'Red tourism' a hit for May Day holiday travel

SHENZHEN/CHANGSHA - Twelve-year-old Zhou Xinyue planned the May Day holiday trip for her family. Instead of going to the beach, she chose four revolutionary sites in South China's Guangdong province.

"I've heard my classmates talking about the East River Column, but I don't know much about its history, so I wanted to visit the memorial to learn about it. My parents and elder brother were happy to join me," she said.

Revolutionary sites have become a travel hit during the May Day holiday. As of 3 pm on Saturday, the first day of the five-day holiday, 13 "red tourism" sites in Guangdong received 23,000 visits during the holiday, up by 298.9 percent year on year, according to the provincial culture and tourism department.

The department recently introduced a "red tourism" passport, which covers 30 revolutionary sites in the province and involves technologies and treasure finding games. The passport has attracted many young people to these sites during the holiday.

"The visit was good, and I've set a goal to visit all the sites and get all the stamps in my red tourism passport this year," said Xu Sheng, a visitor to the peasant movement institute in Guangzhou.

In Shaoshan, Central China's Hunan province, the hometown of late Chairman Mao Zedong, visitors queued in line to visit the former residence of Mao.

Visitors also took photos on the Mao Zedong Square, decorated with flowers and inscribed with the words "Centenary of the Communist Party of China."

The city of Ganzhou in East China's Jiangxi province, which is abundant in red tourism resources, also received 420,000 tourists on Saturday. Its county-level city of Ruijin received visits of 195,000, up by 650 percent year on year.

"Praise must go to the older generation of revolutionaries who went through all the hardships to build our country. We'll ask our children and grandchildren to come and visit revolutionary sites too," said Tan Shibi, who came with his wife Wang Yu from Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan province to specifically visit the revolutionary sites in Ruijin.

According to the TravelGo online platform, the number of flights to red tourism destinations during the Qingming Festival and May Day holiday this year accounted for 15.6 percent of all flights booked. It is an increase of 4 percentage points compared with the same period in 2019.

To celebrate the centenary of the Communist Party of China, the culture and tourism authorities in Shanghai and East China's provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui also launched a series of red tourism-themed activities.

Yan'an, a city rich in revolutionary resources in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, designed ten red tourism routes for the May Day holiday. Dance performances and shows are staged in a red tourism-themed train heading for Yan'an.