Copyright 2024 - Ningbo Life / Ningbo Expat

Red Tourism Preferred in Ningbo

It has been learned recently that red tourism (tour to revolutionary commemoration places after the foundation of CPC in 1921) has become popular since mid-November and most of the participants are grey heads.

“We spend one day visiting the former residences of Tong Dizhou, Zhou Yao, Sha Shi and the Family Sha. We are amazed at what we have seen”, said Yuan Jiuhui, the 78-year-old who lived at Xinzhi Community of Haishu District and came to the residences with his five friends after a two-hour bike ride. With a serious look, they were taking photos and notes.

Quite a number of tourists headed to revolutionary base areas and residences. Last week, the number of visitors to the former residences of Tong Dizhou, Zhou Yao and the Family Sha reached 1,000 respectively. “Since last week, we have received about 500 to 600 visitors almost every day and on 19th the number exceeds 1,000, equal to the number during the National Holiday”, said a worker at the former residence of Sha Shi. Half of the tourists were the elderly who came with a tourist team.

“Many of the routes are fit for the elderly who can join in the team tour available in Ningbo tour agents several times a week. Hot destinations include the former residence of Rou Shi in Ningbo and red tour resources in other provinces, such as the Jinggang Mountain in Jiangxi Province, Yanan in Shanxi province and Shajiabang in Changshu, Jiangsu province”, according to the agents, most of the tourists are the elderly people, who tend to tour around in the pleasant weather of early winter.

Foreign tourists learning to make local rice cake

More than 200 foreign tourists visited Cicheng, a township in Ningbo's Jiangbei District on Tuesday. Deeply attracted by local crafts like red Chinese knot, embroidery, paper cutting, clay figurines, porcelain, and teapot, one of them even had a try on making traditional rice cakes.

Tourism income hits 58.7 billion Yuan

Ningbo tourism income, as shown in the released tourism economy report of the first three quarters, reached 58.72 billion Yuan, up by 12.8% over the same period of last year. 
Despite the slowdown of the macro economy, Ningbo tourism industry grows. From January to September, Ningbo has received 41.75 million domestic tourists and 806,900 tourists from abroad with an increase of 7.82% on the previous year. Income from domestic tourism stands at 55.468 billion Yuan, up by 7.82% and foreign exchange income exceeds US$500 million. 
After the summer tourism peak, tourism industry continues to grow. In July and August, all the scenery spots in Ningbo have received 7.82 million tourists, up by 7.14% over the same period of last year. Remarkably growth goes to the Haishu District with an increase of 254.35% and the Jiangdong District with an increase of 186.52%.
As new travel methods such as parent-children travel have contributed to tourism growth, festival celebrations have also played a great role. Tourism income of Cixi and Yuyao has increased by 73.77% and 27.04% thanks to their celebration activities in summer holiday. Xiangshan, among other scenery spots, ranks first in receiving tourists.

Investment in tourism projects exceeding 100 billion yuan

It is understood that so far a modern tourist product system has been established, composed of such specialized products as sightseeing, leisure holiday, culture experiencing, recreation and health, conventions and exhibitions, shopping, food and festival celebrations. A series of new leisure industries, including mountaineering, hiking, cycling, skiing, sea fishing, yachting, camping, movies and TV dramas and island tourism, have come into existence and begun to flourish. Currently, there are over 130 tourist attractions, including one 5A scenic area and 25 4A scenic areas.

Statistics from Ningbo Municipal Tourism Bureau show that during the 11th Five-year Plan period, 195 tourist projects were under construction, with a total investment of 78.7 billion yuan. Among others, the high-star hotels, rural tourism, leisure and recreation and other new industries are the favorite targets for investment from private capitals, and attract joint investment from the state-owned capitals and foreign capitals. The major projects mainly locate in such areas as the area around the city, Dongqian Lake area, the coastal area in Xiangshan County, the Siming Mountain area and the area around Xiangshan Port.

According to statistics, at present 84 tourism projects are under construction in Ningbo with a total investment of up to 109.38 billion yuan or an average investment of 1.3 billion yuan for each project, both ranking as No. 1 among cities in Zhejiang Province.

Tourist sites see travel peaks

The surge of travellers during the eight-day National Day holiday continues in Ningbo as fine weather extends to the fourth day of the holiday. Major tourist destinations in Ningbo received around 886,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 35.14 percent, according to statistics released yesterday by Municipal Holiday Office.

In the past few days, the major hotels in Ningbo's major tourist attractions such as the Simingshan National Forest Park, Cixi Dapeng Mountain, and the Dongqian Lake were fully booked up. Hotels in Yuyao also reported more than 90 per cent full.

The downtown hotels also see hot demand. Reservations of budget hotels rose sharply as a good selection of self-drive tourists. As many couples have chosen to hold their wedding ceremonies during the 8-day celebration, wedding banquet reservations in high-star hotels are now seeing increase. Statistics show that the city's high-star hotel reported an average booking rate of 68 percent yesterday

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