Drone food delivery now an option for hungry tourists on the Great Wall of China

Hungry tourists climbing the Great Wall of China no longer have to worry about continuing their adventure on an empty stomach.

People strolling the ancient monument can have food delivered directly from the sky thanks to Chinese food delivery giant Meituan.

Meituan announced last week that its new drone service will deliver food, drinks and other goods — including medical supplies — to customers on a remote part of the Great Wall of China.

The drone path runs from the roof of a nearby hotel to an observation tower on the southern stretch of Badaling, which is the most popular part of the wall, CNN reported.

The extension, which opened last year, experiences hot summer temperatures and has no commercial facilities – which is where the drones come in.

“Through drones, we can make 50-minute walking trips in five minutes and deliver heat relief items and emergency supplies to visitors,” Yan Yan, public relations director of Meituan’s drone business, told the broadcaster. state CCTV.

Once an order is placed through Meituan, a worker will pick it up from a nearby store and bring it to the hotel’s rooftop, where it will be weighed and packaged. An operator will attach the command to the drone, which will then fly to the observation tower where another human worker will pick it up. Customers will pick up their order from the observation tower employee.

Orders will be taken from 10am to 4pm and then the drones will take the waste to the recycling bins.

The drones will be able to carry up to 5 pounds per trip and have the ability to fly in moderate wind and rain, Meituan said.

The local state-run Beijing Youth Daily reported that the drone delivery fee will be the same as Meituan’s usual food delivery fee, which is only 4 yuan (56 cents).

This would be Beijing’s first drone service, though it would add to China’s ever-growing drone delivery business, as the country is a major producer and exporter of civilian consumer drones.