Green mountains stand thousands of peaks high, while fertile land blooms with life. To the roaring engines on the Twenty-Four Turns, the 72 nominated routes of the 2017 China Self-Drive Route Selection and the 36 selected Guizhou self-drive routes were officially announced to the nation on September 20 in Qinglong, Guizhou, under the joint witness of elites from the self-drive tourism industry, tourism authorities from Guizhou Province and its prefectures and cities, major national mainstream media, and leaders of self-drive clubs.
▲ Launch event for the 72 Nominated Routes of the 2017 China Self-Drive Route Selection and the 36 Guizhou Self-Drive Routes
These 72 nominated routes were carefully reviewed and independently voted on by 36 opinion leaders nationwide from a pool of 147 shortlisted routes. The routes are not only geographically diverse but also rich in content: they include newly designated UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites, classic revisits in response to the national “Belt and Road” initiative, heavenly realms where humans and gods coexist, pristine wilderness camping spots, the Wu culture of the Goddess Mountain, the Tujia ethnic customs of the Enshi Daughter’s Festival, the Stilwell Road on the China-Myanmar border, the Twenty-Four Turns in Qinglong, Guizhou, stunning tidal flats bathed in sunlight, the breathtaking starry skies over Black Rock City, the divine garden of the Yearly Treasure Jade Mountains, and the chivalrous spirit of Peach Blossom Island in Zhoushan. From spicy and flavorful Sichuan cuisine to Cantonese fare crafted by chefs from Fengcheng—root-seeking, heritage exploration, hiking, cycling, rock climbing, fishing, camping, and more—there is something for every interest. The selection strives to reflect new trends and activities in domestic self-drive tourism. In today’s era where self-driving has become a mainstream travel choice for Chinese people, it fully meets the diverse needs of driving enthusiasts.
▲ Mr. Li Keqi, Chief Architect of the China Self-Drive Route Selection and Founder & CEO of Aijia Media, announces the results2017 Nominated 72 Routes
On October 1, the refined 72 nominated routes will open for public voting on the official selection website (www.36lu.org), where self-drive travelers across the country can review, comment, visit in person, and vote online. Compared to previous years, this edition introduces an additional round of expert voting to jointly determine the annual 36 top routes. The final 36 ultimate routes, selected based on both public and expert votes, will be unveiled in Beijing on December 30.
▲Guests at the launch event take photos
The China Self-Drive Route Selection annually partners with a leading provincial tourism destination to ensure solid implementation and in-depth development. Following Yunnan in 2014, Hubei in 2015, and Sichuan in 2016, the 2017 selection took place in Guizhou. The selection organizing committee, together with the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission, successfully hosted the “Guizhou Self-Drive Route Selection.” At the launch event, Mr. Wu Mai, Deputy Inspector of the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission and Vice President & Secretary-General of the Guizhou Tourism Association, delivered a warm speech: “As one of the key initiatives of the ‘Guizhou Self-Drive Platform Construction,’ we are honored to be the honorary cooperative province for the 2017 China Self-Drive Route Selection. Together with the selection organizing committee, we hosted the ‘2017 Guizhou Self-Drive Route Selection’ to explore and expand Guizhou’s self-drive tourism resources, showcase the new self-drive tourism formats across various scenic areas in Guizhou, and innovatively develop a series of distinctive self-drive route products. We hope to produce 36 premium self-drive routes for Guizhou that can be introduced to the market, thus serving as a key vehicle for national self-drive tourism industry resources to take root in Guizhou and as an entry point for project and product incubation.”
▲Speech by Mr. Wu Mai, Deputy Inspector of the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission and Vice President & Secretary-General of the Guizhou Tourism Association
To promptly seize the opportunities brought by the China Self-Drive Route Selection’s presence in Guizhou and fully leverage the value and impact of this collaboration in nationwide tourism promotion and industrial resource integration, the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission mobilized tourism departments from all nine prefectures and cities, the Gui’an New Area, and two directly administered counties, as well as local tourism enterprises and clubs, to actively design self-drive routes for the selection. Among them, the Qianxinan Prefecture topped the list with seven routes selected for the Guizhou Thirty-Six Self-Drive Strategies.
▲Award recipients of the Guizhou Thirty-Six Self-Drive Strategies receive trophies and certificates
In her speech, Ms. Huang Man, Deputy Governor of the Qianxinan Prefecture People’s Government, said: “The China Self-Drive Route Selection Organizing Committee and the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission chose the Qinglong Twenty-Four Turns as the launch platform, using the physical landscape for interactive engagement to host the 2017 China Self-Drive Route Selection Nominated Routes and the Guizhou Thirty-Six Self-Drive Strategies launch event. This provided an important opportunity to expand publicity, enhance communication, and foster friendship within the self-drive tourism industry. We will take this launch event as an opportunity to firmly grasp the new opportunities of the mass tourism era, fully tap into and leverage the advantages of outdoor sports resources, continuously stimulate the potential of the self-drive tourism industry, promote positive interaction and deep integration between tourism and sports, and cultivate sports tourism as a new growth point for the mountain tourism development of Qianxinan Prefecture.”
▲Speech by Ms. Huang Man, Deputy Governor of the Qianxinan Prefecture People’s Government
Subsequently, Ms. Liu Jie, Executive Editor of the Guizhou Thirty-Six Self-Drive Strategies, introduced the overview of the 2017 Guizhou Self-Drive Route Selection and previewed the upcoming photography competition and the call for honorary editorial board members.
▲Ms. Liu Jie introduces the follow-up editorial plans for the Guizhou Thirty-Six Self-Drive Strategies
At the launch event, representatives from the selection’s director committee, promotion research field, and clubs shared insights from their respective roles and perspectives. Together with attendees, they explored how the annual China Self-Drive Route Selection can establish the most credible, influential, and authoritative evaluation standards for self-drive tourism products, meet the needs of hundreds of millions of self-drive travelers, and how all participants can create value by aggregating resources to gain brand endorsement, influence, and tangible benefits, thereby jointly promoting the healthy development of the self-drive tourism industry.
▲Speech by Mr. Xiang Ming, Deputy General Manager of Extreme Car Channel
▲Speech by Mr. Cao Qun, Founder of Aiche Global Self-Drive Auto Culture (Group) Club
Meanwhile, the 2017 Qinglong “Twenty-Four Turns” China Automobile Off-Road Championship was also held concurrently. At the end of the launch event, guests proceeded to the Twenty-Four Turns, where the specially planned “Ultimate Self-Drive Qinglong Route Experience” journey officially began.
▲“Discover the Beauty of China, Travel the Ultimate Routes”,Guests visit the An’nan Ancient City in Qinglong
Appendix:
China Self-Drive Route Selection: Initiated annually by Aijia Media and co-hosted with 36 industry leaders representing the advanced productive forces of China’s self-drive tourism sector, the selection aims to identify 36 must-drive routes each year. By aggregating and coordinating high-quality national self-drive tourism resources, it provides demand-driven, route-guided self-drive solutions, thereby creating supply, improving structure, and advancing the development of China’s self-drive tourism industry. Since its inception in 2012, the five editions of the selection have produced 180 annual ultimate routes, attracted 3,000 local tourism resource stakeholders and decision-makers in the self-drive tourism industry for exchange and collaboration, and reached hundreds of millions of users, making it the most influential and credible selection of its kind in China.
2017 Selection Organizing Committee
Chair Committee
Travel/Support: eHi Car Services, Baixing Trip, eHi Rent-a-Car, Wukong Car Rental, Banma Network, Zhidatech, China Telecom Baidu Hundred, Kuaiyixing, Yujing Auto, Che Tuo Bang, Huibao Tech, Yuanmeng Kangjian
Play/Stay: Homeinns Hotel Group, Tagg Boutique Living, KEYS Trendy Stays, Nature Creation, Beijing International Tourism Commodities Expo, Meituan Travel, Lazy Weekend, SMART Resort Industry Smart Platform, Camping World, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Ancient Village Conference i20 Youth Development Platform
Promotion/Research: Xiaokang Magazine, Archimedes, Extreme Car Media, Ika Auto, Focus Media, Panda Media, Miaopai, China Outdoor Media Network, Car Intelligence, Travel Intelligence, Burson-Marsteller, China Tourism Academy Kunming Branch
Secretariat
Honorary Cooperative Provinces for the Awards: Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission
Acknowledgements
【Honorary Province】Guizhou Provincial Tourism Development Commission
【Organizers】China Self-Drive Tour Route Selection Organizing Committee
【Special Supporters】Qianxinan Prefecture Tourism Development Commission, Qinglong County People's Government
【Designated Vehicle】Qoros Automobile
【Designated Safety Rescue Partner】
Yuanmeng Kangjian
【Supporting Organizations】Bosch
【Official Media】Ijia.com、The 36 Must-Drive Routes of a Lifetime
【Cooperative Media】
TV Media: Extreme Car Channel
Short Video Platforms: Miaopai
Print Media: Car Intelligence
Radio Media: Archimedes
Outdoor Media: China Outdoor Media Network
Vertical Website: Ika Auto
Live Streaming Platform: Yizhibo
Cloud Photography Platform: V.Photos