Night tours in museums offer diverse experience to visitors

Visitors view exhibits in the Sui-Tang Dynasties Grand Canal Cultural Museum in Luoyang city, central China's Henan Province. (Photo/Huang Zhengwei)

As “museum fever” continues to rise during the summer vacation, museums across China have extended opening hours to the evening and launched various night tour activities, providing a diverse experience for visitors.

The opening hours for the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, capital of central China’s Henan Province, are extended to 6 p.m. from July 17 to Aug. 31.

Thanks to the adjustment, Wang Tao, a resident in the city, could visit the exhibition - Small But Beautiful: Treasures of Cultural Heritage from Luxembourg - in the museum.

Wang said he entered the museum at 4 p.m. and planned to take a brief look at exhibits from Luxembourg before 5 p.m., the closing time of the museum before the adjustment. He was pleasantly surprised by the extended hours, and was able to take in everything on display at a leisurely pace.

“By extending opening hours, museums offer more flexibility to visitors, allowing them to choose from a wider range of visiting times and appreciate exhibits more thoroughly. Some museums introduce various nighttime activities during these extended hours, providing visitors with a richer experience,” said Xiong Haifeng, associate professor at the School of Cultural Industries Management, Communication University of China.

Longer opening hours, especially night tour activities, offer visitors a fresh experience different from the daytime experience.

A visitor takes photos of an exhibit in the night in the Suzhou Museum in Suzhou city, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Wang Jianzhong)

During the summer vacation, 45 museums in Shanghai launched night tours on weekends, not only extending opening hours but also adding special exhibitions, interactive experiences, cultural markets, and outdoor film screenings to provide visitors with a rich cultural experience.

Museums are offering activities like science lectures, interactive experiences, and artistic performances during night hours, enriching visitor experiences and catering to people’s growing cultural demands.

Extended opening hours and night tours in museums are not only a good example of cultural programs for public benefits, but they also help boost the night economy and stimulate cultural and tourism consumption.

Data from the online travel service provider Ctrip shows that the popularity of the exhibition named On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt in the Shanghai Museum has led to a nearly 20 percent year-on-year increase in bookings for hotels near the museum during the summer vacation.

Data from Tujia, an online platform for booking B&B hotels, indicates that bookings near museums across China have nearly doubled in the summer vacation compared to last year, with those near the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, surging over 15 times year on year.

Extended museum hours will increase the number of visitors and their length of stay, boosting the development of the dining, accommodation, and transportation industries, Xiong said.

A visitor takes photos of an exhibit during the exhibition named On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai. (Xinhua/Lu Zhe)