120,000 Tourists Rush to This Trending City in China, Why?

Source:OT-Team(S,J), China News,Global Times

Since early March, Zibo local barbecue has caused a sensation online. The little double-layer stove, small pancakes, green onions and sauce became icons among netizens.

According to reports, Zibo received 4.8 million visitors in March, with a year-on-year increase of 134 percent, and tourist revenue was up by 60 percent. A total of 1,288 barbecue businesses served 135,800 customers a day on average, most of whom were university students from across the province and nationwide.

Back to May 2022, more than 12,000 students from Shandong University were transferred to Zibo for quarantine, and they were well cared for and felt touched.
 
"Local people were doing their best to offer us the good condition during the quarantine time." A student told the People's Daily reporter that, local people  prepared daily necessities and epidemic prevention materials in advance,  even the small things such as nail clippers were included. " To make sure that we get good internet service and could continue with study, they even prepared new SIM cards for us."

Before the quarantine was lifted, the Linzi District Government contacted all barbecue restaurants throughout the city, and order barbecue for all the students quarantined in the district, as a special meal for farewell, and told that the students would be welcomed to come to Zibo again after the epidemic. When the students posted videos of their recent visit and the barbecue carnival, it made the Zibo barbecue go viral soon.
 
The warm story was known by more students in Jinan, and train tickets to Zibo  were sold out soon. And later the special trains for “barbecue tours” between Jinan and Zibo were organized.

Media reports suggested that at least 120,000 tourists are expected to visit Zibo by train during the Labor Day holiday. This influx of tourists will present a significant challenge to the city's capacity.

In order to encourage people coming to the city, Zibo set up a specially customized "barbecue map", and added 21 new barbecue bus lines, so that tourists can "get on the bus to rest, get off to eat", paper.cn reported.

People flocking to Zibo from highway nationwide, with red banners saying “Heading to Zibo for the Barbecue”, which is quite trendy now:

In order to provide good dining environment for tourists, local government in Zibo spent 20 days to build a “barbecue town” that could accommodate nearly 10,000 people, which already started accepting tourists since April 28.

And Since March on, local police has resumed night patrols, to ensure safety of people who stay outside late for having barbecues.

Erik Solheim, former UN Environment Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, praised the trending Zibo barbecue after tasting it in Shandong Province on April 28, saying that it has a very distinct Chinese character.

Solheim also suggested that as a revitalizing and old industrial city, Zibo is rebranding itself as the barbecue capital of China, which is a brilliant idea.