Visitors flock to city landmarks featured in TV drama
The Fairmont Peace Hotel at the Bund and the Lujiazui financial zone across the Huangpu River
A popular TV drama, produced in both Mandarin and Shanghai dialects, has triggered a craze with tourists flocking to sites featured in the series, online travel operators revealed on Saturday.
Since January 5 when "Blossoms," the 30-episode TV drama directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, hit screens, the orders for private tour groups in Shanghai had surged 75 percent as of Friday, according to Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com.
People flock to Huanghe Road to take pictures.
People are keen to visit Huanghe Road, the Cathay Theater and Fairmont Peace Hotel where the TV drama was shot.
The bookings of group tours in Shanghai have grown 30 percent, it said.
Moreover, the British suite at the Fairmont Peace Hotel which appears in "Blossoms" has been booked for Saturday and Sunday, according to the travel operator.
A package of the suite is priced at 16,888 yuan per night.
The British suite at Fairmont Peace Hotel
The TV series based on Shanghai-born author Jin Yucheng's award-winning novel of the same name centers on the growth and entrepreneurship of common man Ah Bao, amid changing times in Shanghai. It becomes a hit soon after being screened.
The big changes of the city and the unique charm of Shanghai over the passing decades are narrated and shown in the series from Ah Bao's perspective.
Another online travel operator Tongcheng Travel said the search popularity index of the Fairmont Peace Hotel, a major shooting place of "Blossoms," soared 415 percent between December 27 and Friday.
The search figure of Nanjing Rd Pedestrian Street also witnessed a significant increase of 73 percent, it said.
Huanghe Road has become a new online sensation.
