Taiyuan sees tourism upturn during Spring Festival holiday

People ring the bell on Bell Tower Street in Taiyuan on Jan 22 to pray for blessings. [Photo/Taiyuan Daily]

The culture and tourism markets in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, saw a surge in numbers during the Spring Festival holiday, which took place from Jan 21 to 27.

The Taiyuan bureau of culture and tourism organized 764 cultural activities, which attracted 6.2 million participants. It also launched several Spring Festival themed cultural tourism promotions both online and offline, and released six travel routes themed around folk customs, and ice and snow entertainment to meet diversified needs.

A public lion dance performance is staged in Taiyuan, Jan 22. [Photo/Taiyuan Evening News]

Various cultural venues and museums in the city launched more than 200 exhibitions to display the culture of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rabbit from multiple perspectives, attracting tourists from all over the world.

Local tourist attractions, along with tourism and leisure blocks, launched a series of tourism products and invited tourists to taste local specialties, experience folk customs, watch lantern shows, and play in the ice and snow.

People visit a traditional fair in Taiyuan on Jan 26. [Photo/Taiyuan Evening News]

From Jan 21 to 27, the city's scenic areas, tourism and leisure blocks, and cultural tourism consumption areas received over 1.46 million tourists, marking a year-on-year increase of 31.8 percent. The ticket and business operation revenue within these areas grew 34 percent year-on-year, amounting to 47.41 million yuan ($7.02 million).

Cinemas in Taiyuan also saw a spike in numbers during this period. The box office revenue during the Spring Festival holiday reached 43 million yuan, the number of movie screenings was 14,600, and the audience numbers totaled 810,000.