On May 12, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province. The earthquake affected many provinces and cities in western China. Guilin, thousands of kilometers away from the epicenter, also felt the tremors.
What impact will the sudden earthquake have on Guilin's tourism market? Relevant departments of the Guilin Tourism Bureau conducted telephone interviews with relevant responsible persons of several major scenic spots, travel agencies, and hotels within the city, and the news received is comforting:
The heads of scenic spots such as Leman Dì, Shangri-La, and Yuzi Amusement Park introduced that the tourist sources of the scenic spots have not decreased due to the earthquake. Especially for Leman Dì, since its tourist sources are mainly from within the province and from Hunan and Guangdong, it has basically not been affected. On the travel agency side, only a few travel teams from Sichuan and Chongqing have experienced changes in their itinerary. Compared with scenic spots and travel agencies, hotel guest sources have been somewhat affected. Due to temporary road and railway blockages and flight suspensions, some individual guests' reservations at hotels have been temporarily canceled or their itineraries changed. However, the head of the reservation department of Guilin Li River Grand Waterfall Hotel introduced that a small number of cancellations have little impact on the hotel because there are usually cases where guests cancel their reservations at the last minute during normal times.
Although this Wenchuan earthquake was highly destructive and had a wide range of involvement, according to Deputy Director Wang Weiping of the Guilin Seismological Bureau, who was interviewed by Guilin media, since the aftershocks will not be of high magnitude, our city will no longer experience vibrations. As of May 13, the person in charge of Guilin Earthquake Station reported that among the nearly one hundred aftershocks monitored by the Guilin Earthquake Station, due to their low magnitude, neither the urban area of Guilin nor the various counties have been affected in any way. Citizens can rest assured in their daily lives and work.
The Guilin Tourism Bureau has also promptly forwarded the spirit of earthquake relief and active protection from the Guangxi Autonomous Region Tourism Bureau, and required travel agencies not to form groups to travel to Sichuan and surrounding provinces in the near future. Currently, the two tour groups organized by Guilin to Sichuan have not received any reports of casualties. They are actively organizing donations to support the disaster areas. At present, Guilin's tourism market has basically not been affected. Tourists from other places can still be seen strolling through the streets and scenic spots of Guilin in large groups.
Tourists from all over the country can come to Guilin for sightseeing and touring with complete peace of mind!