Shanxi Provincial Tourism Bureau statistics show that, during the three-day May Day Holiday, this year the province’s tourism revenue reached 5.03 billion yuan ($0.82 billion), a more than 26 percent increase over last year’s same period. The total number of tourists was up almost 24 percent, from last year, to 11.14 million.
The driving force in the tourism growth appeared to be new tourism products, such as rural tourism and resorts focused on central cities the integrate human resources with natural resources, in addition to traditional tourism products. The total number of tourists at 36 key tourist spots in the province reached 31.23 million, during the holiday, accounting for 28 percent of the visitors across the whole province.
The provincial tourism bureau also had tourism products that focused on the spring flowers and scenery, such as the village of Jule near the city of Datong, in northern Shanxi, which offered an ecological tourism package and Apricot Festival. Meanwhile at the Wedding Culture Festival in Pingyao ancient town, tourists had the chance to enjoy a wedding ceremony from the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) or Tang Dynasty (601- 907 AD), along with folk performances.
Edited by Roger Bradshaw
