Beijing will become the most populartourism destination during the Chinese traditional holiday Mid-Autumn Festivalas the Universal Beijing Resort plans to officially open for visitors on Sept20. The search volume for flight to Beijing surpassed 11 times in 30 minutescompare to the same period of last week as the resort announced its opening,said the online news outlet, citing the online platform Qunar.

Data from the online travel agency Lvmamashowed that after the announcement, the search volume based on key words"Beijing Universal" jumped seven times from same period of lastmonth.

Beijing has maintained its lead as the mostpopular tourism destination for days with its search popularity far ahead ofother cities, according to the online travel booking platform Ctrip.

On Sept 6, the number of people bookingtravel products in Beijing during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday via Ctripincreased 8 times compared with August 20. Moreover, the average one-waypassenger price in and out of Beijing was 877 yuan by Sept 6, up about 20percent from last year, said the Ctrip.

Apart from Beijing, the airfare to othercities showed a "good price" during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

Currently, the average airfare price bookedvia Qunar was just 600 yuan, the lowest price in history, said ThePaper.

Some airline ticket prices are even cheaperthan train tickets, such as the airfare from Zhengzhou to Ningbo 362 yuan whilethe second-class fare of high-speed train ticket price is 528 yuan. The ticketprice from Tianjin to Lanzhou is 393 yuan for plane and 694 yuan for train,while it is 219 yuan and 757 yuan, respectively, from Xi'an to Kunming.

As the COVID-19 epidemic situation inChinese mainland has stabilized, some provinces announced removal of ban oncross-provincial group travelling, and some tourist attractions started towelcome tourists.

Compared with Aug 20, the order volume ofcross-provincial group travel and independent travel booked via Ctrip jumped365 percent on Sept 20, and the order volume of family trip surged 550 percent.

Guiyang, Hulun Buir, Chengdu, Sanya,Urumchi, Jiuzhaigou, Hohhot, Xining, Enshi, and Huangshan are the populardestination for family trips.

The short-distance tour is still themainstream, and the car and high-speed trains from central cities toneighboring cities and counties are in high demand, said ThePaer, citing theonline travel agency Tongcheng-eLong.

In addition, many tourists are choosing tospend their Mid-Autumn Festival holidays in themed hotels this year. Accordingto the Ctrip, the search volume of themed hotels increased 82 percent in recentdays.

Openingof Universal Beijing Eagerly Awaited

The long-awaited Universal Beijing Resort,which will be the largest of its kind in the world after its scheduled openingin the second half of this year, stands as a prime example of cooperationbetween China and the United States in recent decades.

The project was proposed 20 years ago, whenthe Beijing Tourism Group had the idea of building a Universal Studios park inthe Chinese capital, as it realized that people were no longer satisfied withroutine sightseeing and wanted to have other forms of entertainment.

Song Yu, chairman of the group, said in anexclusive interview with China Daily, "The resort showcases Sino-Americancooperation, especially in the private and business sectors, despite the twogovernments' different political views.

"Relations between China and the UShave had ups and downs in the past 20 years, but our project was finally naileddown and has become reality. This shows the deep trust between the BeijingTourism Group and our US partner Universal Parks & Resorts, a business unitof Comcast NBCUniversal."

Entering the resort via Universal CityWalk,an open street with restaurants and shops, visitors could feel as if they hadbeen transported to the US, but for a number of Beijing-style eateries, whichblend perfectly with their surroundings.

The venue features the Universal StudiosBeijing theme park, Universal CityWalk Beijing and two hotels－theUniversal Studios Grand Hotel and the NUO Resort Hotel.

It is the first time that the US companyhas invested in a Universal-branded hotel worldwide, highlighting its confidencein the Chinese market.

The venue is owned by Beijing InternationalResort Co, a joint venture between Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism InvestmentCo and Universal Parks & Resorts.

Beijing Shouhuan Cultural TourismInvestment Co is a subsidiary of Beijing Tourism Group, one of the leadingplayers in China's tourism and hospitality sector.

"Different from other projects withsuch a big investment scale (dozens of billions of dollars), which are usuallyled by governments, UBR has been initiated and carried forward mainly bycompanies," Song said.

"This has brought obvious benefits andhelped the two sides make full use of each other's advantages. It's a definitewin-win.

"Beijing Tourism Group has a maturebusiness structure, including tourist, culture, hotels and transportationunits, which can integrate many resources for the resort's future operation.Our US partner has strong competence in cultural areas－especiallyentertainment, innovation and design－as well as richoperational experience in theme parks.

"The two companies are a perfectmatch. The central government has attached great importance to innovationproducts and has been very supportive of this project."

GreatEconomic Prospect in the Future

Any project that takes two decades to cometo fruition is not easy, and the Beijing venue is no exception.

"Comcast NBCUniversal visited othercities in China while considering the location for its theme park in China.After a detailed inspection, it saw the uniqueness of Beijing in the fields ofmarketing, talent and culture," Song said.

"The capital is a place all Chinesewant to visit at least once in their lives," he added.

Beijing Shouhuan Cultural TourismInvestment Co was established in 2013, and the two sides reached agreement onthe resort project that year.

In September 2014, the project was approvedby the National Development and Reform Commission, marking a milestone for theentire process.

Negotiations between the two sides lastedthree years and seven months, and were difficult, even though both parties werestrongly committed to cooperation. By the end of 2017, the BeijingInternational Resort Co joint venture was formed and construction of theproject was accelerated.

Andrew Eitingon, deputy general manager ofBeijing International Resort Co, said China is one of the most rapidly growingmarkets globally.

"We were excited by Beijing for manyreasons. We found a supportive government, a rapidly growing area, a thrivingcity, millions of consumers we felt would be excited by our destination, greatpotential team members, a strong transportation network and a strong network ofbusinesses and supplier partners," Eitingon said.

"Universal Beijing Resort enjoyedstrong support from both the central and Beijing municipal governmentsthroughout the entire project. We are thankful for the support we received fromthem as we selected our site, and the significant infrastructure investment the(Beijing) government has made to support our destination－includingroad connections, subway stations and rail links."

The park can be reached via the Batong Lineand Line 7 on the Beijing Subway, as well as by bus and boat－a2.8-kilometer-long waterway links the resort area to the capital's sub-centercultural and tourist zone.

Eitingon said that after COVID-19 emergedat the start of last year, the Chinese and US teams worked together on anactive response.

"We quickly formulated scientific andeffective prevention and control plans, implemented all measures in acoordinated way and worked hard to minimize the impact on the project schedule.The project quickly resumed construction in an orderly way," he said.

"We relied upon government support toget construction restarted, to get workers back on the site and stay onschedule. It's testament to the great support we've had that we are still onthe schedule we set originally and still in a very good position."

Zhang Lingling, 28, a local white-collarworker who has visited Universal Studios Singapore, said she is looking forwardto the Beijing resort opening, as she is a big fan of films and roller coasterrides.

"I have visited the Shanghai and HongKong Disneylands, as well as Universal Studios in Singapore and Japan. I hadbeen hoping so much that we could have such a venue in our city, which is a mustfor the capital," she said.

Zhang said she was thrilled to hear thatUniversal Beijing Resort would be the largest of its kind in the world.

Like her, many people eager to experiencethe new theme park have recently downloaded a trial version of the venue's app,which is available online with details of shows and themed rides.

The park has yet to open, but news aboutthe venue has become a hot topic among the public.

While people are eagerly waiting to visitthe venue, the companies involved in the project, along with the localgovernment, believe it will offer far more than just fun.

Universal Beijing Resort will play a keyrole in helping to elevate the cultural and tourism landscape of Beijing－becoming atourism landmark for the city and contributing to a higher level ofinternational cultural exchange. The venue will inject new vitality into thedevelopment of China's cultural and tourism industry.

According to Beijing International ResortCo, about 100,000 construction workers were involved in the venue's buildingphase and more than 10,000 jobs will be created in the operational phase.

"The company aims to recruit in a waythat not only benefits local residents but also attracts more talent to the citysub-center," Eitingon said.

"We are working with more than 30vocational schools for talent cultivation, contributing to such cultivation andretention within Tongzhou district, where the park is located, and to talentdevelopment in the cultural tourism industry nationwide."

The theme park, together with UniversalCityWalk and the two hotels, will create a large number of jobs involving theentertainment, retail and catering sectors. The venue will also boost Beijing'seconomy and new development structure.

Zhao Jun, director of the Tongzhou districtcultural and tourism administrative committee, said the park will bringopportunities to about 100 industries.

"We have approached a group of leadingcultural and tourist companies to set up businesses in the district. We willcooperate in sectors including tourism, high-tech, entertainment and culture.Full industrial and consumption chains will be expanded as the theme parkdevelops," he said.

Hu Na, associate professor of internationalcultural exchanges at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, said theproject will meet tourism demand in northern China and improve industrialupgrading in Tongzhou.

"It will drive construction of anintegrated cultural tourism ecosystem, trigger more business opportunities andextend the industrial chain in the region," she added.

The venue is expected to receive more than10 million tourists a year and achieve annual revenue of 10 billion yuan. Thepark aims to create an entertainment experience that incorporates Chineseculture and entertainment concepts from around the world.

The park features seven themed"lands": Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness; Transformers Metrobase;Minion Land; The Wizarding World of Harry Potter; Jurassic World Isla Nublar;WaterWorld and Hollywood.

Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness, inspiredby DreamWorks Animation's film franchise, is Universal's first "land"with such a theme.

Transformers Metrobase will be the firstTransformers "land" in the world. The designers, well aware thatvisitors will be familiar with the Hollywood movie, have added a Chinese touchby setting the Metrobase headquarters in Beijing.

Guan Yu, deputy head of Beijing's cultureand tourism bureau, said, " Universal Beijing is expected to create a hugeconsumption ecosystem and meet the demands of tourists. It's time to reform thetourist industry. A deep integration of culture and tourism is needed toprovide high-end products and services."