Inner Mongolia sees tourism market boom during Dragon Boat Festival

A girl admires a sculpture of dough works during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday in Bayannuur city. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Daily]

The tourism market of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region enjoyed a boom during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

A total of 8.33 million visits by domestic tourists were made to Inner Mongolia, generating tourism revenue of 5.15 billion yuan ($734.66 million).

According to China's online travel service provider Ctrip, searches related to the "grasslands" in the country increased by 208 percent over the past two weeks. Orders for grassland vacation products in Inner Mongolia during the holiday increased 35-fold compared to the same period last year.

Most grassland travellers to Inner Mongolia over the holiday came from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Harbin.

Mugwort is given to Hohhot residents during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Daily]

To add a more festive atmosphere to the holiday, the province offered a variety of cultural and tourism products, such as food-tasting experiences, sports events, night-time economy experiences, cultural heritage exhibitions, and Ulan Muqir performances.

Of those, the nocturnal activities proved a huge hit, with significant growth registered in the number of visitors at night-time cultural and tourism consumption clusters such as Saishang Old Street in Hohhot, Qiaojialin Street in Baotou, and Dongshan Hongxing Night City in Hailar district.

Russian visitors try making zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, in Manzhouli city during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Daily]