China's cultural tourism industry booming despite COVID-19 impact

Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-22 17:57:40|Editor: huaxia


JINAN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) --China's tourism market has seen another round of recovery during the past Mid-Autumn festival holiday, as the sector seems to have adapted to a market with regular epidemic prevention and control in position.

Theme park tours, short-distance tours and road trips have become popular during the past holiday.


New trends and novel business models are helping with the recovery from the hit of the pandemic.


Multiple international fairs organized by the Chinese government, such as the 2nd China International Cultural Tourism Fair (CICTF) held during the Mid-Autumn festival holiday, are also conducive to the recovery.


SOUNDBITE 1 (English): DAVOR RICHARD, Ghanaian businessman

"It (cultural tourism fair) helps us to introduce our products to Chinese people, and to the Chinese market. It links to our products and we are very happy about it. "


China's tourism recovery has been felt by some other countries, especially those joining the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).


Iranian businessman Muzaffar Bhat came to China and started his carpet business in Beijing almost at the same time of the implementation of the BRI. It has been nine years since then.


For Bhat, he'd like to travel between fairs, which means business opportunities.


SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MUZAFFAR BHAT, Iranian businessman

"The carpet business is very good in China. Iranian carpet is very famous (in China). If you come to the cultural exhibition, you'll always meet good buyers and good people."


China's tourism market is walking out of the shadow of the pandemic, with industrial fairs and business opportunities springing up again.


China has seen a total of 1.87 billion domestic trips taken in the first half of 2021, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Saturday.


The total revenue of the country's domestic tourism market has exceeded 1.6 trillion yuan (248 billion U.S. dollars), said Wang Xiaofeng, an official with the ministry, at a press conference.


With the tourism market revitalizing after the 2021 Spring Festival, both numbers have grown back to about 60 percent of the level in the same period in 2019, said Wang.

KEY WORDS: China,tourism,BRI
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