Few tourists wait at the entrance of the Universal Beijing Resort on October 26. Photo: Liu Yang/GT



Universal Beijing Resort will reopen at 75 percent capacity on June 15, along with other scenic spots in the capital city that are resuming normal operation, as Beijing has tamed a recent resurgence of coronavirus. 

A tourism boom is expected next week in Beijing, surpassing the travel heat during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday that ended on Sunday.

The Universal theme park will reopen on June 15, while the Universal Studios Grand Hotel, the NUO Resort Hotel and Universal CityWalk Beijing are scheduled to reopen to guests on June 14. All tourists entering the resort need to provide negative nucleic acid tests done within 72 hours, the resort said on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.

Ticket sales for Themed Lands and bookings for hotels will start on Saturday, June 11.

The number of visitors to the official flagship store of Universal Beijing Resort on Tuesday jumped 19 times from the previous day on Feizhu, Alibaba Group's online travel booking platform.

Universal is among the major tourism spots resuming operation in Beijing, after the city on Monday announced the return of "group tours."

Those participating in group tours should have received a full course of COVID-19 vaccinations. All scenic spots and parks in the city should curb their visitors at 75 percent of their capacity.

According to Trip.com, tourism orders in Beijing from Monday to Sunday rose 14 percent from the previous week. Ticket bookings for Beijing's scenic spots saw the fastest increase of more than 90 percent. Bookings for group tours in Beijing rose 11 percent from the previous week.

The capital city also resumed restaurant dine-in service on Monday. 

Visitor flows in major shopping malls skyrocketed from a week earlier. Joy City in Beijing's Chaoyang district, for example, was the busiest shopping mall in the country on Monday, big data showed. China World Mall in Beijing's CBD area saw its visitor flow skyrocket by 394 percent on a weekly basis, according to the Beijing Daily.

Shoppers walk through the re-opened Taikoo Li mall in Sanlitun, downtown Beijing on May 29, 2022. Major shopping malls in the city's Chaoyang district announced they had reopened starting from Sunday morning, with anti-epidemic measures in place. Beijing has effectively brought the latest COVID-19 epidemic under control. Photo: IC

 
Beijing will return to normal production and services in an orderly manner, except areas that are still under epidemic control, Xu Hejian, spokesperson of the municipal government, said on Tuesday during a daily press briefing. 

"With the increasing mobility of people and gatherings, the risk of the spread of the virus also increases. Beijing must not allow any slackening in epidemic prevention and control," said Xu. 

Universal Resort said that it will be open to visitors in strict accordance with the city's epidemic prevention and control policies, with daily flow capped at 75 percent of capacity.

Indoor attractions and entertainment programs at Beijing Universal theme park will also be managed according to government regulations.

Global Times