Two glossy ibises, an endangered bird species under first-class national protection in China, were spotted in the Yuguang Lake Wetland in Wuzhong City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Friday.
The water birds were seen foraging in a littoral meadow in the ecological conservation area.
"In the littoral meadow behind me, we have seen two glossy ibises, which are under first-class national protection. Last year, around this time, we spotted three glossy ibises along the Yellow River. I think this is very encouraging for our wetland ecological protection work," said Li Zhijun, an employee of the wetland.
Once considered extinct in China until 2009, the glossy ibis mainly inhabits shallow wetlands and is hailed as a "rainbow of the wetlands," because its feather displays a brilliant metallic sheen under the sunlight.
Extremely sensitive to its habitat environment, the glossy ibis is an important indicator species for the health of wetland ecosystems, so the appearance of the two birds indicates an improving environment in the Yuguang Lake Wetland.
Rare glossy ibises spotted in Ningxia
Rare glossy ibises spotted in Ningxia
Rare glossy ibises spotted in Ningxia
The development of AI and high-speed railway has given a significant boost to Indonesia's tourism, making communication easier and travel smoother for a growing number of foreign visitors.
In November last year, Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism launched the Meticulous Artificial Intelligence of Indonesia (MaiA) platform to strengthen tourism services and enhance global competitiveness.
The digital curator helps travelers find trip inspiration and instantly create routes with personalized destination recommendations, automatic itineraries, interactive maps, and multilingual information.
"You can just ask the AI what you need and then they will suggest very nice suggestions for you," said a tourist from Singapore.
Beyond AI, Indonesia's appeal to travelers from the Asia-Pacific and Europe is also underpinned by its infrastructure, most notably the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, jointly built by China and Indonesia.
Since its opening in 2023, the railway has cut travel time between the two cities from over three hours to just over 40 minutes.
"It's really nice, clean and really fast, so that's good," said a Dutch tourist.
In the first quarter of this year, Indonesia received 3.44 million international tourist arrivals, an increase of 8.62 percent year on year.
The government said the tourism sector's contribution to GDP during the same period was estimated at between 4.01 percent and 5.05 percent.
AI, high-speed railway drive Indonesia's tourism growth
