Great Wall of China chaos as thousands of tourists descend on world wonder | World | News
At over 13,170 miles long, one would assume that there would be plenty of space for tourists to visit the Great Wall of China and take a picture without crowds in the background.
However, a recent video on social media has revealed thousands of people crammed together in long queues to catch a glimpse of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The wall was built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. Several walls were built as early as the 7th century, but the best-known sections were built by the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Over 10 million people visit the Great Wall every year, with most visiting the Badaling section, 40 miles northwest of Beijing. According to the Metro video, 100,000 visitors are expected to visit the site during holiday peaks, including “Golden Week”, an eight-day national holiday which begins around October 1.
In June 2019, officials instituted a cap of 65,000 visitors per day in a bid to get a handle on the overcrowding.
In June 2019, officials instituted a cap of 65,000 visitors per day in a bid to get a handle on the overcrowding.
The surge in global tourism has turned such historical sites into congestion points, with Euromonitor International reporting that travel is set to hit record numbers this year, with global tourism spending predicted to reach $2 trillion (£1.5 trillion).
Even during the pandemic, when much of the world was in lockdown, photos of the tourist attraction showed massive crowds nearby. Most were wearing face masks, but several, including young children, pulled their masks down to their chin or had foregone them completely, according to CNN Travel at the time.
While portions north of Beijing and near tourist centres have been preserved and even extensively renovated, in many other locations the wall is in a state of disrepair. Some stone has been repurposed to build houses and roads, and some sections are prone to graffiti and vandalism. Inscribed bricks have also been stolen and sold.
A 2012 report by the National Cultural Heritage Administration stated that 22 percent of the Ming Great Wall had disappeared, while 1,219 miles of wall have vanished. In 2023, a section of the wall in the Shanxi province was severely damaged by construction workers, who widened an existing wall to make a shortcut for an excavator to pass through. The move was met with anger, with the police describing the act as causing “irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Great Wall and to the safety of the cultural relics”.
“I would have loved to have gone and visit[ed] the Great Wall of China but after seeing this no thanks”, said one commenter.
“I really don’t get this, I’ve been and it’s literally 100’s of miles long stretching across the country. Understandable it’s not all perfect and needs repairing. But still, why are they all going to the same spot,” questioned another.
Another said: “It’s stood for all these years and the tourists will manage to destroy it when it collapses”.
One defended the video, saying: “This is a touristy portion of the wall. I did the Jinshanling portion about 2 hrs north of Beijing and it was basically empty and the wall was in its natural state. The touristy section is not the original wall and has been retrofitted to make it pretty and ‘safe’ for large crowds. The Jinshanling portion of the wall is the best way to see the wall”.
The video highlights the challenges being faced by many iconic landmarks and tourist hotspots as they struggle to balance the economic benefits of tourism with preservation costs.
One commenter joked: “They should go to Everest, the queues [are] a bit shorter”.
Recent videos also show “traffic jams” at the world’s highest peak, Mt Everest, which raised concerns among environmentalists and locals about the increasing land pollution and contamination of natural resources.
