Pet-friendly tourist train opens in Chongqing park

A pet-friendly tourist train began operation on Sunday in Lijia Intelligent Park, Liangjiang New Area of Chongqing.

A group of 30 pets and their owners enjoyed the debut ride of the train called the Lijia Time Aerial Tramway, where pets are welcome aboard and barking is permitted.

Constructed by Liangjiang Industrial Group, the line is 550 meters long and takes four minutes for a one-way trip. It passes through the park, providing passengers with a good view of the Jialing River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.

The pet-friendly line and the nearby Jinhaiwan Riverside Park form a circular sightseeing route for residents and tourists.

Under the guidance of the National Technical Committee on Pet of Standardization Administration, the China Pet Industry Association and the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association, Petdata.cn, a pet industry market observer, released a white paper on pets in China at the end of 2023.

It shows the country had about 51.75 million pet dogs and 69.80 million pet cats in 2023, a 1.1 percent and 6.8 percent increase from the previous year, respectively.

With an increasing number of people raising pets and more pet owners calling for improved policies on pets in public spaces to achieve better companionship, pet-friendly malls, cafes and bars have begun to emerge.