Yantai welcomes over 2 million visitors during Spring Festival holiday

Yantai, a coastal city of East China's Shangdong province, saw 2.73 million domestic tourists during this year's spring festival holiday, an increase of 15.4 percent year-on-year, according to the Yantai Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

The city's tourism revenue from domestic visitors reached 2.62 billion yuan ($391 million), up 18.9 percent from last year.

Yantai staged a series of traditional folk tourism activities like temple fairs, lantern festivals and New Year blessings to attract more visitors.

Yuhuangding temple fair offered visitors a chance to enjoy various Chinese intangible cultural heritages including shadow play, Haiyang Yangko (a Chinese folk dance), Laizhou brush writing, Yantai paper cutting, stilt walking and dragon and lion dances.

Leisure tourism products like skiing and hot springs are also popular among tourists. The Tashan Mountain Scenic Area, Haiyang ski resort and Zhaoyuan ski resort attracted an increased number of skiing amateurs.

The city also launched huge discounts to attract visitors. Over 30 AAA scenic spots opened free to tourists. Penglai Pavillion Scenic Spot offered ten yuan ($6.7) special tickets for local residents.

To avoid irregularities in the tourism industry and ensure a good tourism environment, the Yantai tourism authorities issued a circular which required tourist sites to take strict safety measures and make contingency plans in case of emergencies.

Yuhuangding temple fair offered visitors a chance to enjoy various Chinese intangible cultural heritages during spring festival holiday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]