Many scenic spots across various regions are offering free admission policies, and the post-holiday tourism market is showing signs of a "off-season not dull" trend.

Source: Securities Times Network Author: Cao Chen

Recently, multiple scenic spots announced free admission policies. The combined effect of spring outing demand and “free ticket” promotions has rapidly warmed the traditional off-season for cultural tourism in March. After the holiday, the cultural and tourism market shows signs of “off-season not dull.”

According to incomplete statistics, as of now, many provinces across the country, including Jiangxi, Henan, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Anhui, and others, have launched limited-time free ticket policies for scenic spots (some spots restrict certain visitors). Data from the Tongcheng Travel platform shows that over the past week, search popularity for keywords like “scenic spot free tickets” and “off-peak travel” has continued to rise, with a month-on-month increase of 358%. Among them, Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area, Shenyang Imperial Palace, Lushan Scenic Area, Tianji Dragon Gate, and Qingtian River Scenic Area rank among the top 10 hottest free ticket scenic spots nationwide.

As of March 4, the platform’s search and booking activity for hotels and scenic spot tickets has significantly declined from the peak of the Spring Festival, but still shows more than a 10% increase compared to the same period last year. The search volume for some popular scenic spots has increased by up to 2.6 times month-on-month, demonstrating that the “off-season” is not dull. In terms of visitor sources, the main activities during the Spring Festival—returning home and inter-provincial travel—are gradually cooling down, while local and surrounding area travel are becoming more active.

Specifically, in March, Lushan Scenic Area in Jiangxi offers free admission to all domestic and international visitors. Over the past week, searches for Lushan Scenic Area increased by 156% month-on-month, and hotel bookings around the area rose by 23% year-on-year. Additionally, Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area in Henan offers free tickets in March to visitors from Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, and Hebei, the “Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers,” which has driven search volume for the scenic spot up by 244% month-on-month, with hotel bookings in the surrounding area increasing by 18% year-on-year. From March 3 to March 8, the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum released 3,000 free tickets daily for local residents to reserve. On the Tongcheng platform, searches and reservations for the museum increased by 163% month-on-month, and the free tickets were quickly booked out after opening reservations on March 3 and 4.

Qunar data shows that the “free ticket effect” directly boosted hotel bookings around several scenic spots. On February 25, Jiangxi’s Lushan announced that from March 1 to 31, 2026, all domestic and international visitors could enjoy free admission, covering core scenic spots such as Lushan Scenic Area, San Die Quan, and Bailudong Academy. After the announcement, hotel reservations in the Lushan commercial area surged significantly. As of now, bookings for hotels around Lushan in March have increased fivefold compared to the week before the announcement.

Data also shows that hotel reservations in Jiujiang, Jiangxi, were similarly boosted, increasing by 2.6 times month-on-month, reflecting a trend of tourists taking advantage of free tickets to explore surrounding cities more deeply.

In Zhejiang, Quzhou has been offering free access to 13 core scenic spots for global visitors from November 2025 until March 31, 2026. Qunar data indicates that during the free admission period, hotel reservations across Quzhou increased by nearly 20% year-on-year. The effect is especially notable around the free scenic spots: hotels near Jianglang Mountain increased by 47% year-on-year, those near Nianba Duzhen Ancient Town increased by 21%, and nearby Water Pavilion Gate and Confucian Temple increased by 18%.

On February 25, Henan’s Jiaozuo Yuntai Mountain announced free admission for visitors from Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, and Hebei in March. So far, hotel bookings in Jiaozuo for March have increased by 2.5 times compared to the previous month.

On February 11, Anhui Ma’anshan announced that five major scenic spots would be open to global visitors for free until March 31. Data from Qunar shows that within 15 days of the announcement, hotel reservations in the area for March increased by 3.1 times month-on-month.

Yang Han, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, analyzed that scenic spot free tickets lower the threshold for travel decisions. By exchanging ticket “subtraction” for visitor “addition,” it not only quickly activates surrounding traffic but also creates significant spillover effects in consumption, radiating to local and cross-regional cultural tourism spending. At the same time, free tickets also raise higher requirements for scenic spot service quality, pushing the industry to improve refined and professional operations.

It is worth noting that this weekend will celebrate International Women’s Day. Scenic spots such as Huangshan in Anhui, Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, and Pingshan Forest Park in Nanjing have launched limited-time free ticket policies for female visitors, causing related search volumes to increase by over 1.8 times week-on-week. The “free ticket effect,” combined with the weekend and Women’s Day, has led to a more than 65% week-on-week increase in bookings for related travel products this weekend.

Tongcheng Research Institute believes that the post-holiday cultural tourism market this year shows the characteristic of “off-season not dull,” mainly driven by three factors: first, many scenic spots launched free ticket promotions, directly stimulating tourists’ willingness to travel; second, local and surrounding area travel have become mainstream, with shorter travel radii but increased frequency; third, some office workers and senior groups choose to travel off-peak after the holiday, seeking higher cost-performance travel experiences. As the weather warms, searches for “flower viewing” and “spring outing” keywords on the Tongcheng platform have increased by over 110% week-on-week in the past week, and a new travel peak is expected nationwide in late March.