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Amusement parks make a strong showing on the Forbes Traveler list of Eastern Asia’s most visited tourist attractions. From Universal Studios’ outpost in Osaka, Japan, to the Happy Valley theme park in Shenzhen, China, roller coasters and fantasy-themed lands draw millions annually.
But the thrill rides aren’t limited to amusement parks. At Hong Kong’s most visited attraction, Victoria Peak, 9 million-plus annual visitors have a choice of traveling to the 1,811-foot summit by bus or tram. The latter option, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board Publicity and Promotions Manager Lillibeth Bishop, is a “perpendicular funicular” that “feels like a thrill ride when you’re going down.” Bishop adds, “I prefer going up, so my heart doesn’t race as much.”
At the top, she explains, “You can see Victoria Harbour, and all these traditional junks, ocean liners and ships coming through. And the sunset drapes all of the city’s high rises. To me it’s not just a sight, it’s an experience. It makes you think, Life is beautiful after all.”
The popularity of Victoria Peak, high above the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong, points out another possible misconception that Western tourists may bring to the East: “A lot of people think of Hong Kong as only this big city,” Bishop says. “And many people don’t know there is this other side of Hong Kong that they’re missing out if they don’t explore. For example, there are a lot of hiking trails in Hong Kong.”
The popularity of both rural and urban attractions is borne out in the other Asian countries covered in our list. While millions flock to the ancient walled fortress, The Forbidden City, located in the populous capital of Beijing, they also come in droves to the more remote heights of Mount Tai, in China’s coastal Shandong Province. Taishan Temple lies at the foot of the mountain, and some 7,000 stone steps lead to the Azure Clouds Temple at the top. Between 6 and 8 million locals and foreigners visit the sacred mountain annually.
Alan Lew, co-author of “Tourism in China” and professor in the department of Geography, Planning and Recreation at Northern Arizona University, says visitors to China’s attractions may be growing. Both domestic and international travel is on the rise, he says, with in-country travel at about a billion trips a year and international visitation at approximately 42 million annual trips.
However, Lew adds, the high volume of domestic Chinese travel doesn’t always constitute heavy traffic to the iconic tourist sites known in the west. In the late 1990s, he explains, the government implemented a program called Golden Weeks. “Government employees used to get week-long vacations three times a year, and many Chinese took advantage of those holidays to travel — mostly back to their home villages,” Lew explains.
The boom in travel during these weeks “totally overwhelmed the transportation network,” Lew says. “So now China is going to start doing what most other countries do, spreading the holidays out, and having more three day weekends.”
How this change will affect tourism patterns remains to be seen. And while international visitation to China has steadily increased (especially during the 1990s, Lew says, when the government began opening more and more sites to foreigners), the effects of the recent global economic turmoil on tourism to China have yet to play out.
In Hong Kong, says Lillibeth Bishop, “the economy already is impacting outbound travel to Hong Kong from the U.S.,” its No. 1 country source for the long-haul market. After steady increases through the middle of this year, Hong Kong Tourism Board’s visitor arrival statistics show a 15.5 percent decline in U.S. arrivals for August 2008 compared with August 2007. “People are hunkering down,” Bishop says.
Naoko Marutani, director of the Japan National Tourist Organization’s (JNTO) Los Angeles Office, also notes that travel to Japan has “been a bit slow given the recent and worldwide economic situation.” But she adds that the number of U.S. travelers to Japan had been increasing since 2004: “Japan has been running its ‘Visit Japan Campaign,’ introducing Japan as a tourist destination to overseas markets (including U.S.A) with a target of 10 million overseas travelers by year 2010.” To date, many of the millions who already travel to Japan seem to favor its myriad theme parks, five of which appear on the Forbes Traveler list. (We’ve excluded religious destinations from our tally: we have a separate annual list for travel to shrines of all faiths.)
So which mountain peak, soaring skyscraper or towering roller coaster draws the most visitors in East Asia? Read our slideshow to find out.
福布斯旅游杂志显示公共游乐场是东亚最受欢迎的旅游胜地。 日本大阪的环球影城，中国深圳的欢乐谷主题公园，过山车和梦幻岛每年都吸引了上百万的游客。
但是这些惊险的旅行不仅仅包括在公共游乐场里。 香港最著名的旅游名胜是维多利亚山峰，每年有超过900万的游客到此通过乘坐汽车或有轨电车从山脚到达海拔1811米的山顶。 根据香港旅游推广和宣传部门的管理人员里里柏斯说，后一种选择是竖直的缆车轨道，当你乘坐在那上面下降的时候，你会感觉到非常刺激。 里里柏斯还说，“我更喜欢上升的感觉，因为那样我的心跳才不会加速。”
她说在山顶你可以看到维多利亚港口，所有的传统垃圾，远洋轮船和其它船舶在此穿梭。 当太阳落山时，那光线可以洒满城市的整个高楼大厦。 对我来说这不知是景色，而且是一种经历。 它促使你思考，生活毕竟还是美好的。
维多利亚山峰的知名度远远高于香港的大都市，这也指出一个西方游客可能带给东方国家的误解。 里里柏斯说，“许多人们都把香港认为只是大城市。” “但是大多数人不知道香港也有其另外一面，如果人们不去探索，它们也会慢慢消失的。 比如，在香港有许多供徒步旅行的小道。“
其它亚洲国家的乡村和都市名胜的知名度也包括在我们的名单中。 每年有上百万游客去参观古老的城防堡垒，它坐落于人口众多的北京的紫禁城，他们也有自己驾驶车去巍峨耸立的泰山，它位于中国的海岸城市—山东省。 泰山庙坐落于山脚，从山脚到山顶的碧云寺庙有7000级台阶。 每年有600万到800万的当地和外国游客去参观这一险峻的山峰。
《中国旅游》的合著者，地理部门的教授，北部亚利桑那大学规划和娱乐学院的阿兰流说到中国旅游的旅游可能还会上升。 他说，国内和国际的旅行正在增加，国内每年增加100万的游客量，国际每年增加将近4200万的游客量。
但是，流还说，中国国内的巨大游客量不是总会构成西方人熟知的旅游胜地的交通拥挤状况。 在20世纪90年代，他解释道政府实施了一个法规称为“黄金周”。 流说，“政府的雇员过去在一年中常常只有三次长假，而且许多中国人利用这些长假去旅行——大部分去他们的家乡。”
流说，“在这些星期的游客增加量远远超过整个交通运输量。” “现在中国将开始做大部分其它国家做的事情，扩大长假，增加更多的三天周末。”
这种变化是否会影响旅游形式仍然等待人们的观察。 流说，由于到中国的国际游客（特别是在20世纪90年代，中国政府开始向国外开放越来越多的旅游名胜）一直在稳步增长，最近国际经济的混乱对中国旅游业的影响也将慢慢出现。
里里柏斯说，在香港这次经济�；丫跋斓搅嗣拦较愀鄢鼍秤�，美国是香港排名第一的旅游长运客源。 经过今年上半年的稳步增长后，香港旅游协会的旅客到达数据显示2008年8月美国的旅客量比2007年8月的相比下降了15.5个百分点。流说，“人们正在观望。”
日本国家旅游组织洛杉矶办公室的主管那库说，由于近期世界范围的经济状况使得到日本旅游的客流量增长缓慢。 但是她又说，到日本的美国旅客量从2004年以来一直在增长。 “日本正在开展自己的‘参观日本活动‘，它目的是向海外市�。ò拦┙樯苋毡荆�2010年把它建设成一个拥有1000万海外游客量的旅游胜地。” 到目前为止，已经到过日本的百万名旅客似乎挺喜欢它的众多主题公园，其中有五个还出现在福布斯旅游杂志目录上。 我们已经从目录删除了一些有关宗教的旅游地。 我们每年都安排不同的神殿供各自不同信仰的人们参拜。
在东亚，是山峰，是高耸的摩天大楼还是云霄飞车吸引大批游客呢？ 请阅读我们的导读去发现它们吧。
