Beijing's cultural tourism market recorded a strong start in 2025, with several key indicators reaching record highs. According to the data from Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the city witnessed 17.589 million arrivals during the Spring Festival holiday (January 28 to February 4), resulting in a total revenue of CNY 28.67 billion in tourism spending, with an average per capita spending of CNY 1,630.

The city's inbound tourism sector is booming. From January 28 to February 4, a total of 2,559 inbound and outbound flights were handled by Beijing General Station of Immigration Inspection, with nearly 450,000 inbound and outbound trips recorded, up about 24.4 percent year-on-year. From January 24 to February 4, more than 98,000 exit-entry trips were made by foreign nationals, indicating a rise of about 45.2 percent year-on-year. Specifically, over 16,000 entries by foreign nationals were made visa-free, accounting for 36.4 percent of the total number of the entries by foreign nationals.

During the holiday, Beijing hosted 2,756 sessions of events including temple fairs, intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, performances, and winter sports activities. Traditional temple fairs remained popular, with 23 temple fairs, lantern festivals, and garden tours seeing 4.089 million visits.

The museums citywide recorded over 2.359 million visits, while Beijing Library, the Grand Canal Museum of Beijing, and Beijing Performing Arts Centre saw 118,000 visits.

Beijing's 12 municipal parks and the Museum of Chinese Gardens and Landscape Architecture saw a total of 3.08 million visits. Locals and tourists from elsewhere came to these attractions to stroll along the Central Axis, admire seasonal flowers, experience folk traditions, and soak in the festive atmosphere. The three most-visited parks were the Temple of Heaven Park, the Summer Palace, and Jingshan Park.

During the holiday, 110 performance venues in Beijing hosted 1,655 sessions of offline commercial shows, recording around 330,000 visits and generating a total box office revenue exceeding CNY 53 million. Compared with last year, the number of sessions and spectators, and box office earnings grew by approximately 9 percent, 7 percent, and 8 percent, respectively.

Beijing's cultural, commercial, tourism, and sports activities combined to fuel the holiday economy. Between January 27 and February 3, the city's 60 key business districts recorded an average daily foot traffic of 4.432 million, up 12.8 percent year-on-year, with the total spending reaching CNY 12.8 billion, indicating a 10.6 percent increase compared with the same period last year. Key monitored department stores, supermarkets, specialty shops, restaurants, and e-commerce platforms reported total sales of CNY 8.1 billion, marking a 4.2 percent year-on-year increase.

(Sources: The Beijing News, Beijing Daily)