Passengers line up at Yinchuan Railway Station in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on August 31, 2025. The 62-day summer travel season concluded on Sunday with robust growth in passenger trips. Photo: CFP

Driven by millennials and Gen Z travelers' demand for educational, immersive, and emotionally enriching experiences, cultural and museum tourism, along with patriotism-themed "red tourism," continued to thrive by offering innovative and interactive products and projects during this year's summer vacation travel season, which wrapped up on Sunday. 

On Sunday, the 62-day 2025 national railway summer transport period concluded. During the period, the national railway transported a total of 953 million passenger trips, with a daily average of 15.37 million passenger trips, marking a 5.8 percent increase year-on-year, according to official data.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, a total of 147 million passenger trips were made during this year's summer travel season, with a daily average of 2.37 million, up 3.6 percent year-on-year. On August 15 in particular, the number of passenger trips reached 2.56 million, a new record high, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Sunday. 

Chinese families, especially those with school-age children, traveled nationwide, where local tourism authorities launched their own characteristic cultural tourism projects to attract visitors by constantly innovating consumption scenarios. 

In Central China's Hubei Province, the museums across the province became the "hot check-in spot" for tourists. Visitors to the Hubei Provincial Museum lined up for nearly 100 meters to view the Sword of Goujian, king of the ancient Yue state, on display. 

During the summer peak, the daily visitor count at Wuhan Museum exceeded 10,000. This year, the museum has been continuously launching new cultural and creative products and introducing interactive products such as touchable replicas of cultural relics. Since July, sales of cultural and creative products at the Wuhan Museum have nearly tripled year-on-year, CCTV reported

Ren Xiaofei, curator of Wuhan Museum, told the Global Times on Sunday that these products allow visitors, especially younger audiences, to gain a sense of recognition and belonging, motivating and sparking their interest in exploring the value behind the cultural relics.

In North China's Shanxi Province, the animation Nobody featuring the province's landmarks such as Jinci Temple in Taiyuan and Shanhua Temple in Datong, have boosted the province's summer tourism as the animation has become a hit recently, cnr.cn reported. 

According to a summer travel market report for 2025 released by Ctrip, Shanxi has become a summer a tourism highlight, driven by the strong effect of combining film and cultural tourism. Searches for tourist attractions featured in the animation surged by 380 percent, the report said. 

Meanwhile, patriotism-themed tourism, also known as "red tourism," continues to boom in Shanxi, with travelers from across the country queuing up outside the Eighth Route Army Taihang Memorial Hall in Wuxiang county in Changzhi city to appreciate precious revolutionary relic, CCTV reported. 

Many parents brought their children to the memorial to listen to the stories behind these revolutionary relics, helping the younger generation better understand revolutionary history, and passing down the red legacy to future generations. 

Since July, Wuxiang county has recorded a 32.5 percent year-on-year increase in the number of tourists, with family trips making up 70 percent of the total.