"Paddleboarding has been a must-do activity for me every summer for the past two years." Ms. Gu, an office worker in Beijing, started paddleboarding last summer, and this outdoor sport has since become one of her regular hobbies.

In Beijing, you can take a kayak on the Liangma River and experience the city's "blue-toned night view" as the city lights come on; in Hangzhou, taking a water bus along the ancient canal and checking off the city's waterfront scenery has become a popular choice for tourists; in Wanning, Hainan, you can paddleboard along the Nandan River and enjoy the tropical rainforest scenery on both banks... Nowadays, many tourists are no longer satisfied with just shopping and taking photos on land, but choose to cruise on boats, paddleboards, kayaks and other means to travel on urban waterways, lakes and rivers, and appreciate the city scenery from a different perspective. "Cityboat" has become a brand new way to experience the city.

At the Liangma River Wharf in Beijing, reporters observed numerous kayak and paddleboard rental points along the riverbank, charging between 60 and 200 yuan per hour. "The surrounding environment is nice, and there are many restaurants. I just bought some snacks and drinks from a nearby restaurant, and now I'm taking my kayak and enjoying the evening breeze with my friends," one tourist told reporters. On the river, some people were enjoying takeout, while others were playing guitar and singing, creating a lively atmosphere.

The surge in water-based leisure sports has boosted surrounding consumption. Data shows that Liangma River, through "river restoration driving urban renewal," has seen a more than 32% increase in commercial activity and a more than 40% increase in sales in the surrounding business districts since its improvement efforts began in 2019.

Water travel also offers tourists another perspective on understanding the city. "Before, when I came to Hangzhou, I only knew about West Lake and Lingyin Temple. After taking the water bus, I realized that Hangzhou's water system is much more than just West Lake," said Ms. Ye, a tourist. Compared with traditional sightseeing boats, water bus routes cover a wider area and are more affordable. For just 3 yuan, you can explore every corner of Hangzhou and immerse yourself in the city's lifestyle.

Why has Cityboat quietly become so popular? From an experiential perspective, this type of water-based leisure activity offers citizens and tourists a more intimate and relaxing experience. "Shuttling through the rainforest, without the distraction of electronic devices, with only nature on your mind, you can completely relax," said a paddleboard enthusiast from Wanning City, Hainan Province. Not long ago, he participated in a "Rainforest Exploration" activity organized by a local paddleboard club. "The water quality of the Nandan River is particularly good, and we even saw wild water lilies."

Jiang Duo, associate professor at the School of Cultural Industry Management, Communication University of China, said that traditional sightseeing boats and scenic water projects have fixed routes, and tourists are in a passive viewing state, and the business format is relatively monotonous. "At present, mass leisure is shifting towards lightweight and immersive micro-vacations. Cityboat relies on urban public waterways and waterfront greenways, and can be combined with diverse scenarios such as sports and camping. It has both fitness and social attributes, with greater freedom and a stronger sense of participation, which can meet the fragmented leisure needs of ordinary citizens and tourists."

The continuous improvement of the water environment is also an important foundation for the popularization of water-based leisure activities. In recent years, nationwide river ecological restoration efforts have allowed more and more citizens to enjoy the fun of water-based leisure sports. The "15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Tourism Powerhouse" proposes the orderly development of ecotourism products such as ecological sightseeing, nature education, and outdoor sports. More and more regions are purifying water bodies and cultivating waterfront businesses through ecological governance, creating a number of waterfront leisure spaces to provide people with more leisure destinations.

Amid the boom, the industry's underlying problems cannot be ignored. Reporters found that many kayaking and paddleboarding activities are currently operated privately, lacking unified safety standards, and the quality of life jackets varies greatly.

“Outdoor waterways serve multiple functions, including cargo shipping, cultural tourism, and mass sports. With various business formats intertwined, the boundaries of rights and responsibilities can easily become blurred.” Jiang Duo believes that paddleboards and kayaks are both sports equipment and leisure consumer products. Some small-scale businesses operate outside the scope of cultural tourism operations, sports supervision, and water traffic rules, which can easily lead to problems such as unlicensed operation, unqualified teaching, and haphazard mooring in waterways.

In June of this year, the Water Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Safety Work of Water Sports in Summer", which put forward requirements for all levels of entities carrying out water sports activities in terms of water risks, venues and facilities, personnel qualifications, and equipment.

"In the future, we should further strengthen the main responsibility, requiring operators to equip themselves with professional lifesaving equipment, ensure that staff are certified, and conduct regular safety drills and pre-job education for tourists. At the same time, we should implement more refined water area management, dividing waterways into navigable zones, recreational sports zones, etc., and implementing time-limited and reservation-based management to ensure the safety of outdoor water sports," Jiang Duo suggested. (Source: Workers' Daily)