Tourism: Hutong tours
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-08 13:46 "Watch your step. Sit back
and off we go," says a cheerful tour leader as a dozen tricycles carrying two
foreign tourists each set out on a tour into the innermost parts of Beijing -
its "hutongs," or alleyways.
A tour into at least 20 alleyways intertwined in the Shichahai area a few
blocks from the Forbidden City has topped the agenda of many international
tourists to Beijing. The trip, lasting up to three hours, costs 180 yuan
(US$22.5) per person. "This is something new. We never saw anything like this in
Europe," said Betto Veenenbos, a retiree from Holland.
Beijing Hutong Tourist Agency was the first to promote hutong tours in 1994
and is receiving around 180,000 tourists a year. "Business is good. Sometimes
tourists are waiting even before our working hours start at 8am," said a
tricycle rider.
"It's more than a sightseeing tour," said the company's vice president Jing
Xueming. "By traveling to the innermost parts of Beijing, the visitors will
hopefully have a glimpse of Beijing's culture and the locals' life."
However, competition is fierce, he says. "In the Shichahai area alone, 22
travel services are providing hutong tours." (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
|
