China has unveiled the longest sightseeing escalator in the world, trailing 688 meters (2,257 feet) long, in the Enshi Grand Canyon in Hubei province.

Visitors of the Enshi Grand Canyon are now spared from the long walk as they could just take a ride while enjoying the spectacular view.

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"Now tourists can take the escalator to go down the mountain all the way. It improves the degree of comfort during the journey," a spokesperson from Enshi Grand Canyon told MailOnline.

Meanwhile, tourists need not to worry about big crowds as the escalator could transport up to 7,300 visitors every hour, or around 300,000 people per annum.

The escalator costs some $5.2 million yuan to build and takes tourists to an 18-minute journey from start to finish and was opened earlier this month during the China's Golden Week. Each ride costs only 20 yuan ($3).

"We opened the second phase of this escalator on October 1 for the October Golden Week. It is built in the route for tourists to go down the mountain," the spokesman said.

He continued saying that the first phase was opened back in May 2011, which was 288 meters (945 feet) long. It only covered part of the route going down the mountain. But now, the escalator covers the whole 18-minute trip.

"During October 1 to 7, 150,000 tourists [enjoyed] our scenic spot and 70,000 of them used the escalator. The number is higher than our expectation," he said.

According to the New Atlas, the escalator, which is located at the Qixingzhai scenic spot, follows a "∑" shape along the mountainside. The escalator was made from ecologically sustainable materials like its wooden structure and gray tile floor.

"The whole engineering plan focused on ecological protection, which can be seen from the wooden structure and grey tile at the top of the escalator," Xiong Yan from the Central-South Architectural Design Institute, who is in charge of the project, told People's Daily China.

Tagsescalator, sightseeing escalator, longest escalator, tourism, Enshi Grand Canyon, china, holiday, golden week, tourist spot