While the major scenic spots in Anhui achieved success during the Spring Festival holiday, theme parks in Anhui suffered growing pains.

During the Spring Festival Golden Week, 68 key scenic spots in Anhui received 3.14 million visitors, and ticket sales reached 114 million yuan ($18 million), an increase of 10.62 percent and 31.59 percent, respectively over the previous year. The tourist volume growth rates in the Huangshan scenic area, Jiuhua Mountain scenic area, Xidi and other scenic spots reached over 100 percent. On the first day of the holiday, Jiuhua Mountain even topped the national list with 440 million yuan ($72.4 million) from 411,600 tourists.

On the other hand, theme parks in Anhui were not so appealing to tourists. In the case of Fangte Theme Park in the city of Wuhu, , the total tourism income during the Spring Festival holiday was less than one thirtieth of Jiuhua Mountain’s ticket sales.

According to statistics, during National Day Golden Week from 2009 to 2013. the amount of tourists visiting Fangte Theme Park were 142,100, 165,100, 232,900, 226,500 and 232,200, while ticket sales were 18 million yuan, 22 million yuan, 31 million yuan, 30 million yuan, and 28 million yuan respectively. A subsequent slowdown in the growth rate has become an indisputable fact.

One factor responsible for the declining income is that theme parks only target certain age groups – for example, young people and children which limit tourism potential. What is more, the individual visit frequency to theme parks does not exceed three times per person, so the repeat consumption capability is weak.

In contrast to artificial scenic spots like theme parks, natural landscape scenic spots like Huangshan Mountain and Jiuhuashan Mountain are getting more and more popular with tourists. Not only do those scenic spots boast historical and cultural value, but tourists may also get a difference travel experience when visiting at different times of the year.

Professor Zhang Xin from the Hefei University of Technology, said that apart from the differences between artificial and natural landscape scenic spots, the successful airing of a "Huangshan Mountain" documentary before the holiday contributed to its boom. Theme parks should take a lesson and enhance their marketing promotions to get them better known in the future.

However, capital still loves theme parks. Anhui province is now in talks with some well-known private developers to come up with more theme park attractions.

Among them, the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Park" project in Wuhu is under construction, and is expected to open in December this year. Another called Fangte Water World will be available to the public in June. Meanwhile, the city of Fuyang plans to construct a theme park with an area of 66.7 hectares, and a total investment of eight billion yuan. Upon its completion, it is expected to be the largest theme park in north Anhui.

By Huang Pei

Edited by Brian Salter