Aerial photo taken on April 7, 2021 shows the mountains shrouded by cloud and mist in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, central China's Hunan Province.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Three major scenic spots in Zhangjiajie, Central China's Hunan Province including the Wulingyuan scenic spot have reopened on Friday after a nearly two-month lockdown due to a localized Covid-19 outbreak originated from the Nanjing airport in East China’s Jiangsu Province. Unprecedent discounts have been given to draw tourists back to the city.

After the recent resurgence of the epidemic has been subdued, the three major scenic spots, Wulingyuan, Tianmen Mountain and Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, have reopened to tourists, the announcement came after the city was re-designated as a low-risk area on Wednesday, with all traffic checkpoints in the city removed, and public transportation restored.

Other outdoor and indoor scenic spots in Zhangjiajie will gradually open after the risk assessment was fully complete and passed, and all reopening is expected to be completed in early September, according to media reports.

Zhangjiajie closed all its tourism sites and upgraded risk levels for COVID-19 on July 30 after the city reported one confirmed locally transmitted case after a local performance show for tourists caused a massive spread of the virus to at least eight provinces and regions across the country including Beijing.

Virus sequences of the Zhangjiajie cases were found to be the same Delta variant strain discovered in Nanjing, throwing the famous scenic city into a sudden and complete shutdown and local residents had a city-wide nucleic acid testing since July 29, with some key groups had been tested three times.

The city reopened with a series of unprecedented subsidy policies including half-price discounts to all the A-level scenic spots in Zhangjiajie and transportation in the scenic spots to tourists from all across the country till September 30.

In order to draw tourists back to the city, subsidies will also be provided for each flight resumed between September 1 and 30.

Upon its reopening, prevention and control management measures such as wearing masks, temperature and health code checks, and keeping one-meter distance between people when entering the scenic spot will be in place.

Global Times