Tourists flock to Dragon Boat Festival activities
A night tour of Shanghai Guyi Garden
Plum rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of tourists as Shanghai recorded 6.7248 million visits from tourists during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, reaping in a tourism revenue of 9.613 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion), equal to that of 2019.
The average hotel occupancy rate in the city hit 55 percent during the holiday, also equalling 2019, according to the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.
In total, 129 museums recorded 292,000 visits over the three days, up 4.28 percent from that of 2019. Sixty-six art galleries hosted 121 exhibitions and attracted 78,800 visits.
Paddle boating at Shanghai Gongqing Forest Park
Boisterous dragon boat races were held in Songjiang, Qingpu and Baoshan districts, accompanied with the sound of pounding drums and gongs, while a night tour festival wowed visitors at Zhujiajiao Ancient Town in Qingpu. It featured lantern fairs, hanfu (traditional Han-style clothes) shows, and Kunqu Opera performances.
A girl places lanterns in a pond in Shanghai Guyi Garden.
"We imposed different traffic control measures based on real-time tourist flow and emergency responding mechanism to cope with big crowds during the holiday," said Wu Wei, an official with Zhujiajiao police station.
"When the visitor number hit 9,000, we closed some entrances to slow traffic flow, and when it reached 10,000, we put a cap on visitors by closing all entrances."
The town received more than 58,000 visits and about 5,200 private vehicles in the first two days of the holiday.
A performance at Shanghai Guyi Garden
At Shanghai Guyi Garden in Jiading District, the annual Shanghai Lotus and Water Lily Exhibition is underway with night tours featuring traditional Chinese musical instrument performance.
Shanghai Gongqing Forest Park in Yangpu District hosted fun paddle boarding races.
A night culture festival kicked off in Daning area of Jing'an District during the holiday, while at Sinan Mansions in Huangpu District, a summer night party was held, featuring hanfu, yoga, a sculpture exhibition, food delights and intangible cultural heritage activities.
