——The Second Season of the 2015 "Fall in Love with Yichang" National Brand Car Self-Drive Tour Cools Down
With the rise of individual travel, self-drive tours that emphasize experience, freedom, and personal style are increasingly favored by tourists. Nowadays, one of the most popular ways to travel is to gather friends, hop into your beloved car, and embark on a spontaneous road trip through lush mountains and clear waters. From August 1st to 2nd, the Yichang Tourism Bureau, together with the Three Gorges Dam Scenic Area and the Chao Tian Hou Drift attraction, as well as two major auto clubs—the Hubei CS75 Official Car Enthusiasts Club and the Wuhan Da Chu Han Shi 3008 Car Enthusiasts Club—jointly created an outdoor carnival in Yichang under the theme of "A Scenic Drive Through Time." This event kicked off the fashionable summer activities of water-themed camping and self-drive travel.
On the noon of August 1st, a grand and ceremonious welcome ceremony was held at the Three Gorges Dam parking lot near the Xiling Yangtze River Bridge. Li Qiang, Deputy Director of the Yichang Tourism Bureau, attended the ceremony. Hu Nianyao, Deputy General Manager of the Scenic Area Management Center of the Yangtze Three Gorges Tourism Development Co., Ltd., delivered a welcome speech. Wang Jianghan, Vice President of the Hubei CS75 Official Car Enthusiasts Club, and Yin Jiangquan, President of the Wuhan Da Chu Han Shi 3008 Car Enthusiasts Club, spoke on behalf of the car enthusiasts, expressing high praise for Yichang’s tourism resources and strong optimism about the prospects of the self-drive tour market in Yichang. The ceremony also featured a special charity donation segment, where self-drive tourists donated stationery, sports equipment, and other essential items to underprivileged left-behind children in mountainous areas, handing them over personally. Finally, under the call of the car club presidents, over a hundred self-drive vehicles sounded their horns together, officially launching the second season of the "Fall in Love with Yichang" self-drive tour.
It is understood that this event is a special “Cool Action” launched for the summer market, building on the market enthusiasm from the first season of the self-drive tour. During the event, participants not only enjoyed the refreshing and picturesque landscapes along the drive but also experienced the grandeur of the Three Gorges Dam, the thrill of mountain drifting, the excitement of off-road adventures, and the cultural charm of Zhaojun’s Hometown. On a night with a full moon, travelers also enjoyed fresh experiences such as camping under the starry sky, barbecues around bonfires, and open-air movies, sleeping in the embrace of nature and reflecting on the unique joys of the journey in peaceful, carefree dreams.
Yichang boasts competing beauty with its towering mountains, long rivers, and numerous valleys. It integrates specialized tourism features such as original canyon exploration, rafting, and outdoor adventure. With its majestic mountains, glistening streams, and waterfalls, the scenery is picturesque and distinctive. Especially cool in summer, it is recognized as a go-to summer retreat by self-drive enthusiasts in the surrounding regions, where “self-drive travelers” are a common sight. In response, Yichang has continuously developed self-drive tour routes and accelerated the construction of supporting facilities such as self-drive campsites, actively building the city’s self-drive tourism brand. In the first half of 2015, the city launched over 10 premium self-drive tour routes, including the Poetic Three Gorges Tour and the Tujia Ethnic Culture Tour, attracting self-drive enthusiasts from all over the country. Yichang’s new tourism destination image as an “Outdoor Paradise and Self-Drive Heaven” is taking shape.