China has carried out tax rebate policy in Beijing and Shanghai among inbound visitors since July 1st, 2015. Someone think it will bring positive impacts to the two cities, like stimulating consumption, enhancing their competitiveness in inbound tourism markets, helping Chinese old brands to grow, while others think the impacts will not be seen obviously, as goods and prices in the tax free stores are not attractive enough, and European countries are undergoing an economic recession, etc.

Due to the danger oflandslides, Yangtze River section between Fengjie and Badong has been closed for all ships. This affects Yangtze River cruise in several ways: passengers will travel the blocked section by bus and change to another same level cruise ship after arrival; the Wu Gorge and Qutang Gorge will be missed; the side cruise to Three Little Gorges will be replaced by Shennong Stream or Shennv Stream. The reopening date of the section is still unknown.

Chinese people are trying their best to save the Yangtze capsizing survivors. They even use the Three Gorges Dam to block more water from upper stream to lower the water level of accident site for rescue work. As of 09:00 on June 4th, 2015, rescuers have found 80 passengers, including 14 survivors.

A cruise ship carrying 458 people sank at 21:58 on June 1st, 2015 in Shihou section of Yangtze River while heading from Nanjing to Chongqing. The rescue work began shortly after the accident and the sunken ship has been found. Currently, more than 100 ships are searching for survivors and over 10 have been rescued.

A video about a Yunnan tour guide insulting her clients got ’breaking news’ status and was widely circulated online. The public all took the side of the clients. But when looking into the issue, there were some others to be blamed, including the travel agency, the related tourism department, and even the travelers themselves.

Visitors can still visit Tibet after the Nepal earthquake. However, the itinerary currently can only cover attractions in Lhasa area, as roads to Gyangtse, Shigatse, Tingri, Mt. Everest, and Zhangmu Port are only open to vehicles transporting disaster relief goods. The height of Mt. Everest also changed due to the earthquake.

Some visitors got cheated when joining low-priced China tours. For those interested in low-priced China trips, be cautious and double check what’s included in the quotation, what’s excluded, and other details, by which way to find out the real low-priced itineraries with high price ratio.

A mountain rock fall happened in Guilin Folded Brocade Hill resulting in 7 dead and 25 injured on March 19th. Officials said the tragedy was caused by a natural geological disaster, but some others thought it was due to possible man-made causes. TravelChinaGuide.com gives some tips to future travelers considering geological changes.

China’s tourism market grew rapidly during 2015 Chinese New Year holiday. During the period, Mainland China witnessed 261 million visitors and received 14.483 billion CNY in revenue, an increase of 12.9% and 14.6% respectively compared with 2014. The most popular activities and destinations include New Year blessing and greeting trips, ice and snow related activities, hot springs, winter resorts, and nearby countries, etc. No serious accidents happened; but there are still many problems to be resolved during the Lunar New Year peak travel season.

2015 Chinese Spring Festival Holiday Rush has begun on February 4th. About 2.807 billion passengers will travel within China during the period. To off load the transport demands, more trains/planes/coaches/ferries have been put into service. TravelChinaGuide.com provides some trips for traveling during the period.