Visitors watch digitalized ancient paintings at the the new Zhijiang Branch of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum on August 29, 2023, in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. The new branch officially opened to the public on Tuesday, attracting a large number of residents and tourists to visit and experience the unique charm of digital cultural relics. Photo: VCG

With the expectation that the number of domestic passenger trips from June to August will surge past 1.85 billion, the China Tourism Academy recently predicted the cultural tourist market of this summer holiday season will be the "hottest" in the recent five years. Fueling this surge is the growing number of experience-oriented cultural events blooming across the country, expert Yao Yu told the Global Times, noting that traditional "just a glance" tourism is no longer the first choice for Chinese cultural tourists. 

Museum visits became one of the hottest tourist choices during the summer holiday. High demand across the country has led to new rules being implemented at museums. For instance, 46 museums in Beijing, including the Capital Museum, have recently canceled their "Monday closure" tradition to accommodate the increase in visitors. 

Including the hot spot Suzhou Museum nine local museums in Suzhou have extended opening hours. 

Xiang Liming, a local resident, told the Global Times that such an arrangement is "friendly" to the culture consumption of a family as she has been able to spend "quality time" with her daughter after work. 

Besides standard daytime museum visits, several museums have launched night tours. A staff member surnamed Wu at the National Natural History Museum of China in Beijing told the Global Times that its night visit program includes an "overnight" activity that allows visitors to have immersive experience with dinosaur culture. 

"Visiting a museum was once like a 'bus stop' for traditional tourist groups, but now visitors are searching for immersive experiences. The change not only reflects the improvement of museums' event design, but also shows the Chinese public's growing passion for authentic cultural tourism," Chu Xin, a cultural sociologist, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Other than museums, this "immersive mode" has powered the entertainment industry to help boost tourism. Over 100 events have been launched during the summer holiday season at Bai Lu Yuan Studios, a film production base in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. 

Also in Xi'an, an old film factory was renovated into a film exhibition hall. Combining commercial activities like food fairs with exhibitions of local film history, the old factory has attracted over 1 million visitors, especially young consumers. 

Yao told the Global Times that turning industrial remains into new cultural sites is tremendously popular in the country. It is a "cultural makeover" to help boost sustainable urban development. 

The Summer holiday season's "child consumer" demographic has made study tours a hot booking choice. On Fliggy, an online travel agency, the number of searches for "study tours" increased by more than 2.3 times compared with the summer of 2022. Newly opened sites like the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan Province are hot destinations. 

"The summer holiday is the best time to take children to see the real Chinese culture that they read about every day in books," Dong, a mother of a 10-year-old boy, told the Global Times. 

"Consumption of culture is a major factor that contributes to the country's tourist economy. It motivates the public to fall in love with Chinese culture and traditions," Yao said.