Night tours become popular in China

Nighttime tours and performances are becoming increasingly popular in China, as rising daytime temperatures are cooling the fervor for visiting popular tourist spots and other attractions.

For sightseeing destinations and travel agencies, nighttime travel lengthens tourists' stay time, and helps bring new business opportunities. It has also become a tool to stimulate the upgrading of leisure tourism consumption, industry experts said.

Group tours, admission tickets and other excursions during the nighttime in July surged by 60 percent over June. During the two weeks in late July, bookings of nighttime events soared by over 100 percent compared with two weeks earlier, according to Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency.

In fact, for some cities, old towns, theme parks, scenic spots, riversides, and astronomical tourism sites, the scenes are more attractive and fun during nighttime than daytime, and travelers feel more comfortable with cooler temperatures and smaller crowds, Ctrip said.

When it comes to overseas countries, many places have fostered a highly mature night economy, such as the fireworks festivals in Japan. They are extremely popular and will be staged more than 1,000 times a year, with major shows taking place in July, August and September.

Despite the popularity of nighttime tours and events, industry experts said nighttime travel means higher requirements on traffic infrastructure and safety management.