Red tourism in Yan'an amazes overseas visitors

Li Karina comes from Russia, and she is currently a student at Xi'an International Studies University.

"It was amazing, and I could imagine what was happening in real life (back in history). The emotions and feelings (were very touching). I wanted to cry," she said.

This is also Li's first time visiting Yan'an and she was touched by the remarkable history of Yan'an on display. She said she would like to return to Yan'an again.

Foreign visitors can also experience the folk customs and culture of northern Shaanxi, such as learning to make paper-cutting, playing the Ansai waist drum, and singing northern Shaanxi folk songs, said Ma Nan, assistant general manager of Yan'an Cultural Tourism Industry lnvestment Co Ltd of TCG Shaanxi.

Red tourism has become a major feature of high-quality economic development in Yan'an. Taking Golden Yan'an scenic spot as an example, it has received more than 10 million tourists from all over the country since its opening in 2016. In 2023 alone, it has received 3.7 million tourists and earned 130 million yuan ($17.82 million) through the end of August, contributing to the local economic development, especially the upstream and downstream development of the industrial chain.

The greatest reason for Yan'an to develop red tourism is to benefit the people. Tourism has driven the development of the surrounding catering and accommodation industries, which has not only solved the local employment problem, but also promoted the increase of individual income and the improvement of living standards, said Shen Gang, deputy general manager of Yan'an Cultural Tourism Industry lnvestment Co Ltd of TCG Shaanxi.

Yan'an is also actively exploring a variety of methods to generate new income, such as promoting the innovative development of multiple industries, the integration of tourism with rural development, ecological tourism, research and education, and the sports and cultural industries.

In the first half of 2023, Yan'an city's GDP witnessed a 0.2 percent increase to reach 101.23 billion yuan. In the same period, the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in Yan'an was 21,510 yuan and 7,540 yuan, up 5.0 and 7.9 percent, respectively.