China is witnessing a significant surge in domestic tourism as the New Year 2025 approaches, with various cities gearing up to celebrate the festive season with vibrant cultural events. According to Xinhua, tourism platforms indicate impressive growth due to the enthusiasm surrounding traditional festivities.
Efforts to create a festive atmosphere began well before the New Year. During the last nights of 2024, scenic spots in Heilongjiang, located in northern China, handed out free cultural gifts and extended firework displays, adding to the excitement of the celebrations. At the Xintiandi Ice and Snow site in Changchun, Jilin Province, over 26,000 visitors flocked to enjoy fireworks and performances featuring popular singers. Cai Huiyu, the site manager, emphasized the site's commitment to offering exceptional experiences for visitors.
The buzz around the tourism industry extended to famous ski resorts such as Beidahu and Vanke Songhua Lake Resort, which saw remarkable increases in both visitor numbers and revenues. These findings reaffirmed the enthusiasm for winter sports, especially skiing, and for activities related to ice and snow, which were among the most searched keywords this past December.
Wei Lizhong, head of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, noted the necessity of enhancing service quality and diversifying travel options to meet the increased demand during this busy season. He mentioned, "We continue to issue measures to promote ice and snow tourism and will guide localities to hold events celebrating the Spring Festival with unique local characteristics. This is aimed at meeting market changes and visitor demands, and to stimulate the development of ice and snow tourism."
The Chinese tourism sector looks forward to 2025 with optimism. Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Research Institute, remarked on the general expectations for improved tourism quality and development, fueled by urban and rural travelers' eagerness to explore and supportive policies for economic and social growth. He predicted more innovative attractions would emerge due to urban renovations and rural revitalization efforts.
While tourism flourished, another story emerged. Social media was awash with videos of spectacular drone shows supposedly capturing the New Year celebrations, one of which amassed over 20 million views across popular social platforms. This video featured impressive displays involving drones forming the figure of a dragon illuminating the sky above Shanghai. The footage captured the interest of many, even prompting reactions from public figures, including Elon Musk.
Yet, this video turned out to be misleading. According to reports by TF1, experts, including Stephen Sutton from FlyByguys, dismissed the authenticity of the footage due to notable production flaws such as the lack of water reflections beneath the drones and inconsistencies with their speed. Sutton remarked, "No chance this video is real..." verifying the edits and alterations made.
The viral spectacle was revealed to be composed of two different videos shot at various times; one was captured on December 8, 2024, and another on October 1, 2024. The dragon motif was not new to viewers as it had been featured during the Dragon Boat Festival celebrations back in June 2023.
This incident exemplifies the growing trend of digitally manipulated visuals circulating during festive seasons, where such videos typically aim for extensive shares to generate advertisement revenue. For example, similar misleading fireworks videos have previously captured attention by showcasing purported celebrations over locations such as Japan's Mount Fuji, all fabricated using accessible software.
While genuine celebrations took place, including well-organized firework displays on December 31, 2024, it’s the misleading representations like the viral dragon drone video, which surprisingly remained more visible on search engines than accurate depictions of Shanghai's real New Year festivities.
Moving forward, the tourism sector and authorities aim to navigate this terrain, ensuring they capitalize on this spirited atmosphere without falling prey to misleading sensationalism. It highlights not just the excitement of celebrations but also the need for authenticity, especially when so much effort lies behind the preparation of cultural events aimed at enhancing community engagement and celebration.