Shanghai welcomed more than 8.76 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 54.14%, and the Spring Festival holiday is over halfway
Halfway through the Spring Festival holiday, Shanghai has welcomed an endless stream of tourists with its unique urban charm and strong festive atmosphere. According to Shanghai tourism big data monitoring, Shanghai received a total of 8.7675 million tourists in the first four days of the Spring Festival holiday, a year-on-year increase of 54.14%; the average room occupancy rate of the city's hotels in the first four days was 53%, a year-on-year increase of 21 percentage points.
In the sunny and pleasant weather, major scenic spots and parks in Shanghai have carefully planned a series of New Year activities to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Dragon. The city's landscape lighting has been specially adjusted to holiday mode. Temporary lighting has been set up in "one river and one river" waterfront public spaces, park green spaces, public squares, etc. to perform light and shadow art together with surrounding business districts and landmark buildings, creating a festive and peaceful atmosphere. Municipal business districts such as Nanjing East Road, Huaihai Road and the North Bund have arranged more than 260 outdoor advertisements with the theme of welcoming the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon to showcase the folk culture of the Spring Festival. The main streets are decorated with national flags, lanterns, Chinese knots and other traditional festival decorations. Year of the Dragon themed flower beds and art scenes can be seen everywhere, and the streets and alleys are filled with a strong New Year flavor.
Citizens and tourists visit the New Year Intangible Cultural Heritage Market. Photo by Li Baohua
Various scenic spots and parks have launched a series of exciting and rich holiday activities around the theme of welcoming the Spring in the Year of the Dragon, focusing on traditional customs and tastes. With the theme of "The Auspicious Dragon Awakens Spring and All Creatures", the Shanghai Zoo launched a series of conservation and education activities with the cultural characteristics of the "dragon" zodiac around animals with homophones related to "dragon"; the Shanghai Botanical Garden held the "Dragon's Return" New Year's Eve The flower show features plants with the word "dragon" and New Year's Eve flowers such as dragon cypress, Longyou plum, and dragon boat flower. It displays more than 80 kinds of plants with the twelve zodiac animals and more than 50 kinds of New Year's Eve flowers; Shanghai Guyi In addition to the traditional New Year decorations, the garden's Spring Festival activities also include traditional folk activities such as dragon dance, lion dance, and shadow puppetry, allowing citizens and tourists to immerse themselves in the classical garden to enjoy the beautiful lanterns and appreciate the intangible cultural heritage folk customs.
The sunny weather for several days has brought more spring atmosphere to Shanghai. In scenic spots and parks such as Jing'an Sculpture Park, Century Park, Xiangmei Park, Xinzhuang Plum Garden, Oriental Green Boat, and Gulf National Forest Park, multiple varieties of plum blossoms bloomed one after another, attracting many citizens and tourists to enjoy the flowers and take photos.
During the long holiday, Shanghai's municipal and district-level cultural tourism departments and law enforcement agencies have been conducting safety hazard inspections on cultural tourism venues on consecutive days to ensure the smooth operation of the Spring Festival cultural tourism market. So far, the Shanghai Spring Festival holiday cultural tourism market has been operating safely and orderly, and no major safety incidents have occurred. During the next four days of holidays, Shanghai will welcome more tourists from home and abroad to share the joy of the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon.