The summer season is nearly over with those travels to the lakes or rivers coming to an end. As autumn comes, mountain climbers will surely find more fun.

According to netease.com website, travels to domestic mountain resorts were turning hot recently. Trips to mountains would keep its climbing trend until the mid-autumn festival and the Double Ninth festival, also known as the mountain climb festival in China.

Statistics from the Nanhu International Travel Agency showed that tours to China’s western region were booming this year.

In July, the number of visitors choosing mountain routes in their agency already accounted for 25 percent of the total number of domestic travelers. Last year, however, the relative figure was about 20 percent.

The traditional famous mountain resorts like Huangshan, Taishan, Lushan and Jinggangshan will still keep their attrations to tourists. Yet tourists also welcome those mountains in the western region.

The Yulong Snow mountain in Yunnan, the Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan and the E’mei mountain received more than 1,000 visitors every day in the summer.

The Tianshan in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Wutaishan in Shanxi province saw similar boom. These mountain resorts are expected to receive more tourists in September.

In respond to this, some travel agencies have already launched some new routes in mountain resorts, like the six-day tour to the Meili Snow Mountain, the glacier in Mingyong, Lijiang and Yulong Snow Mountain in Yunnan.

In addition, travel agencies have also designed a number of mountain routes for certain group of people, like the short distance travel to Hengshan, Huangshan, or Wutaishan for the elderly, the route for lovers to Yulong Snow Mountain in Yunnan and the Meili Snow Mountain for adventurers.

People working at travel agencies predict that at present, lake or river travel and mountain travel will share the market equally. In October, however, mountain routes will take a dominant position.

(Chinanews.cn August 29, 2005)