Temple fairs still hot destinations during festival in Beijing

The conclusion of the spring festival holiday lowers the curtain on the main temple fairs in Beijing. Up to February 19, visitors to the Temple of Earth, Dragon Lake, Changdian, Chaoyang Park, Shijingshan Amusement Park and Grand View Garden reached 3.366 million, representing a decline of 400,000 from a total of 3.8 million last year. In spite of the slight decrease in attendance, temple fairs are still thriving.

Some fairs have become more popular

As a traditional fair, the Temple of Earth saw about 1.04 million visitors up to February 19, 240,000 on the third day of Chinese Lunar New Year. The total number at the Dragon Lake temple fair was 1.1 million, 200,000 on the six day of the Lunar New Year, the highest daily record in history for the Dragon Lake temple fair; among the three main traditional fairs, only the one in Changdian suffered a decline of 60 percent, which amounted to 400,000 measured year on year; the decline is most likely due to relocation.

According to statistics from the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, the royal fair, held in the Old Summer Palace for the first time, witnessed a nine-fold increase in the number of visitors year on year, while revenue was five times higher than in the past.

Foreign temple fairs are also popular. The international spring carnival in Chaoyang Park received 81,000 visitors on the second day of the New Year, a record for daily attendance. On the third day of the New Year, Shijingshan Amusement Park had 60,000 visitors, close to its capacity.

According to online voting, the first royal fair at the Old Summer Palace and the fair in the Temple of Earth were listed as the favorite fairs, and the most popular tourist spots during the spring festival were the Happy Valley and Beijing Aquarium.