The Classical Gardens of Suzhou, widely acknowledged masterpieces of natural landscapes in miniature, have attracted more than 630,000 visitors since the launch of a one-yuan ($0.15) ticket scheme in early August, boosting the recovery of the city's tourism industry. 

The Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou. (Photo: VCG)

The scheme provides 500,000 one-yuan tickets to individual visitors, and 10-percent discounted tickets to tourist groups, of which 300,000 members can enjoy the one-yuan price. It also provides 200,000 tickets to local residents. The scheme has sparked a revival in the broader tourism market. 

Some of the finest gardens — the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Lingering Garden, the Lion Grove Garden, the Botanical Gardens and the Couple's Garden Retreat — have seen the percentage of the numbers of visitors increased by 63 percent, 72 percent, 54 percent, 375 percent and 197 percent compared with July.

Zhang Jie, director of the Lion Grove Garden Management Office, said 400 one-yuan tickets offered on a daily basis were always snapped up by individual tourists, 70 percent of which were non-local visitors.

Suzhou has attracted tourist groups from across China, mainly from Henan, Hebei, Hubei, Guangdong and Shandong, gaining far-reaching leverage over other parts of the countries.

"We should not only strive to become a cultural brand of Suzhou, but also endure the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting financial pressure from the cut-price sale," said Xue Zhijian, director of the Humble Administrator's Garden Management Office. "This prompts us to think outside the box, expand secondary tourist resources and seek economic growth beyond ticket sales."

The Joyous Garden, a rather low profile candidate compared to its peers, has successfully diverted traffic and attracted 400 more visitors per day since pairing with the renowned member of Classic Gardens of Suzhou, the Lion Grove Garden.

Classical Gardens ice cream has become the most popular cultural and creative product launched by the scenic spot, achieving a conversion rate of 5 percent among tourists. 

However, financial strain remains significant as the ticket price drop raises the stakes in rivalry. Gao Zhigang, director of industry division of the Suzhou Municipal Garden and Landscape Administration Bureau, said, "The Classical Gardens' revenue is expected to plummet this year. The sale of one million one-yuan tickets means a 50-million-yuan (about $7.3 million) loss of income."

Yang Rui, head of the Economics Department of Suzhou University, said discounted tickets are not powerful enough to call forth complex activity in the whole tourism market. Their core function is to stimulate a wider range of visitors’ demand for exploring the site. Nevertheless, this wide-ranging industry needs to meet a series of other demands including food, housing, transportation and consumption. 

Yang also suggested that internet enterprises may find the big data accumulated by this one-yuan ticket scheme helpful, as it provides a data pool from which a combination of characteristics about tourists’ common needs can be extracted to support the development of tourism-oriented products. 

(Compiled by Liu Tianzi)