Miao people in traditional costumes paraded through Fenghuang Ancient Town. (Photo/Yang Haufeng)

Changsha Tongguan Kiln Ancient Town (Photo source: official WeChat account of Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism)

Hunan Province received more than 15.67 million tourist arrivals during the Spring Festival holiday from January 21 to 27, up 71.33% year on year, according to data released by the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism on January 28. The tourism income reached over 15.9 billion yuan, up 66.45% year on year. 

Hunan saw a boom in cultural tourism market during this year's Spring Festival holiday. The cultural tourism industry registered rapid recovery.  

Before the Spring Festival, Hunan organized a series of cultural tourism activities to benefit the people, launched ten quality travel routes, hosted more than 600 events, and staged 10,000 shows. Colorful cultural events were held at 20 cultural tourism towns across the province to celebrate Chinese New Year. More than 2,000 cast members were organized to stage performances which attracted many residents. Online travel agencies including Trip Group issued coupons worth 20 million yuan to spur consumption and guide cultural tourism enterprises to offer free admission and other promotional activities. These efforts helped promote a boom in supply and demand in Hunan's cultural tourism market.

Tourists visited Yuanjiajie scenic spot at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. (Photo/Jin Yao)

Hunan has become a popular destination for cross-province tourists during the Spring Festival holiday. Bookings for cross-province travel in Hunan increased more than 80% year on year, according to a report released by Alibaba's travel agency Fliggy. Hunan was among the top ten destinations for cross-province travel, according to several travel agencies. Changsha was among the top ten popular tourist destinations in China during the holiday. The number of tourist arrivals hit a record high in Zhangjiajie during the period. Searches for Spring Festival in Changsha registered a week-on-week increase of 242%. Rime scenery in Hengshan Mountain attracted nearly 30,000 tourist arrivals daily. Fenghuang Ancient Town topped the lists for popular ancient towns in reports released by transport authorities, public security authorities, and Baidu Map.

The flow of visitors helped stimulate cultural tourism consumption. Huangxing South Road Pedestrian Street and Tianxin District's Wuyi Commercial Area had a customer flow of more than 1.6 million and 2.7 million, respectively. Among them, 32.04% were tourists from Hunan Province and 67.96% from other provinces. The booming cultural tourism consumption invigorated the market. 

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn