During the three-day Qingming holiday, Huaihua saw a peak in cultural and tourism visitor flow. Leveraging the home match of the 2026 Hunan Provincial City Basketball League (Xiang BA) and the hometown appeal of Zhang Xue, the founder of ZX Moto, Huaihua witnessed a surge in tourist numbers. Sports events and online influence deeply empowered the integration of culture and tourism, accelerating the heating-up of the regional consumer market, realizing a mutually beneficial “sports + tourism” model and gaining huge popularity nationwide.
Passion of competitions ignites urban vitality
On the evening of April 3, the second round of the regular season of the 2026 Hunan Provincial City Basketball League (Xiang BA) kicked off at the Huaihua Sports Center, where the Huaihua team “Wuxi Warriors” faced off against the Loudi team on its home court. On the eve of the Qingming holiday, the influx of spectators converged with the traffic of people returning home and traveling, bringing a travel peak to Huaihua’s expressways. Statistics show that the exit volume of Huaihua South Toll Station reached 6,600 vehicles on April 3, a month-on-month increase of 46.67%, resulting in a significant rise in traffic pressure.
To ensure fans’ smooth arrival at the venue, Huaihua Expressway made advance arrangements and scientific scheduling to fully strengthen traffic support. Each toll station dynamically adjusted the ratio of ETC lanes to manual lanes, flexibly deployed handheld toll collection equipment and adopted a “substitute tactic” to improve traffic efficiency. Guidance posts were added at key toll stations to implement classified vehicle guidance and lane-specific passage, effectively avoiding congestion and delays.
Located only six kilometers from the Sports Center and a mere nine-minute drive to the venue, Huaihua South Toll Station on the S97 Huaihua Ring Expressway became the main passage for spectators. All staff at the station were on duty, stepped up peak-hour patrols, opened fast tracks for self-driving fan convoys and event shuttle buses, and provided convenient services such as route guidance and parking consultation.
Meanwhile, Huaihua Expressway established a joint mechanism with road property authorities and traffic police to share real-time road condition and quickly handle accidents and slow-moving sections, ensuring smooth and orderly operation of the road network. “Road Lamp” volunteer service stations were set up at toll stations and service areas, offering tourists thoughtful services including event information, route guidance, free hot water and first-aid kits, enhancing the travel experience. Many fans remarked, “The guidance is clear and the service is considerate right after exiting the expressway, even more convenient than driving home.”
On the night of the match, the Huaihua men’s basketball team rewarded home fans with a thrilling victory, with passion surging inside and outside the arena. Xiang BA not only ignited the city’s enthusiasm for sports but also became a major magnet for out-of-town tourists. Fans from all over the country combined watching games with traveling, forming a new consumption model of “watching a game and touring a city”, which effectively boosted the growth of catering, accommodation, transportation and other industries during the holiday.
Integration of sports and culture activates consumer market
At the Xiang BA venue in Huaihua, selected excerpts of Embracing You, China’s first original ecological field life drama, were staged on the basketball court. With exquisite stage narration, the actors vividly portrayed the romantic story of young people of the Dong and Yao ethnic groups, ingeniously integrating the folk customs of the Wuxi land with the fervent basketball competition. “I never expected to enjoy such distinctive local theatrical performances while watching a basketball game, making this viewing experience exceptionally rich,” a fan at the scene exclaimed.
This elaborately designed “pre-match show” not only added luster to the competition but also served as a clever way to attract audiences. The organizer launched exclusive joint benefits: holders of Xiang BA ticket stubs can enjoy discounted tickets for the full performance of Embracing You, with prices as low as 9.9 yuan. This initiative successfully drew sports fans’ attention to the realm of art.
“On one side is the fervor of the basketball court, and on the other is the romantic warmth of local culture, this combination is truly creative,” said Mr. Zhang, a tourist who traveled specially from other places. He was drawn precisely by this sports-culture integration model. “I originally came just for the game, but then bought a discounted ticket for the drama. Unexpectedly, it was so touching, adding a strong cultural touch to my holiday.”
The successful staging of the drama and the popularity of Xiang BA jointly fueled the enthusiasm for cultural consumption in Huaihua during the Qingming holiday, and also accumulated sufficient visitor flow and popularity for upcoming events.
The holiday revelry reached its climax at the Youth Square of Yushuwan. From April 4 to 6, the themed event “Warm Spring in Yushuwan” was launched with great enthusiasm, turning the popularity gathered from the previous two events into a full-participation cultural carnival.
On the first day of the Qingming holiday, the visitor flow in Yushuwan exceeded 20,000. Flower-pinning spring outings, bonfire dances, fun competitions and other activities in five categories integrated traditional solar term culture with modern immersive experiences.
“It’s so much fun! I never thought our local specialty food could be turned into such interesting games,” said Ms. Li, a local resident who wandered between various interactive spots with her child. “My child played the arrow-throwing game, and I experienced ‘pinning flowers before the mirror’ myself. The whole family had a wonderful time.”
Champion effect sparks visitor boom in Miao village
Parallel to the rising popularity of Xiang BA is the hometown craze brought by Zhang Xue, founder of ZXMOTOR, a motorcycle brand winning races in the WorldSSP class at the Portuguese Round of the Superbike World Championship. Hailing from Mayang Miao Autonomous County, Zhang Xue has made his hometown widely known through the “Mayang Ancient Method Brown Sugar” livery on his racing motorcycles. During the Qingming Festival, numerous motorcyclists and tourists traveled along expressways to Mayang specially to visit his hometown.
Mayang Toll Station on the G65 Baotou-Maoming Expressway became a popular hub. On the afternoon of April 4, reporters witnessed a steady stream of vehicles at the exit ramp, with license plates from Guangdong, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hunan and other regions coming and going. Statistics show that the traffic volume at this station has increased by 59.1% recently compared with usual days, with a notable rise in the proportion of out-of-town self-driving vehicles.
“I’ve been a fan of Zhang Xue for years. After his brand won the world championship, a few friends and I decided to drive here along the expressway,” said Mr. Chen, a motorcyclist from Guizhou, who consulted the route to Tianjiawan Village, Jiangkouxu Town at the toll station’s convenience service point.
Located at the junction of Huaihua, Jishou and Tongren, Mayang boasts a well-developed three-dimensional transportation network with the Baotou-Maoming Expressway and Zhijiang-Tongren Expressway passing through, as well as high-speed railways and conventional railways, enabling same-day travel to and from major cities in the province. It takes only a ten-minute drive from the expressway exit to Mayang Changshouli Night Cultural Tourism Consumption Zone, with convenient transportation providing solid support for impromptu trips.
Mayang is endowed with superior cultural and tourism resources: the Jinjiang River winds like a jade belt, Xihuang Mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist with abundant negative oxygen ions; local specialties such as brown sugar, sweet oranges and Mayang geese tantalize the taste buds; intangible cultural heritages including flower lantern operas, traditional dragon boat racing and Miao embroidery possess unique charm. The pioneering spirit embodied in Mayang’s dragon boat culture resonates spiritually with Zhang Xue’s perseverance in his entrepreneurial journey.
A tourist sighed when leaving Changshouli Night Market: “I originally planned to leave after visiting Zhang Xue’s hometown, but was captivated by Miao cuisine and folk songs, and also caught Xiang BA and scenic spot activities, filling my entire Qingming holiday.” Mayang’s cultural and tourism popularity continues to rise.
At present, Huaihua is promoting the in-depth integrated development of “sports + culture and tourism” with culture as the soul and competitions as the bridge. The booming scene during the Qingming holiday is not only a concentrated release of short-term visitor flow, but also a reflection of the sustained enhancement of the effects of the Tourism Development Conference and the city’s brand influence. It has successfully transformed “visitor flow” into “lingering flow”, achieving an upgrade from “passing through” to “staying overnight” and from “sightseeing” to “experiencing”. Huaihua will continue to optimize service supply, dig deep into local resources, create more participatory, consumable and communicable cultural and tourism scenarios, and boost high-quality regional economic development.
(Translated by Yang Hong)