Palace Museum gala set to boost night tourism

The success of the Palace Museum’s Lantern Festival night tour is expected to activate the sector, as the tourism industry is attempting to find new sources of growth in exploring cultural tourism.

For the first time in nearly a century, the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, opened at night on Tuesday, forming part of Beijing’s Lantern Festival celebration.

As the event attracted public attention at the end of the Spring Festival holidays, the idea of night tourism also became a hot topic. Analysts noted that the successful event will be a positive example to those who are trying to boost industry growth.

Night tourism is not a new thing in China, and many cities have launched similar themed events. According to tourism data from the Spring Festival this year, night tours were held in other Chinese cities.

A night tour of the Jinjiang River in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province attracted about 166,000 sightseers during the seven-day Spring Festival holidays. The program displayed the beautiful vision of the river described in a famous poem of Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu with color lights shows, local media reported.

Similar cultural tourism programs were offered in characteristic ancient towns and central cities, according to analysts. A key factor in successful night tour programs is developing unique and interesting themes.

The innovation by the Palace Museum turned the former imperial palace into a special public resource at a traditional time, Li Mingde, a former vice president of the Beijing Tourism Society, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

“The theme needs to be developed on the basis of the original objects. In this case, the light show focused on the ancient architecture,” Li said.

Another important factor in cultural tourism is the market performance, analysts said.