Apps Are New Tour Guides for Chinese Tourists

A growing number of Chinese are using online tools to guide their travels.

Release time : 2018-04-16 14:17:45

source : http://www.ecns.cn

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People often use apps to read when waiting for or taking transportation, before bed and during rests at such places as cafes and parks. The most popular books are novels, literature, tourism, history and biographies.

Outbound tourists often rely on dictionary and translation apps to communicate with locals, read menus and take transportation. Some use these apps before their trips to learn simple phrases and travel-related words.

Over half of the fitness-conscious continue to work out when traveling. The most popular sports are walking, running, yoga, aerobics, cycling and swimming.

Nearly one in five among this group diet while traveling. Nearly 60 percent will enjoy local dishes but avoid fried foods and desserts, while nearly a quarter don't worry about what they eat.

Half of the fitness-conscious prefer hotels with gyms and 41 percent prefer ones with swimming pools.

Li Weiliang uses apps to stay fit while traveling.

The 31-year-old, who works in advertising in Yunnan province, typically does two hours of strength training four or five times a week.

Li watches training videos on the app Keep to guide his resistance-band workouts if he doesn't hit the gym.

"Exercising while traveling improves your mood and experiences," he says.

Cheng Shi uses short-video apps to document and share his travel experiences.

The 35-year-old started filming his experiences on the road in 2014. He uses his mobile, a GoPro to shoot underwater and a drone for aerial filming.

Special moments he has captured include a romantic marriage proposal by a tourist at Chiang Mai's Water Splashing Festival and a giant whale swimming with its baby.

"I feel a great sense of accomplishment because those who appear in my short videos like them. Some of the people I've only met once. Some have become my friends. It feels more authentic than the likes I get from random netizens," says Cheng, who works in film and animation in Shanghai.

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