Lufeng County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Tourists entering theme park
2. Various of indoor exhibition all, dinosaur fossils, tourists
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yuan, tourist (full name not given):
"It's very beautiful here. Not only can our children learn from the exhibition, but we parents can also draw knowledge therefrom."
4. Various of T-rex at theme park
5. Various of children making clay dinosaurs

Beijing, China - Feb 15, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ma Yiliang, deputy director, Center of Tourism Statistics and Economical Analysis, China Tourism Academy (CTA) (ending with shot 7):
"When people arrive at a place, their pace will slow down and they will start to experience the local culture and customs in an in-depth way and pay more attention to the spiritual gain and satisfaction. It has become an evident trend."

Nanhua County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of tourists, local people dancing together
8. Festive decorations on building
9. Flags fluttering

Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, south China - Feb 11, 2019 (Guangdong Radio and Television Station - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Various of tourists in Guangzhou Chimelong Safari Park

Shanghai Municipality, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chines mainland)
11. Various of tourists at Bund

Shanghai Municipality, east China - Feb 13, 2019 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
12. Shanghai Museum
13. Various of visitors
14. Cultural relic on exhibition
15. Various of graffiti exhibits at Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Shanghai, visitors

Beijing, China - Feb 9, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
16. Various of visitors at Palace Museum, or Forbidden City

Beijing, China - Feb 15, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Dai Bin, president, CTA (ending with shot 18):
"We have seen a new phenomenon this year. More people have the conditions to invite their families to metropolis like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, or regional sub-centers to celebrate the Spring Festival together. It is an evident phenomenon this year."

Shanghai Municipality, east China - Feb 3, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Various of travelers waiting to check-in
19. Various of airplanes at airport

China sees evident growth in cultural tourism during the recent Spring Festival holiday (February 4-10), according to official data.

Data show that 44.2 percent of the tourists nationwide visited art galleries, 40.5 percent went to museums and 34.8 percent watched cultural performances of various kinds during the Spring Festival holiday.

"It's very beautiful here. Not only can our children learn from the exhibition, but we parents can also draw knowledge therefrom," said Yuan, a tourist who took her son to a dinosaur theme park in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Analysts say the growing popularity in cultural tourism is associated with a change of mindset.

"When people arrive at a place, their pace will slow down and they will start to experience the local culture and customs in an in-depth way and pay more attention to the spiritual gain and satisfaction. It has become an evident trend," said Ma Yiliang, deputy director of the Center of Tourism Statistics and Economical Analysis at China Tourism Academy (CTA), a specialized institute directly under the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

The CTA was approved as the National Tourism Data Center (NTDC) in 2015.

In China, it is a custom to return home in the Spring Festival. But a growing number of people have chosen to "reverse the trend" by going out for tourist visits. In the week before the Spring Festival in 2019, the orders for air tickets to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and other major cities increased by 40 percent compared with last year.

"We have seen a new phenomenon this year. More people have the conditions to invite their families to metropolis like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, or regional sub-centers to celebrate the Spring Festival together. It is an evident phenomenon this year," said Dai Bin, president of CTA.

Traditionally the grandest occasion for family reunion in China, the Spring Festival is in the start of the Chinese New Year. The Spring Festival begins on the first day of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. The celebration culminates 15 days later with the Spring Lantern Festival.