Many locations in Black Myth: Wukong replicate real-world places, primarily from Shanxi Province in northern China. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), while tourists typically pay little attention to this province, it has recently been experiencing a tourism boom.
Black Myth: Wukong
According to the Chinese platform Meituan, on the release day of Black Myth: Wukong, the number of searches for local attractions increased by 156% compared to the previous year. People most frequently searched for information about the Yungang Grottoes, the Shakyamuni Pagoda, and the Stork Tower—all of which are featured in the game.
The tourism service Tuniu estimated that the number of tourists in Shanxi in August increased by 50% compared to July, and the number of hotel bookings doubled.
Sun Jiajun, head of tourism development in Yingxian County, confirmed the growth in tourist activity to SCMP. He added that most visitors to the Shakyamuni Pagoda in the last week learned about it from Black Myth: Wukong.
Tourism has also risen outside Shanxi Province. For instance, Yin Zhenxing, the director of the Jade Buddha Temple Sculpture Museum in Shanghai, told Yicai that a record 50,000 people visited in the past six months, thanks to the temple's appearance in the game trailers. Forty percent of them had not heard of the place before Black Myth: Wukong.