As the 2026 "longest Spring Festival holiday in history" came to a close, Beijing secured its position as the most popular domestic tourist city, welcoming 19.843 million visitors and generating RMB 33.14 billion in total tourism revenue. According to Fliggy data, ticket orders in Beijing surged 136% year-on-year, while hotel room nights increased by more than 60%.

At the same time, Beijing's micro drama industry continues to lead the nation. In 2024, the sector generated an output value of RMB 33.6 billion, transitioning from a phase of rapid, unrestrained expansion to one focused on premium, high-quality development.

As top-tier cultural tourism traffic converges with a leading micro drama industry cluster, Beijing is actively exploring a new integration model of "micro drama + cultural tourism." This evolving strategy not only mirrors the broader upgrading of China's micro drama industry but also offers a valuable reference point for high-quality, innovation-driven cultural tourism development.

Tourists touch lion heads at the Dongyue Temple Fair in Beijing's Chaoyang District.

Double Benefits: Beijing Becomes a Natural Testing Ground for "Micro Dramas + Cultural Tourism" Integration

The new characteristics of the cultural tourism market in the 2026 Spring Festival align perfectly with the nature of the micro drama industry, providing Beijing with unique conditions for integrated development. On the market side, the diversification of visitor flow and the experience-driven consumption demand have opened up vast space for micro dramas. The trend of "reverse New Year" and the strong pull of core cities like Beijing have amplified the cultural tourism promotional effects of both the main and sub-venues of the Spring Festival Gala, further boosting its popularity.

At the same time, the 9-day extended holiday period has given rise to more fragmented entertainment demands. The "short, light, and fast" nature of micro dramas aligns perfectly with the consumption habits of tourists during travel breaks or while waiting in line, making them an important entertainment choice during the Spring Festival. This year, cultural tourism consumption shifted from "check-in sightseeing" to "immersive participation," with new experiences like intangible cultural heritage, digital human interaction, and XR live performances gaining widespread popularity. The lightweight narratives and strong sense of scene in micro dramas not only restore the details of Beijing's cultural tourism sites through a vertical screen perspective but also transform content such as intangible cultural heritage techniques and time-honored brands into engaging, internet-friendly storylines. This provides tourists with a complete cycle of "online preheat—offline experience—online secondary sharing."

Iconic Beijing locations, such as the Forbidden City and Hutongs, naturally adapt to micro drama storytelling and can leverage the content consumption benefits. This aligns perfectly with the core demand for immersive cultural tourism experiences.

During the Spring Festival, the "Lion King Comes to Beijing" exhibition debuted at Beijing's Taikoo Li Sanlitun.

Policy-level "software" empowerment combined with infrastructure-level "hardware" upgrades has further consolidated the foundation for integration. Since 2024, the National Radio and Television Administration has launched the "Travel with Micro Dramas" initiative, releasing 241 recommended titles to date. In 2025, it plans to introduce around 100 additional key projects, promoting the conversion of micro drama traffic into tangible cultural tourism value. Beijing has also made clear efforts in three key areas: dedicated support funds, AIGC-driven technological empowerment, and exploration of new business models. Chaoyang District has introduced supportive measures to safeguard cultural and creative enterprises. Meanwhile, the establishment of short drama and short film industry bases such as Zuiyingchang has filled the gap in Beijing's professional short drama production facilities, building a comprehensive industry ecosystem through a dual-engine model of "space + industry."

The Transformation of Zuiyingchang: Lightweight Renewal of Industrial Heritage and Reconstruction of the Industry Ecosystem

At the heart of Zuiyingchang's transformation lies the lightweight renovation of industrial heritage spaces and the precise restructuring of its industrial ecosystem. This has provided a core platform for the integration of "micro dramas + cultural tourism" and offers a replicable model for cultural and creative parks nationwide. As one of Beijing's first municipal-level cultural industry parks, Zuiku International Cultural and Creative Park once attracted a large number of film and television enterprises. However, with the contraction of the traditional long-form drama market, it faced challenges such as declining tenants and underutilized space. Amid the explosive growth of micro dramas and the shortage of dedicated filming bases in Beijing, the park's operator proposed a "space + industry" dual-driven strategy at the end of 2024, marking the beginning of its transformation journey.

The Main Hall of Zuiyingchang

Lightweight renovation has been central to the transformation. Zuiyingchang has preserved over 90% of its industrial heritage structures, freeing up 10,000 square meters of space through selective reconstruction and joint operations with existing tenants. Within this area, more than 100 real-life sets have been built, covering modern office spaces, residential interiors, dining venues, and other everyday scenarios, enabling productions to complete filming entirely within the park. The launch of the first fully on-site production, Work Hard, Chief!, marks the initial formation of a closed-loop micro drama industry chain in Beijing.

In terms of ecosystem development, Zuiyingchang has established a "Five Databases and One Network" digital service system to provide one-stop production support. It has partnered with over 30 organizations to form a Short Drama and Short Film Industry Service Alliance, integrating more than 200 external location resources to create an "open-air film city without walls." To date, the park has attracted over 20 leading institutions and facilitated the production of more than 10 projects.

Listing location of Zuiyingchang

At the same time, Zuiyingchang has embedded the concept of integration throughout its operations, innovating a model of "customized short drama promotion + coordinated cultural tourism scenarios." By partnering with suburban Beijing scenic spots to launch "check-in routes inspired by short dramas," it leverages micro drama traffic to drive increased visitor flow during the Spring Festival, achieving mutual empowerment between the creative industry and the cultural tourism sector.

Real-World Dilemma: The Triple Contradictions in Beijing's Integration of "Micro Dramas + Cultural Tourism"

Despite Beijing's triple advantages in policy support, industrial capacity, and traffic appeal, the integration of "micro drama + cultural tourism" still faces deep-rooted tensions that affect development quality and reflect broader industry-wide challenges.

Some productions remain trapped in a "traffic-first" mindset, where cultural tourism elements are reduced to symbolic backdrops and narrative expression becomes formulaic. Iconic Beijing cultural resources such as the Forbidden City and hutongs are often used merely as visual settings, without meaningful exploration of their historical and cultural depth. In September 2025, the National Radio and Television Administration released the seventh batch of recommended titles under the "Travel with Micro Dramas" initiative. Among the 13 works recommended by the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau—including Cradle on Horseback, In Front of the Bell and Drum Towers, Riding the Tide, and Setting Off at Dawn—In Front of the Bell and Drum Towers stands out for featuring multiple distinctive Beijing locations and telling stories rooted in hutong culture. However, such high-quality productions remain the exception rather than the norm.

At the heart of the issue lies a structural contradiction between the "fast-paced" nature of micro dramas and the "slow-brewing" essence of cultural tourism. Micro dramas are often produced in less than two weeks, whereas meaningful cultural tourism storytelling requires in-depth research and careful refinement. Driven by capital's pursuit of quick returns, some producers prioritize speed of dissemination over cultural value. Coupled with the overuse of AIGC technologies, this has led to content that lacks human warmth, with cultural tourism elements integrated in a superficial or forced manner.

Poster for In Front of the Bell and Drum Towers 

Zuiyingchang has filled the gap in the filming process, achieving localization in scriptwriting, production, and promotion. However, industrial collaboration remains in its early stages. Within the micro drama industry chain, there is poor coordination between creation, promotion, and cultural tourism transformation. Scriptwriting and cultural tourism departments rarely communicate, and there is a lack of collaboration between promotional efforts and tourism platforms, making it difficult to achieve a smooth "online promotion—offline consumption" conversion. On the regional coordination front, connections with suburban Beijing, as well as tourism resources in Tianjin and Hebei, remain shallow, and the capital’s potential to drive regional influence has not been fully realized.

At the same time, with the rise of "vertical stores" in cities like Zhengzhou and Changsha, homogenized competition is intensifying. Beijing faces a disadvantage in filming costs, and without a clear differentiation in positioning, it may experience the awkward situation of "insufficient high-end capacity and the loss of low-end capacity."

The Filming Location of Zuiyingchang

At the same time, the traffic dividend brought by the Spring Festival's tourism popularity has not been effectively converted into long-term industry value or brand value. Currently, the integration of micro drama and cultural tourism largely remains at the level of "festival marketing." While works focusing on temple fairs, lantern festivals, and other seasonal scenes during the Spring Festival achieve short-term traffic surges, their popularity plummets after the holiday, lacking a sustainable operational mechanism. Additionally, there is a disconnect between tourists' "check-in consumption" and the deep experiential demands of cultural tourism. The tourists driven by micro dramas tend to engage in one-time photo opportunities, staying briefly without effectively driving related industries such as dining, accommodation, or cultural and creative products. As a result, the added value of cultural tourism consumption has not been fully realized.

Breaking the Impasse: From "Creating Scenes" to "Building an Ecosystem" and Constructing a Long-term Integration Mechanism

To promote high-quality development of the "micro drama + cultural tourism" integration, Beijing must abandon short-term thinking and focus efforts on three levels: content, industry, and market. The goal is to shift from "creating scenes" to "building an ecosystem," making micro drama a strong engine for the city's cultural tourism development.

Content is the Core Competitiveness. Only by deeply cultivating Beijing's culture can micro-dramas escape the trap of homogenization. Firstly, a "cultural research + script co-creation" mechanism should be established, encouraging creative teams to collaborate with cultural historians, cultural tourism professionals, and local residents to refine core resources such as the Forbidden City, Beijing's folk customs, and red culture. These cultural elements can become the "nucleus of the plot," such as works centered around time-honored brands or Beijing's suburban inns, creating distinctive content.

Secondly, precise empowerment of AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) technology should be promoted. By establishing creative platforms through innovation centers, AI can be used as a "creative assistant" to aid in scene modeling and script development, while preserving the core of human-driven cultural creation. At the same time, a refined evaluation and incentive system should be set up, incorporating cultural connotations and cultural tourism transformation efficiency into the support review criteria, aiming to create benchmark works and make micro drama an important carrier for spreading Beijing's culture.

The filming location of Sunshine Club: The Prequel is an industrial base and on-location studio in Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Then, completing the industrial chain and strengthening coordination are key to sustainable development. In terms of internal coordination, stronger collaboration should be established among cultural tourism, radio and television, and other relevant authorities through a joint conference mechanism to coordinate industrial planning. Industrial bases such as Zuiying Studio can also cooperate with universities to build talent training centers, addressing shortages in skilled professionals and funding. Externally, based on industry alliances, Beijing should integrate cultural tourism resources from Tianjin and Hebei to build a "Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei micro drama + cultural tourism industrial belt," promoting cross-regional IP creation. By focusing on high-end premium productions, top-tier IP incubation, and international distribution, Beijing can cultivate a distinctive "Created in Beijing" brand and establish a differentiated competitive advantage over other cities.

At the same time, a long-term operational mechanism should be established to upgrade integration from a mere "marketing tool" to a sustainable "operational ecosystem." First, a "content–product–consumption" closed loop should be built. For popular micro dramas, themed check-in routes, cultural and creative products, and experiential packages can be launched promptly to achieve immediate online-to-offline conversion. Second, the shift from "festival marketing" to "year-round operation" should be promoted. By leveraging Beijing’s seasonal cultural tourism characteristics, normalized micro drama content can be produced, turning micro-dramas into year-round promoters of the city's cultural tourism appeal. Third, new formats such as "micro drama + cultural tourism + e-commerce" should be explored. Taking advantage of Beijing's e-commerce strengths, cultural tourism scenarios can be transformed into "live-streaming studios," enabling featured products appearing in micro dramas to be marketed directly, thereby driving diversified growth in cultural tourism consumption. 

Beijing Xihongmen Huiju Shopping Center Hosts Spring Festival Series of Events

Conclusion

The cultural tourism boom during the 2026 Spring Festival has pressed the "accelerator" for Beijing's integration of "micro drama + cultural tourism," while the transformation of Zuiying Studio has provided a solid platform to support this path of convergence. However, Beijing's journey from traffic aggregation to long-term value accumulation will require sustained and patient effort.

Looking ahead, if Beijing can move beyond short-term traffic-driven thinking, continue to deeply explore its cultural heritage, further improve industrial coordination mechanisms, and establish sound long-term operational systems, micro dramas may gradually become a key vehicle for promoting Beijing's culture and a strong driver of cultural tourism consumption. This approach would enable steady progress along a development path balancing scale with quality, traffic with value, offering a practical model for the nationwide integration of micro dramas and cultural tourism. (Author / Li Sixuan, Editor / Chen Yingzi)