Even the bad weather could not stop people’s passion for travelling during the Spring Festival holiday. Tourists were guided to change from sightseeing to leisure trip & vacation trip and tourism products (cultural tour, folk tour and country tour etc.) were advocated by tourism sectors in Yichang, which boosted the development of Yichang tourism market. About 1.32 million tourists from home and abroad travelled to Yichang during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday with a total tourist income of RMB 0.515 billion (about $82.3 million), each increasing by 26.33% and 33.10% compared with the same period last year, both reaching a new high.
Key scenic spots enjoyed high popularity with new look
Many scenic spots attracted the tourists through quality upgrading, service improvement and marketing innovation. 10,600 tourists traveled to the Three Gorges Household on the 4th day of the lunar New Year since a series of upgrading measures were taken to improve the tourism quality, increasing by 130% compared with the same period last year.
The number of tourists who traveled to the Three Gorges Dam has been continuously increasing since it was opened to citizens in China for free. 44,700 tourists traveled to the Three Gorges Dam between February 18th and 22nd, which was the largest number on the Spring Festival holiday over the years, increasing by 18.9% compared with the same period last year. 21,000 tourists traveled to the Three Gorges Dam on the 4th day of the lunar New Year which reached a daily reception new high.
The 5th day of the lunar New Year was the day to welcome the God of Wealth, thus, 13,000 tourists visited Yuquan Temple in Dangyang City on that day. Since it was awarded as a 5A-level scenic spot on November, 2014, the Quyuan Memorial Temple was well appreciated by tourists all over the world due to its unique flat lake on the gorges, profound historical culture and high-quality service. 12,000 tourists from home and abroad traveled to the Quyuan Memorial Temple on the 4th day of the lunar New Year which reached the highest during the Spring Festival golden week.
Highlights on folk-custom activities
A series of rich and colorful folk-custom activities were held during the Spring Festival which provided grand banquet to the citizens and tourists.
“Park Carnival on the Year of the Sheep” took place in the Xiling Gorge and a series of traditional folk performances were held to let the tourists experience an original Tujia-taste New Year. During the carnival, tourists could get beautiful souvenirs as long as they reposted the photos of the activities through Wechat, Weibo. Some cartoon figures stood on the front of the Sanyou (Three Travelers) Cave to give red envelopes and take photos with the tourists. Activities such as guessing lantern riddles, red envelopes given by the God of Wealth, giving Spring Festival couplets, tasting delicious food for free etc. attracted a large number of tourists to participate.
On January 4th of the Chinese lunar calendar, the tourists saw many colorful folk shows with Tujia Minority characteristics and the stilt walk, lotus gathering boats which were full of Nianwei (Chinese Spring Festival atmosphere) at Chexi (Waterwheels River) Folk Custom Tour Site. The excursion path called “Good Luck, Two Dams of the Xiling Gorge ” officially were open for navigation on the January 2ed of the Chinese lunar calendar. Meanwhile, the activity called “Blessing of the New Spring on the Cruise ”was taken place on that day. When the cruise arrived the Xiling Gorge, about 1000 tourists prayed loudly that “In 2015, I am the Most Successful” which became a highlight of the sightseeing along the Yangtze River.
It is learned that since the sound brand effects of “ Fall in Love with Yichang” continuously came out, more and more overseas and provincial tourists came to Yichang. The inbound tourism market of Yichang is mainly from Europe and America, taking up 64% of the inbound tourism market. This year, still some Beijing and Shanghai travelling teams and 13 European and American entry teams including over 150 people spent their Spring Festival in Yichang.
During the Spring Festival, Yichang\'s tourism departments at all levels adhered to work without vacation which ensured the safety during the festival of the whole city’s tourism order and there were no major tourist service quality complaints either. (Reporter: Wangying; Correspondent: Fan Ruiqing)