Hunan Sees Tourism Boom During Qingming Festival

At 17:00 on April 5, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced that 167 monitored A-level scenic spots and rural tourist areas received more than 2.6 million tourist trips during the Tomb-sweeping Day or Qingming Festival holiday, an increase of around 143% over the previous year. The total revenue of the tourist spots reached 322 million yuan, up around 131%. Among them, 100 A-level scenic spots received more than 2.3 million visits and generated a revenue of 256 million yuan, an increase of about 133% and 122% respectively.

The most-visited paces included Yuelu Mountain, Orange Isle, Hengshan Mountain, Taohuayuan Scenic Area, and Shaoshan Scenic Area.

Spring outings in suburban and rural areas were the most popular.

Qingming Festival was a good time for flowers viewing and spring outings. Besides paying tribute to deceased family members, many people would visit rural tourist spots for leisure. There was a boom in family self-guided trips and smaller group tours, accounting for more than 90%.

On April 3 and 4, 30 rural tourist spots and cultural venues in Changsha received more than 420,000 tourist trips, a year-on-year increase of about 101%. Twenty municipally-monitored rural tourist spots and cultural venues in Zhuzhou received more than 110,000 visits, up 336.5%.

A total of 154 monitored hotels received 66,900 visitors during the three-day holiday, with an occupancy rate of about 72.1%.

A number of rural tourist attractions held themed activities, including a “treasure hunt” in Zhuzhou’s Chaling County Tea Township Flower Sea Scenic Area and a folk song festival in Danqing Town, Jishou City.

Tourists were drawn to visit revolutionary attractions during holiday.

Tomb-sweeping Day was an important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors. On April 3, the Orange Isle Scenic Area received more than 49,000 tourist trips.

On April 4, the Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area organized tour guides to introduce the heroic deeds of Mao Zedong, Huang Xing, Cai E and other revolutionary ancestors at Aiwan Pavilion, Huang Xing’s Tomb and Cai E’s Tomb. The scenic area reached its maximum capacity for reservation on that day.

The tourist number of Shaoshan Scenic Area increased about 203.8% to 32,000 on April 5, the last day of the holiday. Liu Shaoqi Memorial Hall received 49,800 visitors during the three-day holiday.

During the Qingming Festival, Guangzhou Railway Group added 120 trains linking red-hot tourist attractions. They run from Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Changsha to Chenzhou, Shaoshan, Nanchang and Zhangjiajie.

Source: www.enghunan.gov.cn