Tourism continues to boom during National Day holidays

Tourism in China continued to boom throughout this year's week-long National Day holiday as major sites across the country tally staggering numbers of visitors from the first half of the vacation period. 

The National Day holiday, which runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7 this year, is a peak travel and tourism season in China.

In the first four days of the holiday, the 11 parks and China Garden Museum in Beijing continued to see a surge in visitors, receiving a total of 2.58 million visitors. Among them, the average daily visitor flow of Beihai Park in the first four days reached nearly 70,000.

The Baishishan scenic spot in north China's Hebei Province has attracted many visitors with its peak forest landform, thrilling experience projects, and stunning autumn scenery. As of Oct. 4, the scenic area has served over 100,000 visitors.

Impressive drone shows have also been staged over Luohe City, central China's Henan Province, wowing the spectators. The formation displays a great variety of shapes to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

During this holiday, the Lushan Mountain scenic spot in Jiujiang City, east China's Jiangxi Province, entered its peak season for tourism, with over 730,000 visitors in the first four days, including 132,900 visitors to the core scenic area on the mountain.

To ensure a smooth experience during the area's peak tourism season, the scenic spot has implemented a series of measures such as increasing shuttle buses and extending operating hours to ensure a smooth experience for visitors.

At the same time, Wuyishan scenic spot in southeast China's Fujian Province witnessed a peak in visitor numbers during the holiday. To ensure a smooth and orderly tourism market, various departments in Wuyishan conducted coordinated patrols while also providing guidance services for parking.

In the first four days of the holiday, Wuyishan City received a total of 484,000 tourists, achieving a total tourism revenue of 588 million yuan (about 83 million U.S. dollars).

Five fashion shows on Yi embroidery, one of China's intangible cultural heritages, have been held each day during the holiday period by the Yi Embroidery Museum in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and visitors have been welcomed to enter the museum for free to watch. The prefecture received more than one million visitors in the first four days of the holiday.

Meanwhile, one of the highlights of the spectacular 2024 Shanghai International Light Festival was a nighttime parade on a pedestrian street themed around fantastical depictions of the Sanxingdui civilization, which thrived some 3,000 years ago and is famous for its unique bronze masks and artifacts. The parade has wowed audiences and received high praise.

Tourism continues to boom during National Day holidays

Macao has been emerging as a global hub for conventions and exhibitions in recent years by exploring the enormous opportunities in the sector, driving the region to advance its economic diversification and embrace a brighter future.

Macao has received many awards this year, such as the Best Convention City (Asia) and the Best BT-MICE City, showcasing the recognition for and influence of Macao's exhibition industry.

More than 1,000 electronic game enthusiasts from all over the world gathered recently in Macao to participate in a esports themed event.

Su Zhili, organizer of the event, said that Macao's rich experience in hosting large-scale events, coupled with its good infrastructure, has driven him to choose the region as an ideal destination to hold such an activity.

"Macao has held many similar large-scale events. It has rich experience, and the facilities at the venue are relatively mature, so we can start our work comfortably," said Su.

During the first three quarters of 2024, Macao held more than 1,000 conferences and exhibitions in total.

"We will invite more professional, special conferences to be held in Macao and also cultivate more exhibition brands with international influence in Macao, so as to promote Macao's exhibitions to be more market-oriented, professional, international, digital and greener from various aspects. This is our goal," said Elaine Wong, member of the Macao Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute.

In addition, multiple large exhibitions and conferences, such as the Macao International Trade and Investment fair, the Macao Franchise Expo, and the International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum, are held regularly in Macao.

With the introduction of a series of policies and measures to facilitate the exchanges between the mainland and Macao, as well as the construction and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Macao's convention and exhibition industry will embrace more opportunities for development in the foreseeable future.

"We have such a good industrial base in the Greater Bay Area. The mode of 'Convention and Exhibition + Industry' not only integrates the industries of Macao, but also the industries of the Greater Bay Area. In addition, Macao actively integrates into the national development and plays a role in the Belt and Road. Why are we so confident in Macao's convention and exhibition sector? Because it is backed by the motherland, and the country gives Macao great support," said Alan Ho, chairman of the Macao Association of Convention, Exhibition and Tourism Sectors.

Macao emerges as global hub for conventions and exhibitions, driving economic diversification and international recognition