While major cities remain popular, exploring small towns via high-speed rail is becoming a popular option. Visa-free policies also mean that more foreign tourists are visiting China this summer.

From Global Times, on Qunar, a domestic travel platform, travelers from the US, South Korea, Russia, Vietnam, and Malaysia have shown the most interest in high-speed rail bookings, favoring two-hour high-speed rail journeys, such as going from Southwest China's Sichuan Province to Southwest China's Chongqing, according to a report Qunar sent to the Global Times.

"I took the high-speed train from Zhuhai to Guangzhou. It is fantastic, much better than driving a car," Luke Serdar, a tourist from Australia told the Global Times on Monday. Serdar has 59,000 fans on Douyin and has published lots of content about travel in China.