If you’ve ever wanted to set foot in Tiananmen Square or walk the Great Wall of China, you’ll soon have a chance.
The San Benito County Chamber of Commerce will host a trip to China from Oct. 22 to Oct. 30. The nine-day trip costs $2,199 for chamber members and $2,399 for “potential” chamber members. The price includes round-trip international airfare and Chinese domestic airfare/tax, four and five-star hotel accommodations, three meals per day, deluxe bus tours, a fluent English-speaking tour guide, and entrance fees for attractions, according to an announcement from the chamber.
“Basically the only thing you have to take is spending money and the things you want to bring back,” said San Benito County Chamber of Commerce CEO Juli Vieira. “They’ll write out their check, and the chamber and travel agency will put the whole nine days together. They won’t have to worry about anything except packing their suitcase and going to the airport. The chamber works with the travel agency in putting the vacation package together for them.”
That package includes special visas, paperwork, acquiring rooms and more.
Travellers will visit Bejing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou to see sights like the Ming Tombs, Hanshan Temple, Lingering Garden Tiger Hill, National Embroidery Institute, Suzhou Silk Factory and more.
“I went on a trip in October of last year, basically the same trip that everybody’s going to take this fall,” Vieira said.
There are already 10 to 15 people already signed up for the trip, Vieira said. She expects more to attend an informational meeting on Feb. 15 in the chamber office.
“(The trip) offers a look into history,” Vieira said. “I think that China is a place that may not be on everyone’s bucket list to go by themselves either because of the language barrier or they aren’t familiar with the country.”
Chamber Ambassador Rosemary Bridwell is one potential traveller.
“It just sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime situation and I’d be going with people I know,” Bridwell said. “I’m a landscape designer, so it’d be great to see all the gardens on the tour.”
An informational meeting on the trip will be held Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the chamber office at 243 Sixth St., Suite 100.
For more information, contact the chamber at (831) 637-5315 or Juli Vieira at ju**@sa********************.com
