Ren Ran, a Beijing resident, plans to visit Hangzhou for the upcoming National Day holiday.

He has booked a rail ticket and even shipped his car, also by rail, to his destination.

The Beijing Railway Administration launched the country's first "car-transporting train for tourists" to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Sunday.

Travelers who shipped their cars on Sunday will leave for Hangzhou on Tuesday from Beijing South Railway Station and pick up their cars on Wednesday at their destination.

They are charged from 3,000 yuan ($490) to 4,000 yuan, round trip, for transportation of their cars.

"Renting a car in Hangzhou costs about 400 to 800 (yuan) a day during the holiday," said Ren. "But it will be more comfortable traveling with my own car."

Ren is one of 480 million people who will be traveling during the weeklong National Day holiday, as estimated by the China Tourism Academy - an increase of 13 percent from last year.

About 92.7 million people are expected to take to the rails during the upcoming National Day holiday, up 12.9 percent from the previous year, the China Railway Corporation forecast on Sunday.

Ren is excited about the new service, which would not be possible without China's growing network of high-speed rail and an abundance of offers tapping into the tourism potential such a network brings.

China's high-speed railway lines have reached more than 10,000 kilometers, accounting for almost half of the world's total.

Gao Yumei, a resident of Haikou, Hainan's capital city, said she can spend weekends in Sanya, a famous seaside resort more than 300 kilometers away, as often as she wants.

"It used to take me almost a day to go to Sanya by bus," Gao said. "Now it only takes about two hours. I can swim in the ocean and come home the same day."

Many travel agencies provide routes, based on high-speed railway, that require just one or two days.

Some provinces along the high-speed railways, including the 2,298-kilometer Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, which has 36 stations, have established tourisms routes especially for those taking bullet trains.

However, Wei Xiao'an, an expert on the tourism economy, said there's still much room for improvement when it comes to developing tourism based on the high-speed network.

"Details count," Wei said in a paper devoted to the development of high-speed rail tourism in China. For example, he said, flexibility is needed regarding valid tickets. "In Switzerland, one ticket is valid for 10 days, during which time you could take any train within the country," he said.

In China, the availability of train tickets can be a problem, especially during the peak travel seasons.

"It's hard to book train tickets during festivals," said Gao.

cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn

A car is shipped on a train from Beijing on Sunday after the Beijing Railway Administration launched the country's first "car-transporting train for tourists" to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, for the upcoming National Day holiday. Xing Guangli / Xinhua

(China Daily USA 09/30/2014 page5)