Young Chinese set out on the road to adventure

    By Xin Wen | China Daily | Updated: 2018-10-10 09:45
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Bai Yu, a blogger for Mafengwo, a popular travel website, trains to become a qualified diver during a vacation in Thailand in 2015. [Photo Provided To China Daily]

    The younger generation is turning its back on the traditional holiday routes of museums and shopping malls in favor of new experiences. Xin Wen reports.

    Curiosity is Bai Yu's default setting. Since 2014, his sense of adventure has prompted him to travel to more than 20 countries in just 20 months, and also led him to quit his job to make a solo cycle ride through the northern part of the Tibet autonomous region.

    The 30-year-old always maintains a positive attitude when traveling, so when he was climbing an active volcano in Indonesia, he couldn't resist peering into the crater and subjecting himself to the pungent odors even though he wasn't wearing a face mask.

    Bai is a renowned blogger at Mafengwo, a website dedicated to intrepid solo Chinese travelers. His book, All the way to the Heart, attracted widespread attention last year and prompted a number of companies to sponsor his travels in several countries.

    "I enjoy the feeling of traveling alone, totally undisturbed," he said. "I especially like hiking in deserts where there are no signposts - that's truly 'living in the moment'."

    When he started his travels, Bai was an exceptional figure, but now a growing number of young Chinese are traveling solo overseas in search of adventure.

    According to a report published in August by Jing Travel, an online tourism industry observer, the number of Chinese who headed overseas alone had risen by 11 percent to 65 percent in the previous 12 months, and the number of millennials undertaking solo journeys had risen by 8 percent year-on-year.

    Four years ago, Bai was working as a computer programmer at Perfect World, a video game developer in Beijing, when he first considered following his heart and making solo trips overseas.

    He started with the 20-country odyssey, which was a revelation. "My life changed completely and, in my mind, a lot of things were meant to be before I even began," he said.

    He admitted that while he reveled in the excitement of that first journey, he experienced post-travel blues when he returned to China and his usual routine.

    "It just hit me that all the magnificent things I experienced had disappeared, and a feeling of loneliness emerged," he said.

    Now, he is accustomed to the mixed feelings that result from his journeys. For example, during a vacation in Thailand in November 2016, he burst into tears as he watched thousands of sky lanterns float away in the skies above Chiang Mai because his elation at the sight was tempered by a sense of loss and pessimism.

    Tourists traverse the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province. [Photo by HUANG JINGUO/FOR CHINA DAILY]

    Fresh fields

    Traditionally, Chinese tourists traveled in large groups organized by travel agencies, corralled on trips that lacked privacy, flexibility or individuality.

    Now, though, a growing number of outbound Chinese are expressing interest in vacations tailored to meet their specific requirements.

    The rise in demand has resulted in younger tourists requiring the services of professional guides for their travels overseas, along with dedicated transportation and details of local restaurants, according to Xu Zhiyun, head of the customized trips department at Ctrip, a leading online travel agency.

    "People don't want to travel to visit crowded tourist sites, instead they are looking for novel experiences that will allow them to see new cultures and hear exceptional stories," she said, noting that the demand for customized trips began to soar at the beginning of 2015.

    A survey conducted by J. Walter Thompson Intelligence in May showed that in the early part of the year 30 percent of Chinese travelers took adventure-based vacations that focused on thrill-seeking activities, while 45 percent were interested in planning similar vacations.

    According to Xu, most people who express an interest in offbeat holidays are middle class, because their higher incomes mean they can afford to design their own itineraries rather than treading well-worn paths. Moreover, the majority are young, with a large number belonging to the post-'80s and '90s generations.

    "We see opportunities in the area of custom-designed, exclusive trips where we can build itineraries to suit specific goals and schedules, especially for middle-class families in search of high-quality travel experiences," she said.

    The market has grown to a point that provides more opportunities for the development of adventure tourism, with trips that are more immersive and showcase exotic experiences, but are safe.

    Xiong Yidan is a recent convert to adventure tourism. In April, the 26-year-old quit her job with an advertising agency in Beijing and made solo trips to eight countries in three months, including a self-driving holiday in New Zealand.

    For Xiong, travel is about enjoying the entirety of the trip, rather than just visiting well-known scenic spots on a rigid tourist agency schedule.

    For example, when she visited Bali, she spent days exploring a mountain range and immersing herself in nature, including having breakfast in a transparent bubble hotel, while her nights were occupied by moonlit walks to see deer in their natural habitat.

    "I rarely set guidelines for the journey before I depart," she said. "But once I am on the road, I make a schedule to reduce any potential risks."

    1 2 Next   >>|
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    免费无码一区二区三区蜜桃| 亚洲熟妇中文字幕五十中出| A狠狠久久蜜臀婷色中文网| 亚洲AV无码国产在丝袜线观看| 日韩精品久久无码人妻中文字幕| 久久国产亚洲精品无码| 成年无码av片完整版| 国产中文字幕在线观看| 亚洲精品无码久久久久AV麻豆| 国产中文在线观看| 国产AV无码专区亚汌A√| 亚洲午夜无码久久久久| 日韩免费在线中文字幕| а中文在线天堂| 国产免费黄色无码视频| 日韩精品人妻系列无码专区| 免费无码又爽又刺激网站直播| 最好看的中文字幕2019免费| 亚洲人成中文字幕在线观看| 无码人妻精品一区二区三区99不卡| 精品无码AV无码免费专区| 亚洲AV永久无码精品成人| 中国无码人妻丰满熟妇啪啪软件| 无码人妻少妇久久中文字幕| 在线中文字幕av| 中文字幕精品视频| 一区二区三区观看免费中文视频在线播放 | 亚洲国产精品无码久久九九| 777久久精品一区二区三区无码 | 无码一区二区三区| 亚洲国产精品无码久久久蜜芽 | 人妻精品久久无码区| 少妇人妻无码精品视频app| 亚洲AV无码一区二区三区性色| 亚洲欧洲日产国码无码久久99| 国产日韩AV免费无码一区二区| 无码福利写真片视频在线播放| 精品多人p群无码| 亚洲Av综合色区无码专区桃色| 亚洲av无码一区二区三区乱子伦| 人妻无码中文久久久久专区|