Quzhou, a city in Zhejiang province, witnessed remarkable growth in its tourism market in the first half of this year. According to the Quzhou culture and tourism bureau, the city received 67.97 million tourists from January to June, an increase of 16.9 percent year-on-year, and generated a total of 10.05 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) in tourism revenue, an increase of 16.2 percent year-on-year.
The booming market is due to various promotional activities, such as large-scale cultural and sporting events and free tour policies. For example, the concert of pop singer Joker Xue in March boosted the city's tourist arrivals by 57.62 percent, ranking first in the province in growth rate.
In addition, the city started construction on several major cultural and tourism projects, such as the Quzhou Longzhimeng Tourism Resort, Longyou Riverside Cultural Living Room, and Qujiang Gumie Ancient Country Site Expo Park, which received a total of over 70 billion yuan in investment.
Thanks to the Alliance Garden, a tourism alliance jointly built by Quzhou, Huangshan, Nanping and Shangrao, 79 percent of tourists in Quzhou came from Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces.
The city has also expanded its regional cooperation with other provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Delta and has signed tourism cooperation agreements with Ningbo, Ushi and Mianyang to attract more tourists from different areas.