Gui'an Cherry Blossom Park captivates global tourists

Gui'an Cherry Blossom Park is the largest of its kind in the world. [Photo by Shi Zhaochang/Guiyang news network]

When the flowers bloom in March, the peak season for tour groups in Guizhou begins. Ms Liang, a tour guide, arrived at the Gui'an Cherry Blossom Garden on March 14 with a group of 20 tourists from Hong Kong, marking her fifth consecutive year being posted from Guangzhou to Guizhou to serve the springtime surge of Hong Kong travelers.

A group of 28 tourists from Malaysia also visited the garden after having flown into Guiyang on March 13, when they explored local landmarks like Qingyun Market and Jiaxiu Pavilion before heading to this world-class sea of flowers.

According to Rong Xiaoxiao, secretary-general of the Guizhou-Hong Kong-Macao Tourism Alliance and chairwoman of Navigator International Travel Service (Guizhou) Co, this year's first inbound flower-viewing group arrived in Guiyang as early as Feb 26, with Gui'an Cherry Blossom Park serving as the centerpiece of their itinerary.

The company expects to host over 50 international tour groups in March, totaling more than 1,200 visitors, with flower-viewing groups accounting for 83 percent of the total.

Tourists from the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Germany are also arriving in large numbers. There has been a significant uptick in long-haul travelers from Europe and the United States, with visitors from visa-free countries accounting for over 80 percent of arrivals.

In Rong's view, the reason Gui'an Cherry Blossom Park has won over international fans lies in its irreplaceable advantages. With 24,000 mu (1,600 hectares) and 700,000 trees, it is the world's largest contiguous cherry garden.

As a free-entry park with manageable crowd density, it offers international tourists a more comfortable, immersive, and cost-effective experience.