China's Quanzhou city rides cultural revival wave to tourism boom

Quanzhou, a historic coastal city in southeast China's Fujian province, saw robust tourism growth during the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, with 10.12 million visits and tourism revenue hitting 10.1 billion yuan (nearly 1.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 23.6 percent and 25.9 percent year on year respectively, topping Mafengwo's "2025 Top 10 Hottest Festive Towns" list.

Traditional performing arts fueled the boom. The Marionette Theatre of Quanzhou staged 94 shows during the holiday, drawing over 30,000 spectators and generating 2 million yuan in ticket sales. Daily performances surged to seven shows amid soaring demand, with online tickets selling out instantly. Over 300 intangible cultural heritage opera shows, including Liyuan Opera and Gaojia Opera, attracted predominantly young audiences.

Cultural intellectual properties (IPs) emerged as economic drivers. The green snake sculpture at Quanzhou Confucius Temple, blending with local elements like oriental variegated coral-beans and scholar hats, spurred 1 million yuan in plush toy and souvenir sales. Local enterprises like Peak Group contributed designs such as the "seven-color coral-bean snakes" installations displayed at landmarks.

Tourism gains are revitalizing cultural preservation. The string puppet troupe reinvests earnings into innovation and facility upgrades, while the music band modernizes 800-year-old local music, performing globally from Shanghai to London.

Annual data reveals the city hosted 100 million tourists in 2024, with tourism spending up 20.8 percent to 121.14 billion yuan (nearly 16.7 billion U.S. dollars), energizing transport, hospitality, and catering sectors. The integration of cultural heritage with tourism has forged a sustainable model, empowering both economic growth and tradition revitalization.