Low-altitude tourism rapidly gains popularity across China

A light helicopter flies over Kunshan city, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Yuan Xinyu)

Low-altitude tourism is rapidly gaining popularity across China during this summer vacation, with multitudes of tourists trying activities like helicopter tours, paragliding, and hot air balloon rides.

Since a plan encouraging the development of low-altitude tourism was issued by China's State Council in 2014, the new tourism mode has triggered a series of tourism consumption scenarios and options, driving the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry.

The low-altitude service industry has helped to enhance the experiences of current tourist activities.

On Aug. 16, China's e-commerce platform Meituan officially launched a drone delivery service at the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing, delivering heat-relief and emergency supplies to tourists near the drone landing site. It marks the first regular drone delivery service in Beijing, enhancing tourism experiences at the Badaling Great Wall while promoting the development of low-altitude industries.

For one tourist at the Nanjiu Watchtower on the southern extension of the Badaling Great Wall, the service meant a quick refreshment. Using the phone, the tourist ordered two bottles of cola and was able to receive the delivery in approximately 20 minutes.

While drones enhance existing experiences for tourists, low-altitude services are also creating brand new experiences.

A tourist experiences paragliding at the Jinfoshan aviation flight camp in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Luo Chuan)

A tourist named Zuo Yu took a helicopter tour at the Beijing Garden Expo Park. "As the helicopter flew over the park, the Gui River flowed slowly beneath our feet, and Mount Haituo seemed within reach," Zuo said.

"Looking down from the air, I gained a panoramic view, which was like the one people always see in a tourism promotional video. It was truly stunning," Zuo added.

The government's support is playing a major part in the growth of low-altitude tourism.

According to this year's government work report, China will foster new growth engines in fields including the low-altitude economy. A report on the development of China's low-altitude economy released this year by the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID) under China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) shows that in 2023, China's low-altitude economy scale exceeded 500 billion yuan (about $70.23 billion), and it is expected to surpass one trillion yuan by 2026.

Photo shows a hot air balloon in Wanjiang town, Ningyuan county of central China's Hunan Province. The county actively leverages the natural ecological landscape and uniquely advantageous airspace conditions to introduce hot air balloon projects, aiming to create an internationally competitive hot air balloon flight base. (Photo/Cai Xiaoping)

Shan Zhongde, vice minister of the MIIT, introduced at a news conference in April that many provinces and cities such as Jiangsu, Shandong, and Shenzhen had rolled out relevant policies for developing the low-altitude economy. The low-altitude economy has emerged as a prime example of a new quality productive force and important direction for cultivating and developing new growth drivers.

Zhaoqing city, south China's Guangdong Province plans to create a low-altitude cultural tourism brand that incorporates activities like low-altitude sightseeing tours, flight experiences, photography, aerial filming, transportation services, entertainment, goods delivery, and drone performance competitions. This will allow tourists to enjoy both the natural landscapes and cultural aspects of the region from a new perspective.

The Yanzhou island aviation sports tourism camp in Zhaoqing is the first of its kind in a local area and a prime example of low-altitude tourism. Since its first flight in April 2021, the base has attracted 25,000 people to experience flight tours and conducted over 100 aviation science popularization events and educational tours.

In addition, following its attempt to introduce helicopter sightseeing tours in 2015, Danxia National Geological Park in Zhangye city, northwest China's Gansu Province developed other low-altitude tourism programs such as hot air balloons and powered paragliding, and organized a series of hot air balloon carnival activities, aiming to become China's best low-altitude tourism destination.

In recent years, Danxia's scenic areas' low-altitude tourism programs have received an average of over 50,000 tourist visits annually.

At the end of July, the 4th Zhangye Danxia hot air balloon carnival and the 1st Zhangye Danxia music carnival opened in Zhangye. Thirty-six hot air balloon pilots from across the country flew 36 hot air balloons over the scenic area, creating another spectacular sight in the colorful Danxia landscape.