The performance market during the "May Day" holiday in 2024 will be vigorous, with many performance categories, many performances, and active viewing. According to data monitoring from the ticketing information collection platform of the China Performance Industry Association, there were 34,400 commercial performances (excluding performances in entertainment venues) nationwide during the May Day holiday this year, a year-on-year increase of 10.66% over last year’s May Day holiday; box office revenue was 2.084 billion. yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.17%; the number of viewers was 10.2673 million, a year-on-year increase of 18.63%.
In many places, performance products are the focus of cultural tourism promotion, and special performances are used to attract tourists.
Performance products have become a major "sharp tool" for cultural tourism in various places to attract tourists. Jiangsu proposed "Follow the small theaters to visit Jinling City" and "Great and beautiful small theaters" to mobilize the resources of 1,156 small theaters in the province to attract tourists with performances; Hebei officially launched the "Follow the Performing Arts Tour Hebei" activity, linking Shijiazhuang, Baoding, and Tangshan in the province In places such as China, with the theme of "going to a city for a performance", it realizes the linked consumption of cultural tourism, transportation, food and accommodation, and promotes the release of consumption momentum in the local cultural tourism market; Sichuan Yibin focuses on the "May Day" music season. The "Pearl of the Yangtze River" internet celebrity check-in point in the city creates an immersive live performance "The River Goes East From Here".
The number of national tourism performing arts projects during the May Day holiday increased by 11% compared with the same period last year . The average daily schedule of popular tourist performing arts projects during the May Day holiday was saturated, and many scenic spots and scenic spots had extra performances, such as Xi'an's "Unbounded Chang'an", Dunhuang's "Happy Dunhuang", etc. Zhangjiajie's "Charming Xiangxi" performance guarantees at least three performances per day during the May Day holiday. Only Henan Drama Fantasy City Scenic Area has more than 100 dramas scheduled for a single day, and more than 150 drama performances are arranged on peak days.
To enrich tourism experience and showcase local culture, local opera performances have also become a highlight of the holiday market. From April 29 to May 5, Xi'an launched the 4th "National Rhythm and Qin Feng" Shaanxi Qin Opera Performance, presenting 12 Qin Opera performances; Fuzhou launched a performance of Fujian opera classic excerpts; Quanzhou's Southern Opera Performance was held during the May Day holiday It will last until July.
Large-scale commercial performances continue to be popular, with the number of performances, box office, and attendance increasing significantly compared with last year.
During the May Day holiday, there were 184 large-scale commercial performances nationwide with more than 5,000 people, a year-on-year increase of 14.49%; box office revenue was 1.153 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.48%; the number of audiences was 2.6029 million, a year-on-year increase of 66.35%.
The number of large-scale concerts, average box office, and attendance have all increased significantly compared with the same period last year, and the market supply and demand are booming. More than ten groups of well-known singers, including Eason Chan, Jacky Cheung, Legend of Phoenix, Cyndi Wang, Ziqi Deng, Wilber Pan, Soda Green, and Alexey Ren, have successively held large-scale concerts in various places. The venues are mainly first- and second-tier cities, and the density of project events has also increased compared with the same period last year. For example, at the Shanxi Sports Center Stadium, a total of 5 concerts by singers Ren Xianqi and Joker Xue were held during the 5-day holiday.
During the May Day period, the music festival performance market structure continued to be optimized, and brand projects drove market popularity. Many projects such as the Beijing Super Strawberry Music Festival and Changzhou Taihu Bay Music Festival sold out the box office during the holidays. As a fashionable combination of cultural tourism resources, "Music +" turns a single performance category into a "glue" and highlights experiential integrated consumption. The Tianjin Bubble Island Music and Art Festival is combined with the "Xianghai Lohas Festival" brand to promote tourism and leisure activities and enrich cultural tourism consumption scenarios; the Stone Forest Impression Music Festival in the Sinan Stone Forest Scenic Area has become an in-depth experience for music fans of the unique local folk culture An excellent opportunity to meet up with authentic food; the Shangyu Oxygen Jixiang Music Festival in Shaoxing, Zhejiang attracted nearly 40,000 people in two days, driving significant growth in local hotels and night snack streets.
In addition, during this year’s May Day period, the proportion of overseas bands and artists in the music festival increased significantly. Taking the Beijing Super Strawberry Music Festival as an example, the international lineup includes well-known bands and musicians from Belarus, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries and regions. The stage of the music festival has become an important window for overseas musicians to enter the horizons of Chinese music fans, bringing a richer musical style and cultural experience.
New performing arts spaces and small theaters serve as new levers to leverage cultural tourism consumption and boost the development of the holiday economy
New performing arts spaces and small theaters during the holidays have increased the supply of performances. At the same time, through multi-channel sales and multi-channel price competition, the price of tickets purchased by audiences has been further reduced, and the two-pronged approach has promoted market growth.
Taking Tianjin as an example, a new performing arts space was created based on the former residences of celebrities. Many immersive dramas were staged simultaneously during the May Day holiday. A total of 75 performances were performed in Zhang Yuan, Fan Zhuzhai's Former Residence, and Cao Yu's Former Residence in five days, compared with 35 performances in the same period last year. , the growth doubled. The performance of different projects at different times in the same venue has also become a new feature. Zhang Yuan performs the immersive "Jinmen Past" during the day and the immersive night game drama "Song Meiling's Lost Earring" at night; "Special Performance of Street Stall Folk Art", and the retro concert "Jinye Paramount" from 8 to 0 o'clock.
In addition to immersive drama, high-definition screenings, which have been gradually rolled out in new performing arts spaces across the country, also surged in number of screenings during this year's May Day. Compared with the 6 screenings during last year's May Day, this year's "New Live" under Ojevi Culture A total of 25 high-quality high-definition videos were screened in 6 venues in Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Urumqi. Guangzhou Beilei Theater and Beijing Dongba Little Shakespeare Theater Art Space are new venues that have just added high-definition screening this year. In particular, Beijing Little Shakespeare Theater Art Space relies on large-scale commercial entities to create a theater that integrates drama performances, screenings, and education. The new theater art space makes extensive use of the theater's free time for intensive screenings to flexibly meet the diverse needs of theater viewing; the audience is also highly sticky, with many repurchases occurring.
Famous plays and works have driven enthusiasm for theater performances, and the number of performance products based on traditional culture has increased significantly.
During the "May Day" period, professional theaters added high-quality project performances. Different from the price promotion methods of new performing arts spaces, professional theaters used high-quality projects to attract audiences to buy tickets and promote the growth of box office revenue. Branded projects such as the dramas "White Deer Plain" and "Dream of Dreams", the dance dramas "A Dream of Red Mansions", "Only Green", "Five Stars from the East", and the musical "Mozart on Rock" continued to be performed during the holidays, and many performances were sold out. Many original new works also premiered during the holidays, such as Beijing People's Art Theater's drama "Yongding Gate", Yanghua's drama "Crocodile" premiered at the Suzhou Bay Grand Theater, and Beijing Children's Art Theater's new drama "Guijie" premiered in Nanjing Premiere at Gong Theatre.
In terms of children's dramas, a number of performance projects with poetry as the main content are presented, such as the immersive classic poetry stage play "From Chang'an to Lin'an - Chinese Poetry Conference", "Dreams of the Tang and Song Dynasties - Children's Poetry Conference", and the immersive classic poetry stage play , Kun Opera "Poetry Banquet: The Legend of the Talents of the Tang Dynasty", large-scale Chinese style parent-child poetry children's drama "The Dream Chaser of the Tang Dynasty", etc., the number of parent-child performances with traditional cultural themes has increased significantly.
It is worth noting that the surge in tourist arrivals during the holidays has led to an increase in the proportion of cross-city theater performances. For example, Shaanxi People's Art "White Deer Plain" performed twice at the Harbin Grand Theater, and foreign tourists accounted for more than 15% of the tickets . How to give full play to the role of the Grand Theater as an urban cultural center and make it a new scene that attracts tourists for cultural consumption requires continuous exploration and innovation by theaters and theater operating units.