Jiangsu blends tradition and summer fun to fuel cultural tourism boom

East China's Jiangsu province has rolled out 10 measures that blend traditional customs with summer leisure activities, offering a rich mix of cultural and tourism products alongside a consumer benefits package to ignite spending during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday and the upcoming summer season.

A traveling exhibition combining cultural relics, digital technology and creative design has already attracted 338,500 visitors during its 21-day first stop in Wuxi. The exhibition will move to museums in Nanjing, Lianyungang and Suqian from June 18 to September 14, bringing a fresh digital museum experience to more audiences.

Meanwhile, a touring performance program featuring outstanding stage works and community art will hold 13 shows in townships across Suqian, Taizhou and Wuxi, with markets set up near venues to create all-in-one scenarios for watching, experiencing and shopping.

A fair featuring intangible cultural heritage items attracts visitors at the Oriental Metropolitan Museum in Nanjing.

On the intangible cultural heritage front, 23 themed travel routes have been launched across the Yangtze River Delta, and the province will organize heritage shopping months, fairs and shows throughout the summer.

Museums are offering diverse experiences. The Nanjing Museum is presenting an exhibition of Indian Mughal Empire art, and the Yancheng City Museum has partnered with the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, for a major international relics exhibition. A total of 19 museums across Jiangsu are launching nighttime visits. Five popular museums—including the Nanjing Museum, the Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou and the Suzhou Museum—are setting up dedicated reservation channels for family and school study groups during the summer, and more than 70 registered museums are extending opening hours.

Visitors attending interaction session of the “Decoding Leonardo da Vinci: A Dialogue Among Art, Nature and Technology” special exhibition at Changzhou Museum.

The performance market is also vibrant, with over 220 commercial shows scheduled during the Dragon Boat Festival, spanning concerts, music festivals, dramas, dance performances, traditional operas, talk shows and family-oriented plays. Classic productions such as The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting, Dream of the Red Chamber and Monkey King: Three Attacks on the White Bone Demon will be staged, and ticket stubs can be used to unlock discounts at nearby scenic spots, restaurants and hotels.

For leisure travel, a heritage-themed route integrates museum resources and waterside scenery to immerse visitors in Jiangnan culture. 13 rural self-driving micro-vacation routes have been tailored, focusing on villages and small-to-medium-sized cities. More than 240 tourist attractions will host 350 special events, over 40 resort areas will present summer-exclusive activities, and sightseeing boats on Taihu Lake, the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal will add more departures during the summer break.

On the consumer benefits side, more than 200 tourist attractions are offering free or discounted admission and project discounts for students who took this year's high school and college entrance exams.

Over 1,200 study tour products spanning heritage craftsmanship, industrial heritage and science and technology themes have been introduced. The provincial department of culture and tourism has joined hands with major online travel platforms such as Trip.com, Tongcheng and Tuniu to launch special products, distribute coupons and provide lucky free orders and travel subsidies, with total consumption vouchers exceeding 90 million yuan.

Inbound tourism incentives have also been strengthened, with Trip.com's international platform rolling out exclusive hotel and attraction discounts and curated travel packages, extending a warm invitation to global travelers via digital marketing.