Nanning, Guangxi: Tens of thousands of people walked along the Pinglu Canal to kick off the holiday cultural tourism boom

China News Service, Nanning, October 1st (Huang Yanmei, Wang Weichen) On October 1st, the first day of the National Day holiday, the Pinglu Canal Greenway Walking Event kicked off at Yongfu Plaza in Qinzhou City, Guangxi. 10,000 hikers "checked in" with their footsteps to visit the Pinglu Canal, a century-old project, and immersed themselves in the ecological and cultural beauty of the canal.

The National Day holiday in 2026 is the first golden week after the Pinglu Canal was completed and opened to navigation. As the first canal connecting the river and the sea that has been jointly constructed at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Pinglu Canal has become the "new favorite" of Guangxi's cultural tourism market with its unique charm of "engineering wonders + river and sea scenery + new cultural tourism formats".

At present, the Pinglu Canal has opened a total of 4 passenger routes, connecting the river intersection sections, canal hub locks and river-sea connecting waters. After the route was opened, it quickly became a popular tourist attraction in the local cultural tourism industry. Bookings for water sightseeing route tickets were very popular, and it became "hard to get a ticket".

"After the Pinglu Canal passenger route opened on September 16, I signed up immediately, but I never had a ticket until half a month later." Lan Yanping, a tourist from Nanning, Guangxi, said in an interview with a China News Service reporter after taking a tour of the Pinglu Canal. Tourists can intuitively feel the majestic majesty of the canal on the cruise ship and enjoy the beautiful scenery on both sides of the canal.

This holiday, Peng Hao, a tourist from Beijing, made a special trip to Guangxi to take his parents to see the Pinglu Canal. They came to Pingtang Village, Xinfu Town, Hengzhou City, Nanning, Guangxi, the starting point of the Pinglu Canal, and experienced the development and changes of this thousand-year-old salt port. "The construction of the Pinglu Canal is of great significance. It is shocking to experience this major national project in person. This trip is well worth it."

In the face of the "canal tourism craze", Nanning, Qinzhou and other places have launched a number of Pinglu Canal boutique tourism routes, relying on canal engineering, salt transportation culture, jasmine and coastal characteristic resources, to bring tourists a new way to enjoy the river and sea.

According to the person in charge of Guangxi Pinglu Canal Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd., focusing on building a "Canal+" cultural tourism industry ecology, the company plans to strengthen the unique IP of the canal through research, cultural creation, and competitions, allowing the public to immerse themselves in the charm of the Pinglu Canal, and promote the widespread dissemination of the canal cultural tourism brand.