Pear blossoms in a garden in Xiazhang town, Tai'an, Shandong province. [Photo by Fu Cunhua/For chinadaily.com.cn]

Shandong province has been revving up efforts to promote the integrated development of culture and tourism, stimulate tourism market vitality, cultivate new growth drivers and boost tourism consumption.

On the recent weekend, the 100-year-old Guangxingli building in Qingdao was crowded. Various fancy music bars, coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores and trendy shops around attracted many tourists near the building.

The Liyuan buildings were built by Germans for local Chinese residents during Germany's administration of Qingdao from 1898 to 1914. Their style resembles an elevated quadrangle courtyard that combines the structure of traditional Chinese courtyards with a western architectural style.

"The creative design of some cultural creation shops is very trendy, attracting consumers to the downtown area of Qingdao. With the local government's unremitting efforts in citywide protection and redevelopment, the city's historic areas will take on new looks," said a local resident surnamed Li.

Driven by various activities and measures to promote tourism consumption, short-tour rural trips in suburban areas and rural tours have also seen a rise in tourism in Shandong.

In 2022, Shandong organized the "Shandong Culture and Tourism Consumption Season", the "Touring Shandong in Winter" and other tourism promotional events. A total of 110 million yuan ($15.96 million) in cultural and tourism coupons were issued, which brought in 507 million yuan in revenue.

From Jan 21 to March 31 this year, a total of 132 State-owned A-level tourist attractions in Shandong exempted entry fees to revive the tourism industry that was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.