When traveling opens another window for people to celebrate the Spring Festival, Yichang becomes a popular choice for Chinese and foreign tourists to welcome the lunar New Year. On February 21, it is learned that during the seven-day vacation, the city has received a total of 2,393,200 domestic and foreign tourists, with year-on-year growth of 23.71%, and has achieved total tourism revenue of 1.065 billion yuan, an increase of 27.7% over the same period of last year. Both the total tourist arrivals and tourism revenue have soared to record highs.

　　Brand tour and quality tour have attracted more and more rational consumer groups. Connected by the Yangtze River, two tourist attractions, the Three Gorges Dam and Qu Yuan hometown rely on the world-class tourism brand, and have jointly launched the “one-ticket tour”between them, research tours and other emerging tourism projects, which are recognized by the market. Among the six major scenic spots monitored during the Spring Festival, the two standsout by receiving 80,900 and 63,700 tourists respectively, with ayear-on-year growth of 51.54% and 52.38%.

　　Mighty self-driving groups also inject new vitality into the whole domain tourism. From the first day to the 6th of the lunar January, self-driving tourists from nearly 20 provinces including Hunan, Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Sichuan, and Chongqing, Shanxi and so on visited such scenic spots as the Three Gorges Dam, Qingjiang Gallery and Qingjiang Mount Fang. In particular, the self-driving motor caravan camp at Changyang Zhuoerdaxi, which was put into operation in October last year, attracted many young consumer groups during the festival. Living in the housing car, shooting, bonfire and talking the New Year have become a new way to celebrate the spring reunion.

　　The local culture is made use of to make tourism colorful. During this Spring Festival, the characteristic folk activities offered a rich cultural feast for the general public and tourists. Chexi Nv’er Street held activities such as welcoming scene performance, the gods of wealth and kitchen welcoming ceremony by “sending firewood”, tasting Tujia characteristic family reunion dinner and so on, to make tourists experience the original Tujia New Year. Yichang Transportation Group sloganized that “New Life in the New Year, Tour the Xiling Gorge with Happiness”in the activity of “Transportation Group·Two Dams and One Gorge”, and attracted hundreds of tourists gathered in the ship lock, shouting towards the Yangtze river for blessing in a very lively atmosphere. Yuquan Temple, Mingfeng Hill and other scenic spots ushered in the peak passenger flow from the lunar New Year’s Eve to lunar January 1, with continuous streamsof visitors praying for their families, grabbing head incenses, and worshipping the god of wealth. The fifth day of the first lunar month is folklore“The god of wealth welcoming day”, at which the tourist volume of Yuquan Temple in Dangyang reached 15,000, with a total of 128,500 tourists in the whole festival.

　　Balihuang Alpine Grassland Scenic Zone seized the networking software hot spots favored by current youth, held the first Bailihuang skiing video challenge, “World snow day”& the international children’s ski festival, and launched the ice sports cultural exchange, series of skiing competitions, and ice sculpture exhibition and so on, which were popular among tourists. During the Spring Festival, the zone received 32,000 tourists in total, and achieved direct economic income of RMP 3.6 million. Zhaojun Village launched a “Night Tour”featuring light show and folk performance, which attracted self-driving groups to watch its fantastic light show and folk performance such as dragon dance, lion dance and lotus boat. The sounds of music, gongs and drums, and laughter rang out continuously. From the third day of the first lunar month, the village received over 3,000 each night and it became a “nightless village”.

　　Yichang’s tourism sector kept on working during the Spring Festival to ensure that to travel in the city during the holiday is safe and orderly and that there are no major tourist service complaints. (Reporter: WangYing; Correspondent: Gu Haijuan)