Two girls wearing hanfu, a type of traditional Chinese clothing, take a photo in front of a setting marking the Year of Ox. [Photo by Yu Jing/chinanews.com]

Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region received a total of 22.3 million tourists during the Spring Festival holiday from Feb 11 to 17, a year-on-year increase of 434.9 percent, officials from the Guangxi Culture and Tourism Department announced on Feb 18.

The region's tourism market has been witnessing a booming recovery, with overall consumption reaching 14.09 billion yuan ($2.17 billion), increasing by 453.1 percent, and recovering to 94.6 percent of the 2019 figure.

New forms of travel such as short-haul self-driving trips and local family trips became popular among tourists during this year's holiday, instead of the long-haul trips to places outside Guangxi which consumers used to prefer. Statistics show that more than 70 percent of the domestic tourists traveling in Guangxi were Guangxi locals.

Seventy-eight top tourism attractions in Guangxi welcomed a total of 1.38 million visitors. The Qingxiu Mountain scenic area in Nanning alone received 288,000 visitors.

As people were encouraged to stay in their current place of residence during the Spring Festival holiday, rural tourism gained in popularity, with people enjoying the beautiful rural scenery, experiencing folk customs and staying in distinctive homestays.

Night tourism is favored by younger tourists, and many tourist attractions have launched themed activities at night to increase local tourism spending. 

Guangxi has taken steps such as releasing consumption coupons and offering ticket discounts to meet up with people's cultural and tourism needs. Public libraries and cultural centers in the region held a total of 720 cultural events, benefiting 2.14 million attendees both online and offline.