Off-the-wall journeys

Giddyup on one of these birds.[Photo by Erik Nilsson/China Daily]

"Though the majority of foreign China tourists are first-timers and stick to the standard destinations, I believe tourists enjoy weird tourist destinations because something weirdly different is refreshing and mind-broadening," China Highlights' Web editor Gavin van Hins-bergh says.

"It gives a trip value and a personal touch to go somewhere original. It makes good material for stories when tourists return home, and photos ...China is full of weird experiences just because it's different. And that's part of the fun of touring China."

But any swell in foreign visitors to such places seems likely to largely come from expats and seasoned sojourners.

Most of the country's offbeat sites are off-the-beaten path and, consequently, aren't high traffic.

"Do (foreign) tourists really want to come all the way to China to see (them)? (That) goes for honeybee museums, sex museums, Hello Kitty-themed restaurants, marriage markets, etc."

This feeds an emergent sector relatively reliant on domestic travelers.

"China's (domestic) tourist majority typically doesn't stray far from the tour bus and the concrete path laid out for them around the standard attractions. But national and international tourists are becoming more adventurous as China's wealth, infrastructure and standards develop dramatically and quickly," Van Hinsbergh says.

"China's weird ... tourism is only recently being advanced, as awareness grows as to the richness of China's innate local cultures and sites, and how 'weird' and potentially marketable they are."

Strange sites will spawn stronger future attraction, China Tourism Academy researcher Zhan Dongmei believes.