CRI听力:Low air travel to boost tourism market in Qingdao

Now citizens in Qingdao may enjoy low-altitude air travel, taking in a panoramic view of the city's landscape.

The popularity of these low-level flights has led to the emergence of a booming industry estimated to generate over one trillion yuan, highlighting the potential for further growth in Qingdao's aviation industry.

Industry insiders believe Qingdao's aviation is being faced with uNPRecedented, strategic opportunities. CRI's Jessica Luo has the story.

At noon, a small helicopter coded EC155 took off with a dozen tourists on board. These twelve tourists became the first group of travelers to view the picturesque coastal scenery.

An anonymous traveler shares her feelings.

"The flight is very comfortable, and smooth, we feel that having a bird's eye view of Qingdao is completely different from what we observe on the ground. Both a local square and gulf could be clearly seen; also red tiles and green tree leaves are strikingly noticeable to us."
 

An EC155 helicopter can hold a maximum of 12 tourists and fly as high as 3,000 meters. It can drop to around 1,000 meters high when travelers want a closer view of the landscape.

Meanwhile, the helicopter can also be used as a lead plane for other planes to follow or to be contracted to conduct rescue missions. As the helicopters can be used for multiple purposes, the cost of air travel is hence reduced.

Liu Jianxin is Deputy General Manager of CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co., Ltd.

"If a helicopter is purely employed for tourism, tourists may feel it is expensive since they spend over 1,000 yuan for no more than 10 minutes' air travel. However as soon as the helicopter becomes multi-purpose, it may reduce the cost."
 

Ordinary visitors may book by telephone or online for a low-altitude flight.

It's expected that with the growth of this market, more diversified air travel programs will soon become available.

Wang Hong is Board Chairman of Qingdao Tourism Group.

"We included three travel routes into our initial design. All three routes start from Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center., but the destinations vary from the west coast to the Laoshan region. In the future, we will open a number of new routes".
 

In 2010, China's State Council reformed the low-altitude airspace management, pushing forward new reforms nationwide.

Zhang Mingchi, a tourism official in Shandong Province, thinks the policy reform provides a lot of potential for low-altitude tourism.

"We used to be restricted with an airspace control policy. This reform provides the most fundamental conditions for low-altitude tourism. With the increase in people's income and the availability of various types of tourism choices, more and more people began pursuing high-quality tourism. I am very optimistic about the prospects for aviation tourism development in Qingdao."
 

General aviation boasts a huge industrial chain. With the improvement in low-altitude airspace management, Qingdao is expected to embrace an expansion of the tourism market, as well as an upgrade of the aviation industry.

Lu Renli is dean of general aviation department in the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China.

"The lead role by the general aviation industry is particularly strong in the aspects including tourism, infrastructure services, contingent aid and medical aid. A strong aviation industry could also lead to an increase in efficiency in a lot of sectors. The aviation sector also includes the maintenance of planes and supplies of accessory parts and oil."
 

Despite the broad potential for the development of general aviation, there are also many obstacles to overcome.

Cai Jiacheng is an official with the China National Tourism Administration.

"It still remains unclear regarding how open the low-altitude airspace could become. Whether all the operators need to do is to acquire the rights of utilization of the aircraft or they should obtain an official approval in advance for each voyage in accordance with the current air control policy, that is something that airspace management authorities need to consider and discuss. Secondly, tourism operators need to set up a union to discuss the innovation possibilities in tourism products."
 

In 2014, Qingdao was listed as one of the pilot cities to test the policy of an open, low-altitude airspace.

In 2015, The Qingdao Tourism Group gained an official approval for initiating new general aviation tourism projects. All these facilitate the city in developing the low-altitude tourism business.

Lu Renli explains again:

"I think that in the future Qingdao should strengthen an overall design of low airspace tourism. Two things need to be tackled first: one, it should enable tourists to know ahead of time what they can observe during this low-altitude journey;secondly, a pleasant view from both above and on the ground need to be considered in the designs of local tourist attractions. Qingdao has many attractions throughout the city. When relevant operators design the travel routes, they should also take into account how they could impress travelers with a continuous sightseeing journey. This way, we could boost the tourism in the entire city."
 

To date, the construction of four airports for low airspace flights is now being planned in four districts of Qingdao, including Huangdao and Pingdu. In the future, a potential boost in the general aviation industry is expected to lead to the development in other sectors such as manufacturing and the overall tourism businesses in Qingdao.

For CRI, I'm Jessica Luo.