Much has been made of the Chinese film industry’s struggles to recapture the heady days of its pre-pandemic box office records, but it appears a government-led push for film tourism has started to help the wider domestic economy recoup some of what has been lost at the multiplex.
This year has seen reports of a tourism boom in the likes of northwestern Qinghai province thanks to the Lunar New Year box office hit Pegasus 3, with hotel bookings in the shooting-location city of Delingha up 71 percent year-over-year during the February holiday, according to data from travel platform Qunar. Meanwhile, the country’s current box office sensation, Dear You, has driven a similar rush, with flights to the three cities in which the family drama is set — Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang — reportedly doubling since the film’s late-April release.
Local and national tourism authorities — and the Chinese film industry in general — have thrown their weight behind what has become known as “film-plus,” a push that has led to campaigns such as the China Film Administration-backed “Taste Cuisine with Films” and “Shopping with Films.”
The Shanghai International Film Festival is also leaning into the phenomenon this week with “Grand Landscape: A Cinematic Portrait of China,” a program comprising an eclectic selection of 15 Chinese classics dating back to 1960 and featuring some of the country’s most famous scenic sites.
