Domestic tourism on the rise

Trips for Quan Hongchan

In August, 14-year-old Quan Hongchan won the gold medal of the women's 10-meter platform diving in the Tokyo Olympic Games, breaking the world record.

In a media video interview, she said that during holidays, she could only go home and was not able to travel to other places because her family had no money. She had never visited an amusement park or a zoo before.

Touched by her story, some netizens called for tourism enterprises to help Quan to grant her wishes.

Chimelong Safari and Paradise parks in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, were the first to take action.

They announced that they would provide Quan and other Olympic athletes from the Chinese diving team annual cards for the parks, with VIP services.

On social networking platform Sina Weibo, over 50 culture and tourism bureaus and 80 scenic areas, including theme parks and zoos, across the country, warmly invited Quan for a trip when the pandemic eased.

They also shared travel tips and pretty photos of destinations, and interacted with netizens－making it a good opportunity to promote themselves online among potential visitors.

The hashtag "Quan Hongchan was favored greatly by the tourism industry" soon became a top trending topic on Sina Weibo, gaining about 190 million views. Netizens commented that "she deserves it".