A woman rides a bicycle in Beijing's Universal Studios Resort on Wednesday. The resort, located in Beijing's Tongzhou district, is set to start a trial run from September 1 after three months of stress tests. Photo: cnsphoto

Beijing's Universal Studios Resort announced on Monday that it will officially open for business on September 20, prior to the National Day holidays which begin on October 1.

Data from qunar.com showed that within half an hour of its official announcement, the number of searches for air tickets to Beijing during the impending Mid-Autumn Festival on the platform was 11 times higher than that of the same period last week, with Beijing now tipped to be one of the hottest destinations for the upcoming holidays. 

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 21, one day after Universal's opening ceremony. 

The venue, located in the capital city's eastern district of Tongzhou, includes the Universal Studios theme park, Universal CityWalk and two hotels, along with 37 recreational facilities, themed attractions and dozens of food and beverage outlets.

The venue is conducting a trial run from September 1 to 19 following three months of stress tests. The soft opening has included limited access to selected guests, including the resort partners, as well as a group of fans chosen from marketing campaign.

The opening of the theme park has been postponed for several months due to localized breakouts of Covid-19 across the country. It has resumed pre-opening stress tests, including ensuring safe operation of rides and attractions, the park's capacity for hosting large crowds and deal with the extreme weather patterns.

Once open, Universal Studios Beijing will be the fifth universal studios in the world and the third in Asia, featuring 14 super large attractions.

With students heading back to school for the fall semester, and a series of major events to be organized in several provinces in September, Ma Xiaowei, director of China's National Health Commission, told media on Monday that China is likely to control the current COVID-19 flare-up at the end of August to get life back to normal as soon as possible.

The resurgence of COVID-19 in China will likely reach a turning point at the end of August with new infections have been brought to low single digit, according to Zhang Boli, a medical expert and academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Given this, largely unrestricted travel within China's mainland will be possible during the oncoming Mid-autumn festival in September and National Day in October, Zhang told the Beijing-based Health Times last week.

Global Times