In recent years, "temple tours" have skyrocketed in popularity among young people. The data shows that since 2023, the popularity of "temple tours" has skyrocketed, the number of ticket orders for related scenic spots has increased by 310% year-on-year, and the search index of "temple" keywords has increased by more than 600% year-on-year, and there are about 1.21 million notes related to the "temple" keyword in Xiaohongshu, and temple tours of the post-90s and post-00s account for nearly 50%. The temple has finally broken the stereotype, and is no longer an exclusive tourist destination for the elderly, and has also transformed from a "guaranteed" project of tourism to a top-notch one. Upgrading the "consumption concept" with emotional value makes tourists no longer simply satisfied with the practical value of the product itself, but pays more attention to the emotional value behind it. When the Lama Temple restricts the flow of traffic, the Lingyin Temple restricts purchases, and the only temple that can make contemporary young people kneel down in uniform; in order to invite a string of magic objects to voluntarily "stand for punishment" for several hours, the procession is lined up from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain.
From turning koi to save character, "worshiping" the statue of Confucius on the Internet during the exam week, obsessed with horoscopes, and then to today's electronic wooden fish, electronic incense, electronic fortune telling, and the tricks of "Internet healing" are endless, in the impetuous social background, bursts of social carnivals are popular all over the Internet, and "healing + Chinese studies" is increasingly chased by young people, behind which is the dual blessing of decompression economy and emotional consumption, the cultural and tourism industry must face up to this situation, analyze its causes, and do a good job of taking advantage of the situation.
One · Use IP to create a new paradigm of prayer economy
Temples and commerce, one stationed in the spiritual world and the other rooted in the material world, seem to be two sides, but they can derive the "decompression economy" and "blessing economy" at the moment, and become a "spiritual utopia" that young people are eager for. When the "Buddhist youth" connected with the "emotional value", they were caught off guard, and the temple blessing business became popular.
Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto, Japan, is an example. Built in 778 AD, Kiyomizudera Temple is the oldest temple in Kyoto and a national treasure in Japan. As an ancient temple, Kiyomizu Temple did not "rely on the old and sell the old" and take the traditional "pilgrim + sightseeing" temple tourism route, but found another way, diluted its religious attributes, and made the blessing function bigger. The 16 main temples are endowed with different blessing attributes, realizing the vertical subdivision of blessing activities and meeting the prayer needs of different groups of people.
(Photo: Kiyomizu Temple丨Source: Measurement City)
Unlike ordinary temples that display souvenirs at the entrance of the scenic spot, Kiyomizu Temple designs them in the process of every blessing, so that each blessing can be transformed into a "product", which is convenient for tourists to take away and send to family and friends.
Located at the top of Higashiyama Mountain in Kyoto, Kiyomizudera Temple integrates all the businesses around the temple and the mountain to form the concept of the "Great Kiyomizudera Temple" area, and maximizes the popularity and industrial benefits of the temple by utilizing a variety of business formats and a complete tourist shopping route.
In the 2023 National Health Insight Report, nine adults have health problems, and emotional problems are the second. Releasing anxiety, relieving emotions, and obtaining emotional value are undoubtedly important motivations for young people to travel. Decompression toys and sleep aid music are all representative products under the prevalence of the decompression economy.
Use these simple and repetitive products and content to help people relax their brains and take a break from anxiety. Every time you knock on the wooden fish, the merit can be +1, and some people joke that "self-reflection" and "soul salvation" can be achieved through the ritual of "knocking on the wooden fish". Hangzhou Faxi Temple has won the hearts and incense of a group of young tourists by relying on canvas bags printed with "You are so good, my Buddha should like you", the Yushou sachet with the image of a cute rabbit, and the blessing bracelet full of design, etc., and has become one of the most popular tourist check-in places in Hangzhou on Xiaohongshu
Two · Create a differentiated and diversified value of the temple
Contemporary young people believe in the spiritual release of the temple's "faith is spiritual", so those temples with their own "interest points" are the first to become popular: the homonym "offers" of Beijing Reclining Buddha Temple is almost broken because it perfectly fits the urgent wishes of scholars and job seekers;
Lama Temple has inherited the incense of praying for the cause because of the historical origin of the success of the nine sons of Yongzheng, and the Faxi Temple in Hangzhou has become a new holy place for praying for marriage because of the "joy" in the name.
"Go to Lama Temple for career", "Go to Hongluo Temple for marriage", "Go to Lingshun Temple in Hangzhou for wealth", "Go to Wutai Mountain for study" and other prayer needs are taken from each other. At present, popular temples are basically based on the precise positioning of target users, and general temples should also be based on their own cultural connotation and core characteristics, lock in the troubles and anxieties of customers in vertical segments, create a distinctive image to attract target consumers, and form a unique audience cognition.
The temple meets the spiritual needs of young people and launches products with emotional value, providing a spiritual foundation for attracting people and retaining audiences. Take Wutaishan Cultural and Creative Ice Cream as an example. The cool and delicious ice cream is the first satisfaction, the high-value check-in and photo is the second satisfaction, and the good wishes represented by the words on the ice cream label are the third satisfaction.
A small ice cream actually satisfies the triple enjoyment of consumers, so even if its unit price is not low, it can still be sold hot or even out of stock. In today's experience economy, it is the basic point of explosive products to develop temple products that are both good-looking, easy to buy, good to eat, fun to play, good to travel, good to live in, and meet the values of faith, emotion and even practical value.
Three · Seize the opportunity of "Temple+" new marketing and social platform communication
Behind the development of the emotional economy, consumers care about their own tangible positive experience, so as to get both spiritual and emotional satisfaction, and this positive emotion can play a key role in life and work. Young people need to find an outlet for their anxiety and stress, and the temple captures the immediate emotions of consumers. A gentle haven for anxious young people. By walking into the temple, young people can briefly escape from real life and relieve long-accumulated stress. So, after frisbee, picnics, and camping, in 2023, "temple tours" have become the latest way for young people to decompress.
The temple's cultural and tourism products range from sachets to bracelets and bracelets to food and clothing. The development of cultural tourism products is rich and colorful, and the sense of design is not inferior to cultural and creative stores, which is also the main reason for attracting young people to explore. Today's temples have introduced digital management, design aesthetics, and a comprehensive integration of commerce with art and religion. Coming to the temple to seek the safety of the Buddha, and then being able to experience the cultural connotation of the whole process, and can also meet the one-stop demand in eating, drinking, and playing Tesco, this is the success of the temple operator, and it is also a quiet change in the cultural consumption of the new generation of groups.
Nanjing Tavern-Dream Trusteeship is a holy place for young people to practice cyber and cultivate immortals in nightlife. It is not only a place to taste fine wine, but also to appreciate the essence of Chinese metaphysics, and it is an ancient art space full of mystery. Opening the mysterious dream pupil door, it seems to have traveled to an ancient temple, a dream of the plaque of Jinling, telling the story of ancient Qinhuai...... The perfect fusion of classical and modern makes people linger and dream.
The waiters here are all young ladies and little brothers dressed in ancient costumes, and they are all called "Si Meng", which allows you to immerse yourself in metaphysics and national tide on the spot, as if you are in an ancient banquet scene. In addition, the selection of wine here should be shaken to ask for divination, when the heaven and earth resonate, the gods are there, so you are bound to be able to choose the flavor that fits your current state of mind. The process of drawing lots is like looking for your own share of luck and surprises. A blessing, a peace of mind, full of ritual.
The hottest coffee in 2023 is undoubtedly temple coffee. The temple coffee became popular, the first originated from Hangzhou Yongfu Temple's own brand "Ci Cup" coffee, homonym "compassion", the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures in this creative product makes people smile. Located at the entrance of Eifukuji Temple, this coffee shop has been a flashpoint of consumer innovation since it first opened in 2021. All the coffee drinks in the store also integrate the seemingly profound Buddhist culture into the name of each product, so that the feeling of Buddhism being high above instantly has a little more "fireworks in the world", leaning down and purifying all beings.
Temple Coffee is a commercial project that combines traditional temples with modern coffee culture, which has attracted the attention of many young people. One can feel the Zen contemplation and reflection while sipping coffee in a quiet and peaceful environment. Young people are keen on such places because they provide a unique platform for communication and at the same time as an avenue for seeking inner peace and reflection.
In addition to coffee, many temples have further narrowed the distance with young people through cultural and creative peripherals. For example, some exquisitely made, or cute Buddha images, or printed with Buddhist buzzwords, cultural and creative peripherals, temple cultural and creative ice cream containing blessing sticks, and temple bracelets that exploded this year have become popular products in temples.
The bracelets of major temples have become "popular fashion items" among young people, and the popularity of temple bracelets is mainly due to the following reasons: First, it aims at the appearance economy. Different from traditional French products, some temple bracelets are carefully polished in terms of appearance design, which fits the aesthetics of young people. And the speed of update and iteration is fast, and the new high-value models continue to be introduced, which is convenient for the repurchase rate to increase; A large number of "tap water" users on the Internet shared their personal transfer stories after purchasing temple bracelets, providing evidence for the effectiveness of the bracelets and attracting more young people to seek spiritual sustenance. The third is the effective promotion of social media. Whether it is on a grass-planting platform or a short video platform, temple bracelets have a high exposure rate. Fourth, the empowerment of social value. After the bracelet became popular among the young group, having a bracelet will have a trendy item, and it will also have more social conversations.
Four · Innovative themes create hot events
Visiting the temple fair is a traditional Chinese activity, which has gradually drifted away with the development of the times. With the development of the blessing economy driven by the recovery of traditional festivals, the temple fair market with blessing significance in the new era has also become a new "national trend" chased by young people. For example, the temple fair market "Buddhist Life, New Prayer Temple" created by Lingnan Tiandi in Foshan has creative gadgets such as egg waffles and DIY splicing prayer poems, which skillfully combine metaphysics, traditional culture and commerce.
The rise of young audiences has also extended a wider and more diverse benefit space for temple-like scenic spots that used to rely solely on religious beliefs to obtain alms from believers and maintain their operations, continuously injected new vitality into the local cultural tourism economy, and also drove the modernization and renewal of temple cultural resources.
Buddhism has a history of 2,000 years in China, and temples and other Buddhist buildings can be found in almost every famous mountain and river and historical monument. According to incomplete statistics, today, there are 33,000 Buddhist temples and 8,200 Taoist temples in the country, all over the country's famous mountains and scenic spots. To a large extent, the transformation of the multi-format operation of temple tourism and the upgrading and improvement of comprehensive services directly reflect the state's ability to manage and coordinate religious and cultural resources. China's cultural tourism industry has entered a new era, and the advantages of temple tourism are becoming increasingly significant. Immersive meditation ceremonies such as listening to scriptures, bathing in Buddha, eating and fasting, and living together are all attributes of tourism products that young people are most concerned about. In the future, temple scenic spots can show greater influence in research, parent-child tours, group tours, camping tours, etc., and open a new era of temple tourism, so as to better "use Zen plastic tourism" and "tourism to highlight culture".
The popularity of "temple tour" on the Internet has just set off a boom for young people to release themselves, this short-term pressure release is the psychological release of young people at present, and the spiritual comfort in the psychological state of "rotten" and "lying flat", young people are not rotten, they have not given up the future, they are just looking for themselves, and the experience of "temple tour" is also the external manifestation of the psychological construction of "Buddhism".
Whether it is a temple business, a healing bar, a temple café, a blessing bazaar, or a healing hotel, they all conform to the young people's desire for inner balance and spiritual pursuit. The prevalence of "healing economy" and "temple tourism" is a process of integrating and creating the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism economy to promote the overall economic upward improvement, and it is also a process of relieving the overall pressure on society. To develop the "healing economy", in addition to paying attention to itself, we should also see the young people who are under pressure behind it, and grasp the two to achieve harmonious economic and social development. At the same time, the ingenious combination between "temple tour" and "healing +" also brings new enlightenment to the cross-border breakthrough and innovative inheritance of traditional culture, which is also a new practice of "innovative development" and "creative transformation" of traditional culture.
Bu Xiting, deputy dean of the Institute of Cultural Development of Communication University of China, believes that in the era of great changes unseen in a century, the psychological state of young people has changed under the pressure of the external environment, and seeking psychological relief or solace has become common. Behind the explosion of "temple tours" is actually a side reflection of the "emotional consumption" preference of young people in the current society, that is, a market consumption behavior that seeks positive psychological cues or pursues peace of mind to achieve the purpose of relieving stress. The popularity of "temple tours" may drive a wave of cultural and tourism consumption boom, but in the face of lively emerging consumption, the risks of tourism safety, consumption safety, cultural export, and illegal enrichment should also be worth paying attention to. For example, chaos in tourism management, feudal superstition scams, and misleading consumption should be prevented and actively guided. "Heart disease still needs to be cured by heart medicine", in contrast, it is more critical and urgent to take the initiative to study and care for the anxiety of contemporary young people, and immersively guide the healthy growth of young people.