New Year holiday brings Shanghai 12.57 billion yuan in tourism revenue
People celebrate in Xintiandi during the three-day New Year holiday.
Visitors tour the newly-opened Expo Culture Park.
Shanghai recorded 5.17 million visits from tourists during the three-day New Year holiday, and the average occupancy rate of local hotels hit 55 percent, up 3 percentage points from the same period last year.
The city generated 12.57 billion yuan (US$1.98 billion) in tourism revenue during the holiday, according to the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.
Strict measures such as reservations, temperature and health QR code checks and real-name registration were implemented at cultural and tourism venues across the city during the holiday to curb the spread of COVID-19, the bureau said.
There was a cap on the number of visitors and people were reminded to wear masks and keep proper distance during tours. Cleaning, disinfection and ventilation measures were also in place
People celebrate in Xintiandi.
An expat takes in the sights at Expo Culture Park during the holiday.
Local officials closely monitored the real-time scene at major A-level tourist attractions via surveillance cameras, and ordered operators of indoor venues to swing into action if visitors failed to wear masks or a gathering was detected, according to the administration.
Diversified activities such as health runs and fireworks shows were staged during the holiday, enriching the tourism experience and leisure life of residents, the administration said.
Livestreaming events enabling people to "read" the city's architecture and "experience" the charm of the Huangpu River, Suzhou Creek and rural tourism attractions in virtual tours were popular during the holiday, attracting about 300,000 viewers.
A cultural New Year bonanza at city theaters, art galleries and museums also drew many visitors, with outdoor parent-child tours becoming a new highlight of the city's holiday cultural and tourism market, the administration said.
The number of visitors to Chongming, Songjiang and Qingpu districts and areas along the Huangpu River also grew significantly during the holiday, it revealed.
A cultural and tourism bazaar at the Longhua Temple square attracts many visitors.
A girl flies kites at Shanghai Botanical Garden during the holiday.
The city's 170-plus major tourist attractions received a combined 2.26 million visits during the holiday, up 19 percent from the same period last year.
Among these, the iconic Oriental Pearl TV Tower recorded 15,800 visits, growing 9 percent, and Shanghai Wild Animal Park had 25,000 visits, soaring 125 percent.
Zhujiajiao Ancient Town had 39,000 visits, down 11 percent, while Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden 11,700, surging 139 percent.
Shanghai International Resort received 315,300 visits, a jump of 98.6 percent, while Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park welcomed 19,300 visits, growing 17.5 percent from the same period last year.
Chongming Island had 64,700 visits, soaring 144 percent.
The newly-opened Expo Culture Park also drew a large number of visitors.
In total, the city's open-ended cultural and tourism areas recorded 4.94 million visits during the holiday.
Among them, the Bund and Yuyuan Garden areas welcomed 597,100 and 187,700 visits, up 77 percent and 343 percent from the same period last year, respectively.
An under-water show was staged at Haichang Ocean Park as part of the New Year holiday attractions.
People throng Expo Culture Park in a holiday rush.
The city's historical protection zones received 1.48 million visits in total, with the Hengfu (Hengshan Road and Fuxing Road) Historical Protection Zone, Xintiandi and Sinan Mansions areas recording 454,400, 262,000, and 41,800 visits, respectively, rising 257 percent, 147 percent and 48 percent from the same period last year.
Yangpu, Hongkou, Huangpu and Xuhui districts and the Pudong New Area which are located along the Huangpu River welcomed 2.22 million visits from tourists during the holiday, increasing 112 percent from the same period of 2021.
Staycation tourism dominated the tourism market during the holiday, with Sanya (Hainan Province), Beijing, Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province), Shanghai, Chengdu (Sichuan Province) and Zhuhai (Guangdong Province) among the most popular tourist destinations, according to tourism review website Mafengwo.
Shanghai Disney Resort, Wuzhizhou Island scenic area, Temple of Heaven, the Imperial Palace and Xiling Snow Mountain were among the 10 most popular attractions during the holiday, and self-driving tours were favored due to COVID-19, it said.
An increasing number of young people made bookings at luxury resort hotels to celebrate the New Year, the website revealed.
A New Year celebration in Xintiandi.
A child has a quiet moment at Expo Culture Park.
Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com said nearly 60 percent of its tour products booked for the holiday involved travel within people's home provinces under the staycation travel trend.
People traveling during the holiday were younger – half of them born after 1995, up more than 10 percent from the same period last year, according to Trip.com.
They preferred a short-distance trip by rail, it said.
"Young people are becoming a major consumption power and their strong will to experience fresh things has extended to the tourism field," said Shen Jiani, a tourism researcher of Trip.com. "They tend to be attracted by a single factor like food, photo, or even jubensha, which prompts them to make a journey."
Live-action role-play games, jubensha in Chinese, have become something of a craze among Chinese youth.
During the holiday, the popularity of jubensha surged 50 percent from the same period last year, based on search data, and tourist attractions such as Hengdian World Studios, China's largest movie production base, in Zhejiang, have launched relevant products.
