The Feilai Peak Scenic Area
Highlights
By Lyu Weiyi
Since the New Year's Day in 2023, 41 tourist sites in Hangzhou including the West Lake Scenic Area, the Xixi National Wetland, and the Daming Mountain are open for free to tourists, as a stimulus to the recovery of tourism.
After the implementation of the scheme, numerous local citizens and foreign tourists have flocked to these places during the holiday. The West Lake Scenic Area saw 601,600 tourists on January 26, including 231,800 visitors in 17 admission-free venues with an increase of 406.11% over last year. Additionally, 9.37 million tourists have rushed into the scenic areas during the seven-day holiday, over four times increase compared to the last year.
Official statistics show that the Feilai Peak, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, and the Hangzhou Zoo are the most popular scenic spots among all the admission-free attractions. The Feilai Peak, a famous Buddhist attraction, has received approximately 40,000 visitors per day. After the Spring Festival holiday, a considerable number of netizens still claimed that they have arranged travel plans to visit Hangzhou on weekends or in holidays.
To celebrate the New Year and welcome Hangzhou Asian Games in a better state, the districts across the city also launched a variety of festival activities and convenient services to promote the linkage between the urban and rural areas.
The scenic spots whose original ticket prices used to be high and get included in this admission-free scheme have seen significant increases in visitors. For example, homestays near the Daciyan Scenic Spot and the Daming Mountain which used to have relatively low footfall as their original ticket prices were 160 yuan and 113 yuan respectively. The places had a full capacity shortly after they were open free.
The scheme, which will last until March 31, also brings tremendous convenience to visitors as the admission process gets simplified. Visitors are able to search admission-free tourist attractions and book the time of their visit via the WeChat public platform "Xihu Tourism".