Dresses are on display at the China International Culture and Tourism Fair, which opened in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province on September 15, 2022. The fair attracted cultural products from more than 20 countries and regions, including Turkey, Nepal and Russia. Photo: VCG

 
China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) on Monday announced it will resume accepting applications for commercial performances involving people from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and the island of Taiwan, starting from February 16.  

New commercial performance applications involving people from overseas are still suspended, except for those who are already in the Chinese mainland, according to a statement released by the MCT. 

The move came after the Chinese mainland optimized its response to COVID-19 in December 2022. Local governments should continue to strengthen the management of commercial performance activities, urge performance organizers to implement the new epidemic prevention and control measures, and continue to promote the prosperity and development of the cultural performance market, the MCT said.

The MCT and other authorities have been ramping up efforts to promote the recovery and growth of tourism and cultural industries recently. On December 28, 2022, the MCT announced plans to promote the coming tourism season as the New Year holiday and the Spring Festival draw near, including launching a batch of new national-level ski resorts. 

It also vowed to launch more cultural projects to enrich people's cultural lives. On the premise of ensuring the safety and health of the people, various cultural activities such as "village galas," folk performances, and exhibitions will be organized in light of local conditions, the MCT said.

The tourism and cultural sectors have seen rapid recovery as the Spring Festival holidays draw near, with the number of both domestic and international passenger flights surging. 

During the first week of the 2023 Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun, a 40-day period starting from January 7, China registered more than 70,000 domestic passenger flights, up 12 percent compared to the first week of the 2022 Spring Festival travel rush. And international flights during the week surpassed 1,600, up by 90 percent compared to the same period last year, according to monitoring platform VariFlight.