The Qingdao tourism industry gained another harvest in the recently past Spring Festival holiday. According to the statistics of the Qingdao Municipal Tourism Bureau, in the holiday season, Qingdao received 2.0062 million tourists, up by 13.96% over the same period of 2016; the city has achieved CNY 2.832 billion of tourist consumption, up by 16.65%. The average consumption of tourists that came to Qingdao reached CNY 1450.8, up by CNY 238 over the same period of last year.

    Steady advancement of large tourism projects and new development of industries integration is just one highlight of the Qingdao tourism industry 2016. In the last year, over 80 key tourist projects of Qingdao with CNY 300 billion total investment wer under smooth development. 58 projects with CNY 162.8 billion total investment have already kicked off construction. The 10-million-suqare-meter tourism recreational/holiday/exhibition/conference facilities have completed 1.1944 million square meters and spent CNY 8.579 billion investments, 910,700 million square meters facilities have been put into use, exceeding the target. New industries such as the cruiser and yacht, low-space flying, healthy tourism and academic tourism are in quick development. In 2016, Qingdao was approved to be the China cruiser tourism development experimental zone. By the end of 2016, Qingdao cruiser homeport has received 125 cruiser homeport visits in total with 150,000 person-time tourists. The Laoshan scenic spot was approved to be the national general aviation tourism model project; 16 bureaus such as CTS HK (Qingdao) Ocean Spring Resort have applied for provincial or national Chinese medicine healthcare tourism model bases.

    With the consistent upgrade of the Qingdao tourism environment, tourism itself plays an increasingly important role in Spring Festival season, enjoyment and holiday-oriented tourism shows growing importance in the tourism. The Qingdao Municipal Tourism Bureau have monitored 53 star rated hotels, the average occupation rate reaches 50%. Among them, 5-star hotels reach 51%, 4-star hotels reach 49.6%, and 3-star hotels reach 48.9%. Star hotels such as the Haiqing Hotel and Sea View Garden Hotel and commercial complexes such as CapitaLand Mall and restaurant such as Old Sailor were full of consumers on the Spring Festival eve. The catering industry has witnessed strong growth. Huangdao Hilton Hotel sold 100% of its Spring Festival Eve dinner, 50% of its rooms were occupied that night. Over 80% of rooms B&B in rural and urban areas, including Laoshan Xiaojurenjia, Pusu, Shinan Yifumeiluo were occupied.

    The View zones in Qingdao received many more tourists in the Spring Festival season, the ocean plays an important role in it. According to statistics, during the period, the coastal view zone has received 162,000 person-time visitors, up by 1.5% YOY. Polar ocean world has received 49,000 person-time visitors, up by 14% YOY. The Laoshan view zone has received 41,000 person-time visitors, up by 14.3%. Winter activities such as warm spring and snow skiing are to be a highlight. CTS HK (Qingdao) Ocean Spring Resort has received 27,000 visitors, up by 16.9% YOY. Zangma hill received 200,000 person-time visitors, up by 15% YOY.

    Besides the tourists that came to Qingdao, Qingdao residents also show great interest in travelling; overseas tourism thus became very popular. Tourists going abroad witnessed about a 20% growth over the same period of 2016. Cruiser tourism beginning from Qingdao is so popular. Tourists going to the European region and the US also increased a lot compared with passed years. (Fu Jun) [Photo: during the Spring Festival holiday period, Laoshan Beijiushui view zone witnessed increased tourists, and ice world attracted a lot of visitors. By Xing Zhifeng]