|

Nanhu Lake scenic area in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province, is set to be open to the public for free starting July 1. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

The Nanhu Lake scenic area in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province, will be open to the public for free starting July 1, according to a press conference held by the municipal government on June 29.

The area's admission fee will be completely waived, but the ferry fee will remain in place.

Zhang Shuo, director of the Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said that the scenic area's admission fee had previously been reduced by half to 30 yuan ($4.24).

The Jiaxing municipal government later decied to offer free admission to the scenic area in order to develop its "Red tourism" industry, or tourism centered around the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), since Nanhu Lake is the birthplace of the CPC, Zhang added.

He noted that the scenic area plans to further improve its services, public facilities, and reception capacity in a bid to make it more attractive to CPC members.

Visitors must make a real-name reservation to purchase ferry tickets via the official WeChat account of the Nanhu Lake scenic area (gh_6df2ea63a77d) or through Ctrip.cm, Meituan.cm, or LY.cm and then scan their ID cards to enter the scenic area.

Ferry tickets can also be bought at the tourist center in the scenic area for those who cannot make a real-name reservation online.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Nanhu Lake scenic area is limiting the number of visitors to 30 percent of its normal capacity.