Hungry tourists scaling the Great Wall of China no longer have to worry about continuing their adventure on an empty stomach.
People hiking the ancient monument can get food delivered to them straight out of the sky thanks to Chinese food delivery giant Meituan.
Meituan announced last week that its new drone service will bring food, drinks and other goods — including medical supplies — to customers at a distant section of the Great Wall of China.
The drone route goes from a nearby hotel rooftop to a watchtower on the southern extension of Badaling, which is the most popular section of the wall, CNN reported.
The extension, which opened last year, experiences hot summer temperatures and there are no commercial facilities — which is where the drones come in.
“Through drones, we can make trips that take 50 minutes on foot in five minutes and deliver heat relief items and emergency supplies to visitors,” Yan Yan, public affairs director of Meituan’s drone business, told state broadcaster CCTV.
Once an order is placed through Meituan, a human worker will pick it up from a nearby store and bring it to the hotel rooftop where it will be weighed and packaged. An operator will attach the order to the drone, which will then fly to the watchtower where another human worker will receive it. Customers will pick up their order from the watchtower worker.
Orders will be taken from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and after that the drones will carry trash to recycling bins.
The drones will be able to carry up to 5lbs per trip and have the ability to fly in moderate wind and rain, Meituan said.
Local state-run Beijing Youth Daily reported that the drone delivery fee will be the same as a regular food delivery fee for Meituan, which is just 4 yuan (56 cents).
This would be Beijing’s first drone service, though it would add to China’s increasingly growing drone delivery business, as the country is the top manufacturer and exporter of civilian consumer drones.
