By Liu Xinyu & Zhang Xu
(ECNS) – From rock specimens in a museum to towering karst peaks, from a sound-and-light landscape performance venue to a cave used for astronaut training -- Wulong District of Chongqing, part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site "South China Karst" is accelerating its drive to become a "world-renowned tourist destination."
Karst refers to geological formations shaped by the dissolution and erosion of soluble rocks. Wulong has many karst-themed travel agencies, visitor centers, museums and parks - a reflection of the landscape's deep-rooted presence in local life.
The Three Natural Bridges in Wulong, known for its karst scenery and as a filming location for Transformers 4, is already crowded with visitors even before the peak tourist season. Among them are many international travelers from France, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia and beyond.
A pair of French tourists said they had been in Chongqing for five days, calling the site a "must-see" spot. Aum, a Thai visitor walking slowly with a cane, said, "I know it's a bit much to come here with mobility issues, but since I'm here, it's worth it."
On Wulong's Fairy Mountain grassland, a Vietnamese tourist named Ruan Huihui told China News Service she has visited multiple times for spring grasslands and winter snowscapes. "Snow tourism" in Wulong is very popular among visitors from Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, she said.
"Wulong is very well known in Hong Kong and Macao. This is my first time here, and the experience has exceeded my expectations," said Hong Xiaoya, director of the New Media Center of Macao Commercial Post, during an interview with China News Service. She was most impressed by the Three Natural Bridges, noting that the site prioritizes ecological protection and preserves the original landscape to the greatest extent possible.
China's first astronaut training session in a cave was also completed in Wulong. According to media reports, the cave's structural integrity - a spacious main chamber for temporary command posts and living quarters, and an intricate network of side passages for climbing, crawling and rappelling -- makes it an ideal site for simulating tasks inside and outside a spacecraft as well as navigating complex terrain.
Local official data show that Wulong received over 52 million tourist visits in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 10.29%. Among them, overseas visitors numbered 778,800, surging 216.2% from the previous year.
京公网安备 11010202009201号