By some counts, Mount Huangshan has been part of the mainland tourist trail for more than a millennium. Over the centuries, poets and holidaymakers have followed the well-worn paths to the summit and the management of the Anhui scenic spot is expecting some of its biggest crowds in the 'golden week' holiday.
However, few of the visitors will be from Hong Kong.
Cheng Yingfeng, party secretary of the Mount Huangshan Scenic Area Administrative Committee, said that with just two flights a week - on Mondays and Fridays - linking Hong Kong with the city of Huangshan, there was limited room for growth in visitor numbers from Hong Kong.
Fang Xiaoli, deputy director of the Huangshan Development and Reform Committee, said the limited number of flights also capped overseas tourist numbers. He blames the international airlines and red tape.
'We applied for charter flights, but the application process is very complicated ... Visa approval on arrival is also a problem,' Mr Fang said.
'The municipal government had discussed with some airlines the idea of having what would be a relatively low-profit service in the beginning into Huangshan, and developing the market in the long run, but they were short-sighted.'
Domestic travellers, however, have not been deterred. Authorities say 1.7 million people made the trip to Mount Huangshan last year, with just 160,000 from abroad. The site's administrators say they are hoping to attract 1.8 million people to the area this year, 90 per cent of them from the mainland.