Yizhang, 16 Sep (Zhongxin Net) -- "Climbing a mountain is like a daily walk. In the drizzle, Zhu Yuhua, director of the Italian "Xinhua Times", strolled on the "clouds" plank road in the Wuzhifeng scenic area of Mangshan in Hunan Province and could not help but sigh that the nearly two-hour tour had no steep slopes or climbing steps, "I didn't expect that climbing the mountain could be so easy."
On September 15, the "Walking China - 2023 Overseas Chinese Media High-level Chenzhou Tour" activity entered Mangshan, Chenzhou. Photo by Yang Huafeng
On September 15th, representatives of overseas Chinese media who participated in the "Walking China - 2023 Overseas Chinese Media High-level Chenzhou Tour" activity walked into the "first barrier-free mountain-type scenic spot in China" and "the first barrier-free mountain-type tourist scenic spot in China" - Mangshan Wuzhifeng Scenic Area to experience the "Mangshan Model" of barrier-free tourism.
Mang Mountain is located in Yizhang County, Chenzhou, lying at the northern foot of Nanling. The total area of the scenic area is nearly 300,000 mu, with towering mountains and rugged rocks, with high-quality resources such as "strange pines, strange rocks, sea of clouds, frost, azaleas, hot springs", and "the majesty of Mount Tai and the danger of Mount Hua", which is a mountain-type scenic spot integrating sightseeing, leisure, health care and research resources.
"In order to present the high-quality tourism resources and beautiful scenery of Mangshan to the world to share. Yizhang County and Zhongjingxin Group jointly created the Mangshan Five Finger Peak Scenic Area, which was carefully designed with the theme of barrier-free tourism, and finally became the first mountain-type scenic spot in China that can realize barrier-free tours. Cheng Lixia, secretary of the party group and director of Yizhang County Cultural Tourism Radio and Sports Bureau, introduced.
Mangshan Wuzhifeng Scenic Area barrier-free walking boardwalk, convenient for wheelchair barrier-free. Photo by Yang Huafeng
What is a "barrier-free mountain-type scenic spot"? In the Mangshan Wuzhifeng Scenic Area, above 1400 meters above sea level, an escalator and two elevators connect three walking trails at different altitudes to form an 8-kilometer walking boardwalk. The scenic area also adopts outdoor oblique wheelchair hoists, vertical wheelchair hoists and climbing machines to make wheelchairs barrier-free, and people with physical disabilities can also climb high and look far. Mangshan is therefore known as a "mountain that does not need to be climbed".
"This heart-warming design is very heartwarming." Wei Yuanlong, vice president of the US "Vegas News", said that the concept of "barrier-free" scenic spot construction highlights people-oriented, but also special care for people with disabilities such as the disabled and the elderly.
With the warmth of "barrier-free", the popularity of Mangshan Scenic Area continues to rise. From January to August this year, Mangshan Scenic Area received 2,804,900 tourists and achieved tourism revenue of 3.225 billion yuan. Among the bustling tourists, "wheelchair tourists" can be seen from time to time strolling the suspended boardwalk and watching the mountains and clouds.
In the scenic area, you will find that the warmth of Mangshan is also reflected in every detail of the scenic area. For example, tourist service centers, ropeway stations, restaurants, public toilets, etc., are equipped with barrier-free passages at the entrances to facilitate the free entry and exit of people with travel disabilities; Tourist public toilets in scenic spots are equipped with third toilets, special toilets for the disabled, and special handwashing stations to solve the problem of difficulty in toileting for people with travel disabilities.
Mangshan Cloud Sea (data map). Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Chenzhou Municipal Party Committee
In order to protect the ecological scenery of Mangshan, the construction of scenic spots strictly avoids areas with forest ecological protection value, and chooses routes with less damage to the ecological environment and ecological landscape as much as possible. In the implementation of the project, in strict accordance with the requirements of relevant laws and regulations such as environmental protection, forestry, land, construction, tourism, etc., improve the administrative approval procedures. When planning and selecting sites for visitor centers, parking lots, cable car base stations, etc., we make full use of wasteland, tidal flats, etc., so that people can live in harmony with nature.
At present, Yizhang County has given full play to the clustering effect of barrier-free tourism in Mangshan Mountain, driving the people around the scenic area to vigorously develop homestay tourism, rural tourism and hot spring tourism, which not only realizes the employment of the local people at the "doorstep", but also drives the sales of local characteristic agricultural products. Today, the entire Mangshan Scenic Area has formed a tourism industry system covering the "six elements" of food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment, which can receive more than 20,000 tourists per day, provide about 5,000 accommodation beds, and employ more than 5,000 tourism employees. (End)