Which special tour is right for you?

13:31, September 10, 2012

(Photo from People's Daily Online)

In recent years, in addition to the conventional sightseeing and vacation tours, some tours developed to meet the special interests and hobbies of tourists became popular for certain people. For example, tours having a large span of area and using cars, bicycles and motorcycles as travel tools；non-competitive sports tours including skiing, rock climbing, rafting, fire balloon and gliding；adventure tours on mountains and in valleys, deserts, caves and inaccessible areas；and tours of natural and cultural landscapes in the form of short-term sightseeing, scouting and visiting. At present, the special tours which are relatively mature and occupy a high market share in China mainly include the following forms:

Excursion tours – This is a kind of tour which allows people to enjoy natural scenery, understand the local culture, exercise and cultivate one's physical fitness and will during walking. It is divided into hiking in forests, deserts and valleys. The Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan and the Yading Natural Reserve in Daocheng of Sichuan are the typical examples in such tours.

Camping – This tour takes camping outdoors as the main content and is a tour to understand basic survival skills and touching nature in a zero distance through picnics and other outdoor sports. It is mostly carried out around the cities. Compared with other special tours, it is less difficult and costs less time and money, so is welcomed by urban young people.

Alpine adventure – This tour takes high altitude mountains, normally above 3,000 meters, as the tourism resource, aiming to explore and view the unique topography, experience the special natural environment and climate and improve one's physical and mental qualities. Among the fourteen mountains above 8,000 meters in the world, nine is located in China or on the border of China. Therefore, the alpine adventure travel has a broad prospect in China.

Rafting – This tour takes natural rivers as the tourism resource and is a travel form, in which tourists arrive at some place of the lower reaches from the upper reaches by means of the unpowered floating facilities, the natural and human forces, and experience the terrifying waves and enjoy the sceneries of both sides. In recent years, the rafting tour is booming all over the country and the Malinghe Valley of Guizhou and the Hukou Waterfall of Shanxi are two successful examples.

Cave exploration – This tour takes natural caves as the tourism resource and is another special tour relying on specialized equipment to probe the structure of caves, view the unique landscapes, experience the characteristics of the caves and hone one's body and mind. The caves not yet developed and inaccessible for general tourists are the most popular. The caves resources in the southwest China are very rich and have great development potential.

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Read the Chinese version: 特种旅游哪个适合您?

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