On September 23, Chongqing OCT held its cultural tourism project launch ceremony in the Northern New Area of Chongqing.

Chongqing’s OCT cultural tourism project will integrate cultural tourism, entertainment, ecological leisure, themed business, and communities, and the investment in cultural tourism will exceed 50 billion yuan ($ 8.2 billion).

The highlighted parts are Chongqing Happy Valley and Maya Water Park. With a planned total area of about 800 mus (53.3 hectares) and an investment of two billion yuan, these two parks are expected to open in 2017. After completion, Chongqing Happy Valley and Maya Water Park are expected to receive three million tourists annually.

Yao Jun, vice president of OCT Group said that unlike Happy Valleys in other cities, the construction of a Happy Valley in Chongqing will be tailored. It will be built along the mountain in a bid to reflect Chongqing’s character as a mountain city. Some entertainment equipment are being customized by foreign manufacturers. Meanwhile, according to the climatic characteristics of Chongqing, Chongqing Happy Valley will increase the amount of indoor recreational projects, to facilitate the public to play there in the summer.

In addition, Chongqing Happy Valley will follow the national 5A scenic standards and integrate Bayu culture as well as provide a stage for Bayu culture.

Yao also said that in addition to Happy Valley and Maya Water Park, Chongqing OCT project will build a park cluster, which will include an ecological education park, a sports park, an OCT riverside recreation zone, etc., suitable for all ages and people who have different hobbies to play together.

After the completion of the project, along the Jialing River, the riverside public recreation zone stretching 2.3 kilometers will be the best choice for public recreation. Sports fans may like to go skating or mountain biking in the sports park. The ecological education park will brings together precious plants from around the world and aims to become a world-class ecological science education base. What’s more, the water curtain and fireworks shows will provide Chongqing citizens with a unique visual entertainment.

Duan Chenggang, director of the Northern New Area Administrative Committee, said that Chongqing OCT project fills in the blanks, as there was no large cultural tourism and leisure project in Chongqing before, and it will accelerate the construction process of Lijia Business District.

OCT Happy Valley effect picture

By Huang Pei

Edited by Brian Salter