During the 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, Shanxi province fully leveraged its advantages in historical culture, ancient architectural heritage, and mountain-and-water ecology to keep its cultural tourism market heating up.

At the same time, localities across the province innovatively activated new consumption models such as ticket-stub economics, sports and performance events, and first-store economics, using policy incentives to drive market growth and achieve dual increases in visitor numbers and spending, highlighting the results of high-quality integrated cultural tourism development.

On October 1, the ancient city of Pingyao was bustling with visitors. As the first day of the National Day holiday, the ancient city welcomed a peak in foot traffic, with tourists from all over enjoying their holiday amid ancient architectural culture.

Ancient Architecture Tours Continue to Unleash Cultural Appeal

During the double holiday, major scenic spots across the province were crowded with visitors. Localities rolled out immersive themed activities based on their own resources, traditional cultural tourism scenes were vibrant, and ancient architecture study tours became a major travel highlight.

In Jinzhong, the Qiao Family Compound staged more than 20 special performances including golden dragon drum rhythms, lion king competitions, and flying phoenix aerial shows, while linking with Zhaoyu Ancient City for stamp-collection check-ins. Niangziguan Scenic Area introduced antique-style welcome ceremonies and ancient-costume NPC parades, with the nightly show "Meeting Niangziguan" open on a regular basis, creating an all-day touring model of "visiting the pass by day, enjoying the grand show by night." At Wutai Mountain's Jinjie Lane, a traditional Chinese market scene was created, with interactive activities such as pitch-pot and stamp-collection raffles proving highly popular among tourists.

In Changzhi's Zhuozhang River Valley, where nationally protected ancient architectural resources are concentrated, Pingshun and Lucheng launched a "one-ticket pass" for ancient architecture, integrating heritage resources and supporting tourism shuttle routes and professional guide services. This one-stop solution addressed the travel challenges of ancient architecture study tours, bringing deeply hidden ancient buildings into public view.

From September 24 to 30, the 10th Pingyao International Film Festival was held in Pingyao Ancient City. The festival added an AI short film creation section, integrating film viewing, art markets, and intangible cultural heritage experiences. More than 2 million visitors flocked to the cinematic event, upgrading simple sightseeing into deep cultural experiences.

In the Dongnan Yi historical and cultural block of Datong Ancient City, creative workshops and artistic shops converted from old courtyards drew strong crowds, while ancient architectural scenic spots such as Yungang Grottoes and Huayan Temple saw an endless stream of visitors. In Yuncheng, Zhongyi Gu Street and Yanmeng Corridor staged ceremonial welcomes, building facade light shows, and Puzhou opera performances, lighting up nighttime consumption. Intangible cultural heritage-themed markets in Jinzhong, patriotic blessing activities in Xiaoyi, and opera and lion dance markets at the Guanyintang Expo Park in Changzhi turned ancient buildings into open cultural living rooms.

Shanxi Culture and Tourism Group increased the frequency of its six premium performances, with "Encore Pingyao" expanding to 5 shows per day, maximally meeting tourists' demand for immersive viewing.

Participants in the 2026 Taiyuan Marathon run across the Yingze Bridge in Taiyuan.

Diverse Traffic Flows Converted into Cultural Tourism Consumption Dividends

During the double holiday, localities across Shanxi moved beyond the single-scenic-spot traffic model, breaking down barriers between sports events, performances, transportation, and commercial consumption to build new engines such as ticket-stub economics, event IPs, and first-store economics, turning instantaneous traffic into sustained consumption momentum.

First, they expanded the "ticket-stub economy," using small ticket stubs to leverage the entire regional market. The Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism partnered with Tongcheng Travel to launch the "Connected Ticket Stubs, Full Benefits — Shanxi Transportation Ticket Stub Blind Box" campaign. All 36 high-speed rail stations and 8 civil aviation airports across 10 cities in the province were included in the campaign. Inbound high-speed rail tickets and flight tickets to Shanxi could be used to draw consumption blind boxes worth over one million yuan in total, covering scenic spot tickets, hotel discount vouchers, and 20% off car rentals, with a single user able to participate in up to 5 draws, encouraging tourists to revisit Shanxi.

At the same time, the "Follow Concerts to Tour Shanxi" benefit program was implemented. Holding a concert ticket allowed access to discount policies at dozens of A-level scenic spots across the province. Fans attending Taiyuan concerts enjoyed a discount window of three days before and after the event, with free first-entry tickets to Jinci Tianlong Mountain and the Shanxi Merchants Museum. Audiences at Datong concerts could visit the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple of Hengshan, and Huayan Temple for free, with other cities offering matching benefits as well.

On September 27, the Taiyuan Marathon started, with 40,000 participants flooding into the city. Race ticket stubs were also included in the consumption alliance, with linked merchants offering various discounts, achieving "one event, consumption across the whole region." The province built a multi-dimensional ticket-stub mutual benefit alliance spanning transportation, sports, and performances, pushing tourism from shallow check-ins toward deep immersive experiences.

Second, event and film festival IPs empowered urban tourism, with cultural and sports activities boosting city travel. The Taiyuan Marathon, Pingyao International Film Festival, and various large concerts landed one after another. After major events ended, ticket-stub policies guided participants, fans, and filmgoers to stay and explore locally, achieving "one viewing of a competition or film, a chain of cultural tourism consumption" and bridging the industrial gap between sports, culture, and tourism.

Third, they activated the "first-store economy," enriching holiday supply with new commercial formats. During the double holiday, visiting first stores became a new driver of travel. Zhongshuge's first store in Jinzhong's Wuxian City opened, drawing large numbers of residents and tourists for reading check-ins. Jincheng welcomed the province's first Dili Robot 7S store, where tech interaction experiences attracted consumers. Taiyuan's North American Xintiandi brought in multiple Shanxi first stores in a concentrated manner, with trendy clothing and specialty tea shops seeing high foot traffic. First stores brought new products and new concepts, and combined with holiday mall promotions, activated commercial district popularity and expanded the boundaries of cultural tourism consumption.

Xiaoyi Old City held the "Love the Motherland, Love Mom" event, creating a spectacular scene.

Policy Support Guarantees Overall Improvement in the Province's Consumer Market

During the double holiday, the province coordinated the distribution of consumption vouchers, and the "Tour Shanxi" platform released special livelihood subsidy funds. Wellness towns and homestays launched products such as mountain moon-viewing, bonfires, and light hiking, catering to the deep leisure market. The Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism deployed holiday safety production work, carried out special rectification of tour guide misconduct and forced consumption, investigated safety hazards, polished the "Satisfied Tourism in Shanxi" brand, and ensured safe and smooth travel for visitors.

During the double holiday, the province's cultural tourism market performed impressively. Monitoring data for the Mid-Autumn holiday showed that offline consumption in Shanxi reached 8.867 billion yuan, up 3.97% year on year. Of that, in-province consumption totaled 10.091 million person-times, while out-of-province visitors to Shanxi reached 1.7198 million person-times. Accommodation consumption was 796 million yuan, up 9.85% year on year, while catering consumption was 863 million yuan, up 9.11% year on year. Marathons, concerts, and family reunion banquets jointly boosted the recovery of the accommodation and catering market.

In the first two days of the National Day holiday, visitor numbers at the Jinci Museum rose 25.90% year on year, while the Shuangta Museum grew 100.16%. The Taiyuan Northern Qi Murals Museum and the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes Museum saw year-on-year increases of 11.22% and 16.80%, respectively. With marathons and concerts combined with ticket-stub benefit policies, event traffic and fan traffic were efficiently converted into local cultural tourism consumption, fully demonstrating the comprehensive driving effect of "transportation + events + performances + museums."

Tongcheng Travel data showed that Taiyuan ranked seventh among popular nationwide destinations for tourists "switching routes" during the holiday. Many tourists used Taiyuan as the second or third stop on their itineraries, driving a clear rise in local accommodation demand, with especially strong demand for king rooms and family rooms. The ancient charm of Jinyang, museum resources, and complete accommodation facilities became core attractions.

During the double holiday, Shanxi built on its profound ancient architectural culture, with traditional scenic spot supply and new models such as ticket-stub economics, event IPs, and first-store economics working together to create a new cultural tourism consumption ecosystem of "one ticket attracting traffic, region-wide coordination, and diversified income growth." This not only brought Shanxi's historical and cultural resources to life, but also achieved a quality upgrade from "attracting visitors to Shanxi" to "keeping visitors spending," forging a distinctive path for the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry.