Tourist safety is a beautiful sight

Visitors to the Yashan Scenic Spot in Nanling county enjoy the blooming peonies. [Photo/Ma Chenguang]

As the three-day May Day holiday drew to a close in Anhui on May 3, the province's tourist hotspots had greeted travelers who made 19.14 million trips --- a rise of 10.75 percent over the year, with no reports of injury or consumer complaint. Their spending prowess was also welcomed, with receipts for about 7.129 billion yuan ($1.13 billion).

With greater spending power and therefore greater options, people are eagerly seeking the great outdoors. Scenic spots in Anhui enjoyed booming business during the holiday, with cash earnings seeing a hike of 11.6 percent over the year. The Yellow Mountains in Huangshan city received more than 50,000 visitors. Deputy general-manager of the Dabieshan Rainbow Waterfall in Yuexi county said they welcomed 21,500 visitors with earnings hitting 1.63 million yuan and general manager Wang Jie of Yashan Scenic Spot in Nanling county said they received some 40,000 travelers.

The Heavenly Canyon in Yuexi county ushers in peak travelers during May Day holiday, amid detailed safety measures. [Photo/Ma Chenguang]

The owners of businesses located in scenic spots were certainly delighted with the windfall, but business boomed also in part from careful precautions ordered by the Anhui Provincial Tourism Bureau.

One day before the May Day holiday, the bureau issued a notice, requiring administrators of every scenic spot to take care of four things. First, enhance safety awareness; second, control crowd flow; third, try to ensure good behavior among tourists and fourth, perfect the drills for emergency responses, if needed.

On April 23rd, bureau deputy-chief Wang Jing led a team to check province-wide safety work, visiting recreational facilities, special equipment, tourist dispatching hubs, parking lots and walking trails.

Sales Manager Tan Wenxing from the Heavenly Canyon in Yuexi said his firm designed detailed security plans to meet peak visitor demand. During the holiday, no safety incidents occurred, neither were there any tourist complaints. Fuyang Ecological Park says its staffers created a welcoming and safe environment. Though it met 74,800 visitors during the first day --- with a cash income of 1.39 million yuan, none of the travelers submitted any complaint.

Tourism not only brings recreation and entertainment, it is also a time for reflection during which a visitor can be at one with nature. In Anhui, the travelers picked tea, fished in the ponds and collected bamboo shoots and wild plants. But safety was always a priority. The safety of large numbers of people is in itself a beautiful sight.