Domestic tourism rebounds in China amid emerging livestreaming

BEIJING -- China's tourism market has gained momentum with short distance journeys taking the lead as companies jump on the livestreaming bandwagon.

Data from the country's fast-growing e-commerce platform Pinduoduo showed that booking for short-distance trips, such as provincial tours and excursions, soared by 270 percent in April compared with last month.

Bearing mounting pressure from the COVID-19, tourist sites team up with livestreaming platforms to attract online consumers in various ways, including virtual displays, interactive explanations and scene experience.

A livestreaming show about the Hibiscus Town, a Hunan-based village with more than two thousand years, was held Sunday on the Pinduoduo, raking a total of 350,000 views and more than 6 billion interactions.

"Tourist livestreaming can help the digitalization of the sector," said Jing Ming, a director with the Pinduoduo, noting that the trend will further optimize local industrial structure while leveraging the advantages of e-commerce.

Digitalization, together with capital, knowledge, innovation and other factors, is activating traditional culture and tourism resources, which forms new engines of the industry, said Dai Bin, head of the China Tourism Academy.