The century-old Palace Museum opened its gates at night for the first time for this year's Lantern Festival yesterday, presenting a unique, fantastic gala to the general public. Besides the Palace Museum, the night tour business has gained footing in some tourist cities in China, forging a new industry format, according to a report from 21st Century Business Herald.

"The Palace Museum's night tour is an innovation in revitalizing intangible cultural heritage," said Zhang Meng, director of the tourism management research institute at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

The night tour at the Forbidden City attracted 3,000 lucky ticket-holders, with tens of thousands watching livestreamed broadcast in various venues. Tourism data of the last Spring Festival holiday also indicated themed night tours have been well-accepted by the market.

Industry analysts said the upgrading of consumer demand and innovations in the tourism industry have extended visiting time and space, making night tourism a new driver of development.

Chengdu, a travel hub located in Southwest China's Sichuan province, launched "Night Tour at Jinjiang River" during the 2019 Spring Festival holiday, which presented lines of Chinese famous poet Du Fu with lighting effects, attracting more than 160,000 visitors during the holiday.

According to Yang Honghao, deputy director of the China Tourism Research Institute, good night tour products will extend the length of stay for tourists, building another tourist market at night.

Jiang Nan, commercial department director of the West China region of commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group, said a key factor of any city's night tour project is the combination of culture and tourism, and telling the city's story in an appealing way.

Infrastructure construction, such as transportation, will affect the import of passenger flow directly, said Jiang, adding the rapid development of the tourist market in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, can be heavily attributed to its high-speed train development.

"And the next step is to design a major theme for a city based on its own qualities," Jiang said. "For example, leisure and comfort are typical draws for Chengdu."

Chengdu has a target of 260 million tourists this year, including 3.8 million inbound tourists, and 465 billion yuan ($68.8 billion) in tourism income, said Wang Min, deputy director of the Chengdu Culture, Radio, and TV, Press, and Publication Bureau.

Besides renowned city calling cards such as panda and local cuisine, Chengdu will also build a series of tourism-related centers such as the Asia-Pacific Tourism Big Data Center and Tourism Talent Centers — with themed night tours as an integral part of the whole business.