China's cultural, tourism market heats up this summer

China's summer travel season, which concluded on Saturday, saw the hustle and bustle of cultural and tourism activities, according to data released by officials and industry research.

Booming tourism

From July 1 to August 31, railways handled a record 887 million passenger trips, a 6.7 percent increase from last year, China State Railway Group said Sunday.

During the 62-day summer travel season, airlines carried over 140 million passenger trips, up 12.4 percent year on year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The summer holiday represented a peak season for domestic tourism, with performances and museums becoming new growth points of cultural tourism consumption.

Data from online travel agency Trip.com indicates that during the holiday, exhibition and performance-related orders increased by 70 percent compared with the previous two months. Museum admission bookings even exceeded theme parks', ranking first out of all scenic spots.

The trend of exploring lesser-known cities and counties continued in the domestic tourism market. According to data from Qunar travel platform, summer hotel bookings in counties increased by 113 percent month on month.

About 37,000 activities were held across the country to promote culture and tourism consumption, spotlighting new consumption scenarios and preferential policies, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, organizer of the events.

Film market innovation

The Chinese mainland's summer box office totaled 11.6 billion yuan ($1.63 billion), with domestic films accounting for over 72 percent of the revenue.

The comedy "Successor" topped the box office charts with a whopping 3.3 billion yuan.

Despite the decline in total summer box office compared with last year, domestic films such as "Decoded," "Evacuate from the 21st Century," and "The Traveller," made breakthroughs and innovations in style, according to a report released by Lighthouse Research Institute.

（With inputs from Xinhua; Cover via CFP）