ‘three-day-two-night’ tour groups to Hong Kong. These groups’ itinerary will include Hong Kong Disneyland (it is to be hoped this is not compulsory) and other attractions.
Source: Business and Finance HK