Night-time economy flourishes in China's cultural tourism sector

Sales of tickets in China’s night tour attractions and nighttime amusement parks in the first half of the year soared by 469 percent year on year, an increase of 106 percent over the same period in 2019, according to a recently released report.

Tourists visit the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, central China's Henan province on June 8, 2020. (Photo/Xinhua)

The average number of night trips per visitor in the first half of 2021 reached 1.3, while the consumption per person exceeded 187 yuan ($28) in one trip, an increase of 25 percent year on year, according to the data report released by China’s travel service provider Ctrip in conjunction with Haichang Ocean Park, a China-based developer and operator of theme parks and other ancillary commercial properties.

This kind of booming growth in night trips is particularly evident during public holidays. Among them, night tour ticket orders during this year's Labor Day holiday and Dragon Boat Festival holiday soared by 1.5 times and 3 times respectively compared with the same period in 2019, according to the data from Ctrip.

In addition to the rising number of night trips, the report also noted that local customers and those from surrounding areas emerged as the major consumer group. Data showed that in the first half of this year, 40 percent of night-trip orders came from surrounding residents, an increase of 120 percent over 2019.

Taking the consumption data of Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park in the first half of the year as an example, tourists from Shanghai and east China accounted for nearly 80 percent of the total, of which those from Shanghai made up nearly 50 percent.

Fang Zexi, an industry analyst with the Ctrip research institute, pointed out that with the gradual maturing of the “night economy”, vigorous development of night tourism has become a general trend that not only meets people's demands for a better life, but also the inherent requirement of expanding consumption and promoting high-quality economic development.

“We believe that night excursions is also a must for a large number of tourists during the summer vacation, " Fang disclosed.