Beijing municipal parks launch APEC travel routes

Six municipal parks in the capital have launched different tourism routes to promote sites in the parks, which were visited by global leaders and their spouses during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting earlier this month, according to Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks.

The parks have made special arrangements to best represent the routes and scenes when the APEC guests visited. Visitors can follow the routes to see what they have seen and done during their trip.

For example, Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, hosted wives of nine APEC leaders to a tour to the Summer Palace on Nov 11. Visitors now can have the chance to watch the traditional music and dance show they watched on that day and take a boat tour of Kunming Lake like they did.

The other five parks that offer similar experiences are: Tiantan Park, Beihai Park, Jingshan Park, Beijing Botanical Garden and the Beijing Zoo. The routes are classified under three themes: world cultural heritage, historical garden and park and theme park.

After the APEC meeting was held in Beijing at the beginning of November, authorities and travel agencies have seen the potential to boost tourism by introducing new routes related to the APEC meeting.

The tourism authority of Huairou district, which hosted country leaders during the meeting, announced six APEC tourism routes last week, including a panoramic view tour of the Yanqi Lake scenic site and the Sunrise Kempinski Hotel.

The National Aquatics Center (the Water Cube), which hosted the welcome banquet for world leaders during APEC, has also started to offer a special APEC tour experience where visitors can take a glimpse into the high-profile dinner and also sample some food themselves.