Fast-track trip

It takes six days to travel on train from Beijing to Moscow.[Photo by Hong Yu / For China Daily]

A proposed high-speed rail linking Beijing and Moscow is among many transnational transport projects that may hasten tourism development. Yang Feiyue reports.

Tourism between China and Russia is about to accelerate since a 7,000-kilometer, 1.5 trillion yuan ($245 billion) high-speed rail under consideration will cut travel time between Beijing and Moscow from six days to two, the Beijing Information Office says.

"The high-speed train will give tourists another option and bring more visitors to China," says Jiang Yiyi, director of the China Tourism Academy's International Tourism Development Institute.

It will run through Kazakhstan and likely boost tourism among countries along the ancient Silk Road, especially Central Asian nations, she says.

More than 2 million Russians visited China last year. Most were from the country's easternmost areas, National Public Opinion Poll Lab chief analyst Liu Zhiming says.

"The high-speed rail will make it more convenient for them to explore China," Liu says.

An advantage over the nine-hour direct flight between the capitals is the train affords such scenery as primitive forests, lakes and wetlands, Jiang says.

Rail transport affords greater capacity than air travel and can deliver bulk cargo, too, experts point out.

The rail is expected to significantly profit China and neighbors by enhancing exports to western Asia and Europe while reviving the Silk Road, experts say.

China has more bordering countries than any other. And travel among countries reduces international tensions, says Zhang Guangrui, honorary director of the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.