(ECNS) -- Search interest in travel to northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has surged 157% month on month since the start of October, as a new high-speed railway connecting Harbin with Yichun in the province allows more visitors to enjoy the region's autumn foliage, according to tourism market data released on Tuesday.
The Harbin-Yichun high-speed railway began operations on Sept. 28, cutting travel time between the two cities from several hours to as little as one hour and 46 minutes. Stretching more than 300 kilometers through the heart of the Lesser Khingan Mountains, the line places cities along the route within half a day's travel of one another.
As areas along the line enter the peak viewing season for the mountains' colorful autumn forests in mid-to-late October, the railway has spurred demand for autumn trips to China's far north, with Yichun, Suihua and Harbin ranking as the three most popular destinations in Heilongjiang.
As China's high-speed rail network continues to expand, autumn foliage tourism could become Heilongjiang's second major driver of tourism growth after winter ice-and-snow tourism, analysts said.
(By Gong Weiwei)
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