Nanning Launches "High-Speed Rail Express Travel" Mode, Offering a "Slow Life" Experience at Tujia Apartments

    Some say: Travel is going from a place you’re tired of to one others are tired of. Friends from the south want to see the snowy landscapes of the north, while northerners, weary of the bitter cold, dream of escaping to the warmth of the south for the winter. In travel, spending most of your time on the road and arriving at your destination only to have little time to truly enjoy it before you have to leave is especially frustrating. Distance can turn travel aspirations into unfulfilled plans.

    On December 28, the inaugural high-speed rail service from Guilin to Beijing officially launched, followed by the opening of the Guilin to Nanning high-speed rail line on December 30. This means the entire high-speed rail route between Nanning and Beijing is now connected. In the future, the travel time between Nanning and Beijing is expected to be reduced from the current 26 hours to around 10 hours, while the time distance between Guilin, Nanning, and Changsha will also be shortened to within 3 hours. As a result, weekend trips to nearby destinations among Guilin, Nanning, and Changsha will become easily achievable.

    Nanning, known as "a city of half green trees and half buildings," boasts lush shade, vibrant flowers, and is a livable city. Its colorful ethnic culture and diverse folk activities make it a vibrant metropolis. Guangxi is home to many singing and dancing ethnic minorities, and visiting Nanning during the March 3rd Festival allows you to experience the purest form of indigenous musical beauty. Longhu Mountain is a habitat for wild macaques, which are gentle and human-friendly, making it an excellent choice for parent-child trips featured in shows like "Where Are We Going, Dad?" Nanning’s Lingshui Lake is one of the three largest constant-temperature hot spring lakes in China, renowned for its consistent volume, clarity, and temperature. Known as the "Dragon Spring Emitting Azure," the lake water remains around 23°C year-round, offering warmth in winter and coolness in summer, and is a famous domestic tourist destination. Yangmei Ancient Town, preserving the most intact cluster of ancient Qing Dynasty architecture in Guangxi, is a perfect spot for history enthusiasts to explore and trace the past.

    The opening of the high-speed rail will reshape Nanning’s economic landscape and spatiotemporal framework, significantly accelerating the construction of Nanning as a "regional international transportation hub." Urban development and economic growth will also enter the "high-speed rail era." After the rail line is operational, Nanning, as the central city of the urban agglomeration, will see its travel time to major regional cities shortened to just 1-2 hours, while the trip from Guilin to Beihai will take only two to three hours, fostering a sense of living in the same city. Transportation bottlenecks hindering regional development are expected to be resolved. In the real estate sector, the advantage of being in the same city becomes prominent, attracting residents from nearby areas such as Beihai, Qinzhou, Fangchenggang, and Laibin to invest and live in Nanning. In terms of tourism, new opportunities will arise, rapidly positioning Nanning as a regional international tourism destination and an important hub connecting various tourist regions, as well as linking domestic travel with Southeast Asia.

    Liu Daiqing, Deputy Director of the Nanning Municipal Bureau of Tourism, stated that to seize the opportunities brought by the high-speed rail era, the Nanning municipal government has repositioned the tourism industry and proposed to develop Nanning into a highly desirable travel destination characterized by four key features: the "Zhuang Song Sea," "China’s Green City," "ASEAN Charm," and "Wellness Capital."

    Previously, inadequate transportation infrastructure and the scattered nature of Nanning’s attractions somewhat diminished the city’s appeal. The state of "slow travel and fast tourism" had long been a pain point for Nanning’s tourism industry. With the opening of the high-speed rail, travelers no longer need to spend their time on the road—instead, they can enjoy the beauty of mountains and rivers. The new travel accommodation model offered by Tujia vacation apartments will also bring a unique slow-life holiday experience to your journey.

    Alongside the launch of the high-speed rail, Nanning’s tourism industry has also welcomed a new lodging trend—vacation apartments. Recently, Tujia.com, China’s leading high-quality vacation apartment booking platform, officially opened its first Tujia apartment in Nanning—the Poly Tongxinyuan Tujia Apartment, which is now open for reservations. It is reported that vacation apartments are increasingly favored by travelers for their homelike experience, including laundry and cooking facilities, more spacious living areas compared to traditional hotels, and unparalleled cost-effectiveness.