With continued efforts to upgrade cultural tourism products and enrich visitors' immersive experiences, Luoyang City of central China's Henan Province -- renowned for its rich cultural heritage -- is charting a path from quick check-in travel to meaningful in-depth visits, strengthening the city's cultural tourism vitality and invigorating its cultural tourism market.

As night falls, Luoyang enters a more captivating atmosphere.
"Once the lights turn on at night, the Buddhas look especially magnificent and are full of charm. With the evening breeze, I feel really relaxed," said a tourist at the Longmen Grottoes -- caves holding over 100,000 ancient stone sculptures that are manifestations of Chinese Buddhist art.
At the Longmen Grottoes, modern digital technology and virtual techniques are increasingly integrated with the millennium-old stone grottoes, enabling visitors to transcend time and space and personally experience the process of carving.
"Visitors can wear lightweight VR headsets to see restoration of details such as engraving and gilding through motion capture," said Lan Hai, vice president of Luoyang Culture Tourism Investment.
Major scenic areas across the city are seizing the momentum of the experience economy to further activate cultural tourism consumption.
"We're traveling from Hunan and plan to stay in Luoyang for five days and four nights," said Yin Ziyun, a tourist from central China's Hunan Province.
According to the local culture and tourism bureau, in the first quarter this year, Luoyang City received more than 41.65 million tourist visits, and generated 30.29 billion yuan (around 4.45 billion U.S. dollars) in total tourism revenue, up 4.59 percent and 12.65 percent respectively year on year.
"We hope our wide range of colorful, immersive programs will truly keep young people engaged," said Zang Shiyuan, head of a local culture and tourism sub-district.