Xi'an tourism recovered strongly: the intensity of metro passenger flow ranked first in the country for 6 consecutive days Air ticket bookings have exceeded those before the epidemic

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Tourists overflow, scenic spots restrict flow, officials call on local citizens to “let the scenery in the customers” …… This year’s Spring Festival holiday in the net red city of Xi’an once again sparked attention.

Official data from Xi’an shows that the number of visitors and tourism revenue during the Spring Festival reached a record high. The 15 key tourist attractions monitored in Xi’an received a total of 2,277,900 people, an increase of 160% year-on-year, recovering to the level of the same period in 2019.

Data from Xi’an Municipal Railway Transportation Group shows that during the 2023 Spring Festival holiday (January 21-27), Xi’an metro line network carried a total of 13,295,100 passengers, with an average daily passenger volume of 1,889,300, up 23% year-on-year from 2019, ranking first in the country in terms of passenger flow intensity for six consecutive days.

The “blowout” increase in tourists rapidly stimulates local consumption. It is reported that the proportion of overnight tourists in Xi’an during the Spring Festival increased by 12.96%, the average number of days of stay reached 4.24 days, the occupancy rate of star-rated hotels reached 80.12%, and the tourism revenue driven by overnight tourists was significantly enhanced.

The 21st Century Business Herald reporter noted that in the face of a large influx of tourists, the flow of customers in many scenic spots, department stores and restaurants in Xi’an has rebounded significantly, while some consumer complaints have also emerged, such as the previously questioned “tourists complained that the 20 yuan oil splash noodles in Hui Min Street in Xi’an were only six noodles and then the officials intervened to investigate” and other situations.

Zhang Yan, director of the Cultural Tourism Research Center of Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, told the 21st Century Business Herald: “Xi’an has tried its best to build the brand effect of the brand scenic spots of the Tang Dynasty, Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Huaqing Pond and Huashan for many years, and the publicity of coming to Xi’an for the New Year has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and the superimposed fusion of traditional culture and modern culture has formed a unique tourist destination in Xi’an, which is the core value of attracting tourists. This is the core value of attracting tourists.”

Tourism season “open door”

Due to the surge in the number of tourists, since the 23rd, scenic spots such as the City of the Night, the Grand Tang Furong Park and the Xi’an City Wall have initiated local citizens to stagger their travels and “let the scenery to the customers”.

Xi’an Datang City of Night Scenic Area issued an announcement that, according to the recent flow of tourists, to ensure the safety of travel and travel experience, the performance time of the block performance and the water dance light show in the north square of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda has been temporarily adjusted, and will be dynamically adjusted according to the real-time situation of passenger flow.

The 21st Century Business Herald learned from the Department of Commerce of Shaanxi Province that the pedestrian flow of Xi’an Datang Bujinkai City from January 21 to 26 was 3,761,100, an increase of 218.6% year-on-year.

At the same time, Xi’an Datang Furong Park Scenic Area said the maximum daily carrying capacity is 60,000 people, and ticketing will be stopped when the maximum carrying capacity is exceeded, and temporary restriction measures will be taken when the instantaneous passenger flow reaches 20,000 people.

The Xi’an City Wall scenic spot has a daily limit of 70,000 passengers and will take temporary restriction measures when the instantaneous flow of passengers exceeds 20,000.

Nighttime cultural and tourism consumption is also a highlight of the 2023 Xi’an Spring Festival tourism market,” Zhang Yan told the 21st Century Business Herald. With the theme of ‘Chinese colors shining dream Chang’an, warm and peaceful Chinese New Year’, the city wall Chinese New Year Lantern Festival will have local cultural and tourism characteristics while being attractive to tourists.”

Ctrip data shows that domestic and international orders for tickets to scenic spots for the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit are at a three-year high. Among them, the booking volume of tickets for major domestic scenic spots soared 3.2 times year-on-year. In addition to first-tier cities, Xi’an ranked among the top 10 cities in terms of scenic spot popularity with its ultra-high ticket volume.

The recovery of cultural tourism accelerates the release of consumption vitality and further promotes the expansion of domestic demand. Data show that the development of tourism is effective in boosting consumption growth.

Tongcheng travel data show that the popular destinations for hotel booking during this year’s Spring Festival are Xi’an, Sanya, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Changsha, Kunming, Guangzhou, Nanning and Shenzhen.

Measured by the increase in bookings, Xi’an and other cities of hotel bookings than the same period last year increased by more than 10 times.

Zhang Yan believes that with the gradual increase of international flights in the future, the convenience of travel will increase and outbound travel will become more and more popular. Xi’an itself is also a city with more international flights, and with the explosion of domestic tourism overlapping with the increase in international flights, it is expected that there will be multiple “mini-peak seasons” of tourism during the long and medium holidays of the year after the Spring Festival.

Consumer market accelerated heating up

The 21st Century Business Herald reporter noted that the local consumption market in Xi’an during the Spring Festival holiday is also heating up at an accelerated pace.

According to the data of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Commerce, during the Spring Festival, 10 key trade complexes such as Kaiyuan Mall, SKP, Lao Chengen, Saige Shopping Center, Golden Eagle International and Sandy Boat Outlet monitored 2.952 million visitors, an increase of 46.7% year-on-year.

In the face of the influx of tourists, the patronage of Xi’an’s catering industry also rose significantly.

According to public information, data from 570 retail and catering sample enterprises in the province during the Spring Festival showed that the sales of monitored enterprises during the festival were 1.35 billion yuan, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year. Among them, retail sales of goods 1.25 billion yuan, an increase of 4.1% year-on-year; restaurant revenue of 95.32 million yuan, an increase of 43.8%.

Among them, dine-in grew 45.1% year-on-year and take-out grew 28% year-on-year. The 15 sample companies in Xi’an had a catering revenue of 49.69 million yuan, up 68% year-on-year.

“Compared to before, the average number of days tourists stay locally in Xi’an has now nearly doubled, while ‘repeat tourism’ is on the rise.” Zhang Yan told 21st Century Business Herald, “Longer stays will directly drive the development of accommodation, catering and retail industries, further promoting the expansion of domestic demand and stimulating economic development.”

The importance of cultural tourism consumption is increasingly prominent in the economic blueprint of Xi’an. 2022 Xi’an government work report proposes that the added value of cultural tourism industry will reach 18% of regional GDP in the next five years.

Recently, the Propaganda Department of Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism jointly issued the “Implementation Opinions on Building a Trillion-Dollar Culture and Tourism Industry in Shaanxi Province (2021-2025)”, stating that by 2025, the total revenue of the industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan, the added value will account for 10% of the province’s regional GDP, and the annual reception of domestic and foreign tourists will exceed 900 million.

Zhang Yan believes that in the face of the future hot domestic tourism and increased international flights, Xi’an should continuously improve the supply of accommodation, catering, travel services and other related industries to further enhance the industry’s carrying capacity, so that tourists can eat and play well and buy well. Secondly, Xi’an should also strengthen the linkage with the cultural and tourism industries in northern and southern Shaanxi Province, which will not only divert a large number of concentrated tourists, but also pull the cultural and tourism industries all over the province and develop comprehensively.