"The Three Gorges Dam Project will bring unprecedented tourist
promotion and revenue though some of the famous tourist attractions
will have to vanish inevitably," said Liu Deqian, professor at the
Institute of Tourism of Beijing Union University and also the vice
president of Beijing Tourism Association.
Liu said that over 77 percent of famous scenic spots in the world
are around water. But people now find it difficult to enjoy such
fine scenery due to shortage of water and water pollution. A
600-kilometer-long man-made lake will appear with the water storage
of the Three Gorges reservoir, made up of islands, anabranches,
mountains and other places of cultural interest to form a unique
resource in China and the world.
Some relative departments estimate that 13 million visitors are
expected each year to travel to the Three Gorges at early phases
after the project finishes, which will bring 20 billion yuan
(US$242 million) revenue annually.
However, Liu is afraid that the figure is a bit too high before the
Three Gorges tour is fully developed. Based on the revenue of 2001,
only 14 provinces reached over 20 billion yuan (US$242 million) in
local tourism. But Hainan, a popular tourist province, merely made
a profit of 7.9 billion yuan (US$587) in tourism as all its tourist
attractions are confined to a small island.
"Certainly, the goal is not hard to realize if the Three Gorges
tour is redesigned and local tourist resources are integrated," Liu
said. The new Three Gorges tour can bring over 20 billion yuan
(US$242 million) each year if Hubei Province and Chongqing City
fully cooperate together.
How to carve up the 20 billion yuan
How do the cities, provinces and tourism-related enterprises make a
fortune in the new Three Gorges tour?
Sun Yimin, vice director of Chongqing Tourism Administration, said
that Chongqing will provide eco-tours including leisure,
physical-training, study and cultural tours on the basis of
traditional sightseeing tours. People can enjoy local scenery on
the river, along the banks and from the sky.
Liu Deqian pointed out that traditionally people traveled the Three
Gorges in a straight line on the river. With the reservoir
retaining water, anabranches opening to voyages and residents
moving away to live in new places along the Yangtze River, Three
Gorges tour is sure to extend to the hinterlands, even up to the
world-famous Shennongjia Nature Reserve in Hubei Province and the
"Heavenly Pit" and "Earthly slit" in Chongqing.
"The Three Gorges are sure to be golden tourist destinations when
Chinese tourism recovers from the infection of SARS. What the local
tourism-related departments should do now is to map out their
practical strategy and act instantly," Liu said.
Liu pointed out that the hotspot of the Three Gorges tour will not
move eastwards although the dam will drag visitors' attention in
the early days after the Three Gorges Dam Project finishes. A
notion of a pan-Three Gorges tourist zone should be injected in the
new tourist blueprint.
Liu suggested that Hubei and Chongqing should draw up such a
pan-Three Gorges tourist plan in detail in order to avoid blind
development and combat competition.
(China.org.cn by Unisumoon, July 10, 2003)