Tourists hit peak stride, thanks to high tech

Detailed summary

At the Taishan Mountain tourism area in East China's Shandong province, some visitors chose to get in long lines to rent "robotic legs", rather than ascend to the top by…

Robotic exoskeletons powered by artificial intelligence became good partners for Chinese tourists on their way to conquering towering mountains during the just-concluded Qingming Festival holiday, with the auxiliary equipment epitomizing China's progress in developing "smart tourism".

During the three-day break, which ended on Sunday, the tourism sector showed strong performance, although the holiday is not traditionally a busy season for the industry.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that domestic attractions recorded about 126 million tourist visits during the holiday, marking year-on-year growth of 6.3 percent. The visits generated consumption of about 57.5 billion yuan ($7.9 billion), a 6.7 percent increase year-on-year.

At the Taishan Mountain tourism area in East China's Shandong province, some visitors chose to get in long lines to rent "robotic legs", rather than ascend to the top by themselves. The mountain's peak stands at a height of more than 1,500 meters, and scaling it requires over 7,000 stairs.

Li Gang, head of Taishan Cultural Tourism Group, told the Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper on Sunday that the robotic device had been in short supply during the holiday, and many travelers waited in line for two hours to rent it. The Taishan Mountain tourism site introduced 10 AI-powered robotic exoskeletons in January and plans to expand the number to 500 by around May.

Fees for using the robotic device are charged per hour or according to travel routes, with the amount typically being 80 yuan for three hours. By using the device, the time required to conquer a steep section of Taishan Mountain's main peak can be halved from the usual three hours, said Li.

Yan Lidong, 26, from Beijing, who wore the robotic device on his way to the summit of the Taishan Mountain during the holiday, said: "I don't want my legs turning into jelly.

The Shandong mountain is not the only tourism spot turning to the high-tech auxiliary equipment to…

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