To accelerate recovery of tourism industry, 41 state-owned and non-state-owned A-rated scenic areas in Hangzhou, including well-known West Lake Scenic Area, Xixi Wetland, Liangzhu Archaeological Site Park, Qiandao Lake and Tianmu Mountain, offered free admission to all tourists from January 1 to March 31, 2023. 

What did Hangzhou gain from the free admission of tourists to scenic areas in the past two months?

Obviously, all scenic areas had witnessed a peak tourist flow. In the West Lake Scenic Area, rowing boats were in short supply. “It has been a long time since we last saw tourists beckoning to us for taking a boat,” said a boatman. According to sources, the tourist reception of the West Lake pleasure boats in the first two months of the year was 150,000 person-times more than that in 2019. 

Thronged tourists also brought along booming economic development around the scenic area. Restaurants had restored to pre-pandemic bustling and many eaters had to wait for half an hour for dining. The business of guesthouses in the surrounding areas had also been recovered.