During the Spring Festival holiday, with the return of major traditional temple fairs and the continuous "output" of rich cultural and tourism activities, the popularity of Beijing's holiday tourism market has surged, with multiple indicators reaching historic highs. According to comprehensive monitoring by Beijing's tourism big data, during the Spring Festival, the city received 17.495 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 37.4% on a comparable basis, and a 25.7% increase compared to the same period in 2019; tourism revenue reached 28.65 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40.6%, and a 27.4% increase compared to the same period in 2019. The overall Spring Festival holiday tourism market remained stable and orderly, with diverse and colorful cultural and tourism activities, precise service guarantees, presenting characteristics of a stronger festive atmosphere, richer ambiance, more diverse activities, and greater participation from the public.
Holiday tourism market booms in supply and demand
During the Spring Festival holiday, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism focused on "enriching supply, improving services, creating an atmosphere, and meeting demands." Under the theme "Joyful Spring Festival, Delightful Experience in Beijing," six series of special festival activities were organized: "Cultural Celebration for the New Year," "Intangible Cultural Heritage for the New Year," "Performances for the New Year," "Ice and Snow for the New Year," "Family Fun for the New Year," and "Suburban Exploration for the New Year." These activities provided abundant choices for residents and visitors to celebrate the New Year in various ways. Themes such as family outings, parent-child educational tours, traditional customs exploration, ice and snow activities, popular destination visits, and suburban explorations were enriched, and diverse experiences such as temple fair visits, lantern appreciation, scenic area tours, performances, market visits, homestays, ice and snow activities, and food tasting gained favor among residents and tourists.
This year, the Spring Festival tourism market exceeded expectations, with multiple indicators reaching new highs, and popular attractions such as the Summer Palace and Badaling Great Wall experiencing rare full bookings during the off-peak season of Spring Festival tourism. The overall popularity of the Spring Festival holiday exceeded that of last year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.
Rural tourism accumulated 2.178 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 42.2%, and a 72.7% increase compared to 2019; operating income reached 2244.63 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.6%, and an 82.1% increase compared to 2019. The top three areas in terms of tourist reception were Yanqing District with 1.32 million visitors, Fangshan District with 235,000 visitors, and Huairou District with 214,000 visitors.
Temple fairs become the "top stream" during the holiday
During the Spring Festival holiday, a total of 2,145 mass cultural activities, including temple fairs, lion and dragon dance flower festivals, cultural carnivals, "People's New Year's Eve," fine exhibitions, "New Year in Cultural Centers," and "New Year in Libraries," were organized, with a total of 4,220 sessions and 11.39 million participants. The enthusiasm of residents and tourists remained high, with over 140,000 participants in the Longtan Temple Fair on the first day, over 220,000 participants in the Ditan Temple Fair on the second day, and a total of 5.164 million visitors to various temple fairs and garden fairs during the Spring Festival.
Throughout the city, in shopping districts, street squares, alley entrances, and pocket parks, traditional cultural folk activities featuring lion and dragon dances, street parades, and flower festivals were organized, creating a strong festive atmosphere for enjoying traditional customs and flavors. In Dongcheng District, flash mob lion and dragon dance performances were held at key locations such as Yongdingmen Square, Bell and Drum Tower, and Qianmen Street. Chaoyang District hosted the 23rd Beijing Folk Culture Festival, featuring a flower festival performance titled "13 Gears in Unison" at Dongyue Temple. Yanqing District staged a night-time Great Wall dragon dance performance at the Badaling Cultural Street, welcoming domestic and foreign tourists to celebrate the New Year at the Great Wall.
Cultural centers and libraries at all levels in the city also launched a series of popular cultural activities, creating a "cultural feast" for residents at their doorstep. Newly popular attractions such as the Beijing Library, the Grand Canal Museum, and the Beijing Art Center received a total of 259,000 visitors.
"Spring Festival" high-quality performances heat up
During the Spring Festival, a total of 97 theaters in the city hosted commercial performances, totaling 248 shows and 1,513 sessions, attracting approximately 310,000 audiences and generating ticket sales of 49.275 million yuan.
Distinctive themed activities marked the Spring Festival. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism organized the "New Year Drama Rhyme – Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture Drama Showcase Season" to promote traditional Chinese culture. Beijing Poly Theater hosted the "Gathering of Dramas in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei - Poly Theater Regional · Spring Performance Season." National Peking Opera Company, Beijing Peking Opera Company, Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, and other theater troupes organized the Spring Festival performance season, offering audiences a traditional art and cultural feast. Beijing Performing Arts Group held the Fourth "New Year Celebration Performance Season," presenting over a hundred exciting performances. Beijing Peking Opera Company, in cooperation with Zhongshan Park Concert Hall, continued its 15-year tradition of presenting classic performances during the Spring Festival.
High-quality performances gathered during the Spring Festival holiday. Beijing-based groups presented classic plays such as "Under the Red Flag," "My Poor Marat," traditional operas like "Locking the Unicorn Pouch" and "The Peony Pavilion," musicals like "Under the Western Clock" and "The Merchant of Venice," and children's plays like "Cool Plan - Wishing Dragon Ball" and "Pocket Detective." Foreign groups brought ballet performances like "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker," Irish tap dance "Dance of the Soul," symphony orchestras, piano masterpieces, and other exciting performances.
Small performance venues are brimming with vitality. During the Spring Festival, these venues hosted over 1,000 performances, accounting for over 80% of Beijing's total performances. The emerging performing arts spaces actively organize a diverse range of performances, including traditional Chinese opera, dramas, musicals, concerts, and more. Under the theme "Theatrical Charm in Traditional Venues," venues such as Zhengyi Ci Theater, Yanliao Club, and Beijing Huguang Guild Hall presented auspicious Kunqu opera "Heaven Officials Blessing," immersive quyi drama "Memories of Nan Cheng - 'Old Door God'," and storytelling sessions, showcasing the vibrant cultural scenes of these venues.
Various departments collaborated to ensure the safety and smoothness of holiday tourism
The city organized a wide range of cultural, commercial, tourism, and celebratory activities, igniting the enthusiasm of citizens and tourists. To properly manage the high influx of visitors, multiple departments, including public security, transportation, urban management, landscaping, culture and tourism, and local authorities, coordinated efforts to ensure traffic orderliness around temple fairs and parks. Measures such as optimizing strategies for handling large crowds, implementing real-time monitoring and patrols, and guiding visitors efficiently were adopted to ensure orderly operations at popular temple fairs, parks, and tourist areas.
To provide visitors with more refined and personalized services, popular tourist destinations conducted scientific calculations to determine daily and instantaneous visitor capacities. They implemented measures such as increasing daily reception capacity, extending opening hours, significantly expanding ticketing and entry channels, aiming to meet the public's sightseeing needs to the greatest extent possible.
During the Spring Festival, the comprehensive law enforcement team of the municipal cultural market conducted inspections on electronic itineraries of tourist groups and tour guide qualifications. A total of 8,057 law enforcement personnel were deployed to inspect 3,925 cultural and tourism establishments. Additionally, the cultural and tourism departments intensified safety inspections and fire hazard rectifications, conducting supervisory checks on 1,429 cultural and tourism venues with 2,128 inspectors. Prompt rectifications were urged for any issues found during inspections to ensure the smooth and orderly operation of the holiday tourism market.
Translator: ZHANG Bo
Reviewer: BAI Jing
