Changsha retains New Year traditions

With Spring Festival ambience pervading throughout Changsha, the city welcomed a record-breaking 3.71 million visitors during the Feb 15-21 holiday period. These guests spent a whopping 3.4 billion yuan ($535 million),  a staggering year-on-year increase of 11.46 percent.

Statistics from the Changsha Tourism Bureau show that the city's key monitored scenic spots received a total of 2.53 million tourists, up 11 percent from the same period last year. Day-trippers spent on average 812 yuan daily, and overnight visitors spent even more at 1,025 yuan daily.

A performer dressed as God of Wealth who is believed to bring good fortune hands out gifts in Jinggang old village. [Photo by Wang Zhiwei/icswb.com]

Huogong Place on the famous traditional food court Pozi Street whetted visitors' appetite with authentic Changsha cuisine. Meanwhile, the most sumptuous feast of cultures drew a great amount of attention to folk art performance of cultural importance such as flower-drum opera, Nuo dance (an ancient ritual performance to dispel evil and pray for good luck), dragon and lion dances, paper-cutting, and clay figurines.

Some 25,800 visitors at the Colorful World Park were treated to a classic Han Dynasty (202BC-220) gourmet and participated in ancient games amidst spectacular fireworks shows. Ticket sales during the seven-day break soared to 3.87 million yuan.

Visitors cluster around parade floats in Tongguan old village. [Photo provided by the Tourism Bureau of Wangcheng district]

Equally appealing was the comprehensive rural experience that was on offer in traditional villages. Millions of tourists flocked to the Dawei Mountain area to admire a splendid lighting show and dragon dance on the ski grounds.

Bookings at all star-level hotels went up by more than 90 percent; the yearly growth in hotel demand indicates the increase of requirements for tourism quality, showing signs of a need for even further upgrades to the tourism industry, according to reports.

Performance of Beijing Opera wins applause at Huogong Palace. [Photo by Li Jiahua, Long Wei/icswb.com]