Self-drive trips to neighboring Mongolia allow travelers to access magnificent views and rich folk customs. （Photo provided to China Daily）
Jin Xin has taken his car in for service and has started stocking up on boxes of ready-to-eat rice. Jin, from Tianjin, is preparing for a road trip around and across the Chinese border in July.
"I signed myself up for a 13-day self-drive trip from Beijing through Inner Mongolia's Erenhot to Russia's Lake Baikal," Jin says. The trip will cost him 19,800 yuan ($3,171).
Frontier inspection and visa applications may take some time and money, but the idea of experiencing wild nature and capturing amazing photos makes all the trouble worth it, he says.
Self-driving travel are expected to become increasingly popular. Authorities are working on making it easier for Chinese to drive to neighboring countries.
China's General Administration of Customs is working on the development of self-drive routes to China's neighboring nations, such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, according to the administration's port management office.
ADVERTISING3 3 "Russia and Mongolia offer vast landscape sceneries and abundant natural resources," says Zhu Huashan, managing director of the Beijing-based Century of Self-driving Tour Travel Service Co.
"The two countries are sparsely populated and are therefore ideal for self-drive travelers."
Zhu's company is arranging the July trip from Beijing to Lake Baikal.
Reports show that roughly 30 percent of Chinese outbound tourists have shown an interest in self-drive travel, says Bai Shi, deputy director of the port management office.
ADVERTISING3 3 Several major Chinese travel agencies have offered to contribute to the development of self-driving tours to China's bordering countries.
If things go well, self-drive tourists will be able to embark on outbound trips this year, according to Ge Lei, marketing director of the China Youth Travel Service.
"We are planning trips from Northeast China to Russia, from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to Mongolia, and from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to Kazakhstan or Russia," Ge says.
Those travel routes are expected to enable tourists to enjoy both domestic scenic spots and cross-border vistas.
Russia is the most-sought destination for self-drive travelers, he adds.
"At the moment, we are waiting for specific rules from the Chinese customs administration," says Li Yongwei, marketing manager of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps CYTS Tour Co.
Li has helped self-drive tourists travel from Xinjiang to nearby countries since July 2013. He says one problem is the vehicles, with some tourists simply abandoning their cars in different countries when they break down.
The difficulty and high costs of visa application processes also discourage potential customers.
