In the meantime, ships with tourists shuttled back and forth on the Dongjiang Lake in Chenzhou City and other scenic waters.

 

According to statistics from the Department of Transportation of Hunan Province, during the Spring Festival holiday this year, the province's waterway handled a total of 285,000 passenger trips, an increase of 55.94 percent over the same period in 2022.

 

Changsha gained in popularity during the Spring Festival holiday, and netizens ridiculed it as a city hard to have meals because of the long queue time. The concentrated influx of tourists has also brought explosive growth in passenger traffic for Changsha waterway tourism.

 

The Orange Isle Ferry Terminal Route is divided into day tour and night tour. The day tour route is the Orange Isle Ferry Terminal- Mao Zedong Youth Art Statue- the Square Vessel (Fang Zun) with Four Rams- Dufu River Pavilion. The night tour adds the Orange Isle Bridge and Wanda Plaza on this basis. The line operated by Hunan Longxiang Liuyang River is Tao Gong Temple- Changsha Riverside Culture Park- the Orange Isle, and tourists can soak up the enthralling scenery along the Xiangjiang River and Liuyang River.

 

Chenzhou, a city famous for the Dongjiang Lake, also became a waterway tourist destination during the Spring Festival.

 

According to the relevant person in charge of the Chenzhou Water Transport Affairs Center, during the Spring Festival, Chenzhou’s waterway recorded a total of about 56,700 passengers trips, a rise of 140 percent over the same period in 2022, and the water passenger flow was mainly concentrated in places such as the Dongjiang Lake Reservoir Area, Yongxing, Suxian and Guiyang.

 

In October last year, 50 pilot waterways for tourist transportation across the country were announced, and 3 routes in Hunan Province were selected, namely the Orange Isle Ferry Terminal Route in Changsha City, the Dongjiang Lake Waterway in Zixing City of Chenzhou City, and the Xianyang Lake Waterway in Changde City.