JIANGMEN: Thanks to the hit show, The Knockout, visitor numbers have soared in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, the city in which the drama was filmed.
After the program aired at the start of the year, the city saw more than 3.34 million trips in January and February, up 67.8 percent year-on-year, according to a statement issued by the city government on March 22.
The trips generated tourism income of more than 3.4 billion yuan ($494 million) for the city, a rise of 124.3 percent compared with the same two months last year, the statement said.
Data from the local culture and tourism department show that the number of searches related to tourism in the city rose 217 percent month-on-month in February, while travel bookings rose by 144 percent month-on-month.
“The popularity of the drama has helped our city attract more travelers and promoted the recovery of our tourism industry,” said Chen Wenfei, deputy head of the Jiangmen tourist association.
For example, a historical cultural street in the city that was a major location for the drama attracted more than 2 million visits between Jan 14 and Feb 28, with an average of 43,700 trips a day, the statement added. It cited statistics from Ctrip, an online travel platform, showing that the number of searches about tourism in Jiangmen rose by 174 percent year-on-year from March 1 to 23.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
