Large projects have leveraged new momentum for Qilu Cultural Tourism

The first observation meeting of high-quality cultural tourism development projects in Shandong Province in 2023 was recently held, and the observation group conducted field visits to 16 key cultural tourism projects in 5 cities. In recent years, Shandong's tourism industry has taken the construction of key projects as the guide, grasped the planning and implementation of projects, increased the intensity of project attraction, improved the level of project guarantee, further played the tandem driving effect of large-scale project construction, deepened the deep integration of cultural and tourism industries, and accelerated the pace of green, low-carbon and high-quality development, providing strong support for promoting the practice of Chinese-style modernization in Shandong. In the first half of this year, Shandong received a total of 340 million tourists and achieved tourism revenue of 406.07 billion yuan, an increase of 43.6% and 48.7% respectively year-on-year.

Deep integration of culture and tourism

In promoting the construction of key cultural tourism projects, Shandong highlights the deep integration of culture and tourism, strives to burst out new ideas in the integration and collision, and nurtures new momentum in integration and innovation.

As a new landmark of cultural tourism in Jinan, Zhangqiu Mingshui Ancient City has begun to take shape, and buildings such as the visitor center, Pu Songling Library, Mengjia courtyard, cloth workshop, homestay, and café along the river have been completed in the ancient city, and are currently further improving the construction of surrounding supporting facilities and comprehensive environmental improvement, and are expected to be put into trial operation during the National Day holiday this year.

The relevant person in charge of Mingshui Ancient City introduced that the project takes the Baimaiquan area as the center, based on elements such as "Qingzhao culture, spring water culture, Confucian merchant culture, blacksmith culture" and other elements, and concentrates on creating a spring water ecological and cultural symbol area of "the circulation of people and boats in transportation, the architecture of village houses, the radiance of agriculture and commerce in industry, the fragrance of rice lotus in ecology, and the integration of ancient and modern in culture".

Walking into Tai'an Taishan Shidang Cultural Park, ancient costume welcome, ancient style market, dome theater, live performance... The "stone daring" element can be seen everywhere in the park, and the antique buildings are dotted with novel and fun rides, attracting many teenagers.

"The overall design of the project is based on Taishan stone, takes Taishan culture as the main line, relies on modern scientific and technological means, deeply integrates historical folk culture and tourism experience, and creates a characteristic park integrating stone appreciation, exploration, leisure and performance." The person in charge of the Taishan Shidang Cultural Park project introduced that the project plans to lay out cultural tourism, characteristic entertainment, performances and other sections, including the Dare to be the Hall, Folk Culture Street, the Boulder Bagua Array, the large-scale 4D dome theater flying over Mount Tai, and the large-scale live performance section "Hero Stone Dare to Dang" and other projects.

Looking at the banks of the Yellow River, the original beach has now become a treasure land driven by the cultural tourism project. The first batch of selected projects of the major project library of new and old kinetic energy conversion in Shandong Province, the Yellow River Culture Museum Group, is under intensive construction.

"With the Yellow River culture and excellent traditional Chinese culture as the carrier, the project will build 21 museums with different themes, including the Yellow River Culture Museum, the Calligraphy and Painting Art Museum, the Root Carving Museum, the Geology and Mineral Museum, the Paleontological Fossil Museum of the Yellow River Basin, the Rare Animal Specimen Museum, and the Shengshi Porcelain Museum." The relevant person in charge of Shandong Kunhe Tourism Development Co., Ltd. said that at present, 9 museums have been equipped for display, and other museums are undergoing main construction and are expected to be put into operation in 2024.

Driving the night economy

This summer, high temperatures have heated up Shandong's night economy. Based on folk customs and cultural characteristics, all localities have integrated resources such as intangible cultural heritage, catering, leisure and entertainment, and launched night tour routes, night performances, night exhibitions, etc., to create new scenes of night play and lengthen the night economic chain.

Jinan Sunac Park Panjila Music Carnival is in full swing. With the design concept of "Otherworld Planet + Fairy Tale Elves", the carnival uses lighting, cold fireworks, special effects and other means to create an immersive feast of light and shadow, providing visitors with a night consumption environment with both "high quality" and "pyrotechnics".

The walls are high, the streets are quaint, the lights are shining... Located in Dongping County, Tai'an, the night cultural tourism gathering area of the Great Song Sleepless City is full of light, and 18 kinds of performance art performances are performed simultaneously, attracting many audiences to stop and check in, and Dongping fish hot pot and other delicacies integrated with the real scenery and performances of the scenic spot are favored by diners.

"Since its opening in January this year, the Great Song Sleepless City has received more than 1.87 million visitors in the first half of the year." Xie Xingqing, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Dongping Lake Cultural Tourism Development (Shandong) Group Co., Ltd., introduced that on the basis of the original Water Margin Film and Television City, the Great Song Dynasty City takes the Song culture as the main line, connects the Yellow River culture, Taishan culture and canal culture, enhances the layout of the ancient city of "one street and five lanes", introduces cultural creativity, intangible cultural heritage and other formats, and strives to enrich night tours, night banquets and night shopping, presenting the ancient city of the Great Song Dynasty with a very pyrotechnic atmosphere.

At night, the lights and shadows in the ancient city scenic area of Liaocheng Water are intertwined and the water is rippling. The relevant person in charge of Liaocheng Water Ancient City Scenic Area introduced that the ancient city sorted out and excavated historical allusions and cultural stories, integrated the historical heritage of buildings and streets with modern life in accordance with the principle of repairing the old as the old, and carried out micro-transformation and upgrading of historical and cultural blocks and old streets and alleys. At the same time, vigorously develop creative formats such as characteristic homestays, stylish catering, and intangible cultural heritage experiences. At present, the ancient city area has attracted various businesses such as food, bars, performing arts, and immersive experiences, and has been rated as a tourism and leisure block in Shandong Province and a night tourism consumption gathering area in Shandong Province, and has become a model for the cultural tourism industry to drive regional consumption.

Transformation for development

In recent years, a number of key cultural tourism projects in Shandong Province have been completed, gradually becoming an important force for the high-quality development of cultural tourism in Shandong, and various market entities have sought development through reform and innovation, transformation and upgrading for the future, and the development of the cultural tourism industry is vigorous.

Single-family villas, study rooms in the clouds, mountain and forest fitness gyms... From a backward mountain village that is inaccessible to tourists to a "net red village", the vivid picture of cultural tourism helping rural revitalization is presented in Tai'an Jiunufeng Tourist Resort.

The relevant person in charge of Jiunufeng Tourism Resort said that the resort adheres to the continuous construction of clusters, strung 19 villages into a chain, and cultivated a number of rural cultural tourism brands such as Spring Liyu, Huatian Beizhang, and Damei Fengshan, forming a three-dimensional cultural tourism development pattern of mass leisure under the mountain, cultural tourism experience on the mountain, and high-end health care in the deep mountain, and realizing the scene revolution and new development of traditional scenic spots.

As a typical case of the transformation and upgrading of travel agency enterprises, the Zibo Airport Project invested by Shandong International Tourism Group plans to build an urban cultural tourism comprehensive platform integrating functions such as eating, accommodation, transportation, logistics and distribution, tourism and entertainment based on tourism distribution, supported by ground-air combined transportation and supported by commercial blocks. It is reported that after the completion of the project, it can reach the standard of transporting 750,000 passengers per year and receiving 1.4 million domestic and foreign tourists.

Trendy bars, colourful neighborhoods, B&Bs full of design... Driven by the cultural tourism project, Zibo Yanshen Ancient Town is presenting a new look in front of tourists.

It is understood that the Yanshen Ancient Town project is a cultural tourism town built on the basis of 13 ancient kilns, old factories and traditional historical blocks, integrating heritage protection and utilization, leisure vacation and industrial integration and development, and realizing the effective protection and activation of historical and cultural heritage. In the first half of this year, the passenger flow of Guzhen was about 300,000, and the average daily number of passengers in summer was about 2,000, and the occupancy rate of homestays was 70%.

According to reports, in the next step, Shandong Province will grasp project planning at a high level, expand project construction space, improve project quality, and expand the supply of high-quality projects through creative planning, format innovation, industrial integration, etc.; Adhere to market-oriented promotion of project operation, face the market and tourists, expand and strengthen market entities, and cultivate talent teams; Improve tourism management services throughout the chain, promote the upgrading of tourism infrastructure, and improve the standardization system of tourism services, etc., to help promote the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry. (Li Jingyuan)

Source: China Tourism News