During the National Day holiday, a wave of performances swept across Shandong, with Phoenix Legend's "Auspicious and Joyful" tour playing three consecutive shows in Jinan, Jay Chou's world tour landing in Qingdao for three days of high-energy concerts, and Li Ronghao's concert set to kick off two days of celebration in Linyi. This dense lineup of events not only ignited Shandong's holiday cultural tourism market but also fueled a new trend of traveling to a city for a single concert.
The ticket stubs in fans' hands are more than just concert entry passes — they serve as city spending passports, unlocking discounts at over 20 scenic spots, hotels, and cultural merchandise shops across Jinan. Under the theme of "Follow Phoenix Legend to Tour Jinan," the Jinan Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau released guides in advance covering transportation, scenic spot ticket stub discounts, and curated routes featuring spring water leisure, vintage commercial port, Song Dynasty aesthetics, and mountain wellness themes, along with a visitor guide for the area around the Olympic Sports Center, making it easy for out-of-town fans to explore Jinan.
On social media, many fans spontaneously shared their in-depth Jinan travel guides after fulfilling their concert dreams, with Baotu Spring, Daming Lake, and Thousand Buddha Mountain becoming popular sightseeing spots. Many chose to extend their stay by one to two days after the show to explore the spring city, converting visitor flow into extended stays, with the "ticket stub economy" continuously driving citywide cultural tourism spending.
"We are vigorously developing the performance economy, encouraging cultural tourism enterprises to offer combo discount products covering concerts plus scenic spots, accommodation, dining, museums, and transportation, providing ticket-holding audiences with exclusive discounts and value-added services," said Shi Dongquan, deputy director of the Jinan Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, at a press conference held on the eve of the National Day holiday. He noted that large concerts, scenic area performances, and cultural shows are working together to form a regular performance matrix, extending the tourist spending chain.
Data shows that in 2025, the Jinan Olympic Sports Center hosted 28 large concerts, driving diversified spending in accommodation, dining, and tourism. As of mid-September this year, Jinan has held 16 large concerts, with the number of commercial performances up 16.17% year-on-year.
Using concert ticket stubs as a link, multiple cities in Shandong have connected performance viewing, accommodation, and tourism spending chains, further expanding the application scenarios of the fan economy. In Qingdao, local authorities leveraged the overlap of the Golden Week holiday and Jay Chou's world tour to launch an exclusive city welfare package for Jay Chou fans, allowing them to enjoy multiple exclusive discounts on scenic spots, shopping districts, and accommodation and dining with their concert ticket stubs. The Qingdao Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau also partnered with a mobile travel platform to launch concert-exclusive voucher packages, offering fans ride-hailing discounts starting at 50% off.
It is understood that throughout October, 12 large concerts will land in Qingdao, forming a richly layered performance matrix with an estimated audience of over 370,000. In Linyi, Li Ronghao's concert and Aaron Kwok's ICONIC world tour will take place on October 5th and 6th and October 10th respectively. All merchants at the Linyi Olympic Sports Park, where the concerts are held, are participating in ticket stub discount activities, and 34 scenic spots and 13 hotels and guesthouses across the city are offering benefits ranging from free admission to half-price and discounted rates for concertgoers. Some dining brands are extending their operating hours until the early morning during the concerts to provide post-show dining and refreshment services for fans.
One fiery concert after another connects fans and cities in a two-way journey, becoming a striking highlight of Shandong's National Day holiday. Data from the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism shows that as of 3:00 PM on October 4th, the province's 200 key monitored scenic spots received 4.912 million visitors that day, with operating revenue of 270 million yuan, up 6.7% and 3.2% year-on-year respectively.