As the spectre of SARS begins to lift over China's capital so too are the spirits of its citizens.

And with their newly found health consciousness, more and more are heading out of the city to enjoy the great outdoors.

This year's 3-month-long Yanqing Summer Tourism Festival, Beijing's first government-sponsored major tourism event since the outbreak of SARS, opened yesterday in Xiadu Park.

Located in the north of the capital, Yanqing County is the traditional summer haunt of Beijingers looking for an escape from the summer heat. With its cooler temperatures, beautiful countryside and dozens of scenic spots, including the incomparable Great Wall, it is a great place to escape to.

Wang Haiping, county Party committee secretary, said the festival is a boost for local tourism, which, since April, has been decimated by the fallout of SARS.

Official statistics indicate the disease had cost Beijing 11 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) in tourism revenue by the end of May, with a reduction of 480,000 in overseas tourists and 8.7 million in domestic ones.

But the corner seems to have been turned in the fight against SARS and the country has made major achievements in combating the epidemic. While tourists from other parts of the country have not yet returned in large numbers, locals have begun to venture out to enjoy the beauty of rural Beijing.

"It is reported that last weekend alone saw over 100,000 local tourists at various suburban scenic spots. And Yanqing has received over 15,000," said Wang.

With the municipal government having given the green light to over 90 per cent of local suburban scenic spots, the idea of "going out to the countryside" has won a strong following with Beijingers, who have been feeling the suffocating impact of SARS.

A new spectacle in Beijing's environs is the emergence of "tent villages." Wang Qian, an accountant in her 20s, has just come back from just such a camping excursion, which she described as very "cool."

"A bunch of us bought six tents and spent the night near the Baihebu Reservoir in Yanqing. We picked peaches at a farm, had a picnic, and played cards," she said.

Similar scenes are being repeated in other rural counties around Beijing. Take Miyun County for example. Its famous tourist attractions were visited by 13,000 people last weekend, according to the county tourist authority.

(China Daily 06/19/2003 page3)