Editor's note
Recently, hot topics such as "Zhangjiajie is crowded with Korean tourists" and "Hong Kong tourists are pouring into Changsha" have been frequently searched, and the mainland tourism market continues to be hot. As the tourism boom continues to heat up, various places are competing to lay out the cultural tourism industry, setting off an upsurge of building world-class tourist destinations. What is a world-class tourist destination? What are the basic requirements and standard references? What is the gap between the mainland's tourist destinations and the world's first-class tourist destinations? The reporter of China Economic Times found in the investigation and visit that some tourist destination brands are not loud enough, the scale of the tourism industry is small, and the level of tourism service is insufficient, and there is still a long way to go to build a world-class tourist destination.
■China Economic Times reporter Sun Zhao
During the past May Day holiday, the mainland tourism market continued to be hot. Various localities have increased their investment in tourism to attract domestic tourists, while also aiming at the world, hoping to attract more foreign tourists and enhance China's position in the international tourism market by building world-class tourist destinations.
To build a world-class tourist destination, it is necessary for all localities to base themselves on their own characteristics, tap cultural resources, and at the same time pay attention to service quality and create a good image. In the future, all localities should not only fully consider the needs of tourists, but also make efforts in the acquisition of tourists, the guidance of consumer demand, and the construction of tourism infrastructure.
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Based on its own foundation, let tourists feel the local characteristics
"I've been to Shanghai, where the skyline is full of skyscrapers and bustling shopping districts, and there's a modern vibe everywhere. In the restaurants in Shanghai, you can eat a variety of cuisines; In Shanghai's museums and art galleries, you can appreciate China's long history and cultural heritage. The unique charm of the city is fascinating. Harvey, an Irish student, remembers his trip to Shanghai some time ago. He told the China Economic Times: "In the future, I still want to go to Beijing, Xi'an and other cities, I heard that it is very beautiful and has a lot of historical and cultural heritage, I am very interested." ”
More and more people are turning to travel as a daily leisure and lifestyle, enriching their horizons by exploring unknown places and experiencing different cultures. In an interview with a reporter from the China Economic Times, the relevant person in charge of Ctrip said that in the first quarter of this year, domestic inbound travel orders increased by more than 3 times year-on-year. All localities hope to attract more domestic and foreign tourists, increase local tourism revenue, and promote economic growth by building world-class tourist destinations.
Yang Xiaodong, a researcher at the Institute of Public Management and Human Resources of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the China Economic Times that since 2023, the national level has successively issued a series of policies and measures to support the development of domestic tourism, such as "Several Measures to Release the Potential of Tourism Consumption and Promote the High-quality Development of Tourism" and "Domestic Tourism Promotion Plan (2023-2025)". Since the beginning of this year, with the orderly expansion of China's visa-free "circle of friends", the increase in the frequency of international flights, the increase in the willingness of foreign tourists to travel to China, the accelerated recovery of the inbound tourism market, and the vigorous development of the industry, all localities have built world-class tourist destinations based on their own realities.
"China's tourist attractions are attractive to foreign tourists in many ways." Li Wen, who works as a tour guide in Beijing, told a reporter from the China Economic Times, "As the saying goes, 'it's better to see than to hear.'" For foreign tourists, different places have different characteristics, and only by being there can you truly feel the charm of various parts of China. ”
As Li Wen said, different regions have different characteristics. Magnificent natural scenery makes people stop, such as the strange peaks and rocks of Zhangjiajie, the colorful lakes of Jiuzhaigou, and the snowy plateau of Tibet, which are all popular attractions that attract foreign tourists. The long historical sites make people nostalgic, such as the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, etc. The rich cultural heritage is intoxicating, such as Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, calligraphy, painting, etc., which are all world-renowned cultural and art forms. Foreign tourists can experience the unique charm of Chinese culture by enjoying traditional Chinese cultural performances and learning Chinese traditional culture and art.
"A world-class tourist destination should have a tourism element system that attracts domestic and foreign tourists to come for sightseeing, leisure and vacation, conference and exhibition activities, including world-class tourist attractions, diversified product structure, convenient transportation system for tourists, and world-class standard tourism reception facilities and service management level. In addition, it is also necessary to build a livable and travel-friendly service space to achieve 'host and guest sharing', that is, to better meet the daily leisure and vacation needs of local people and the multicultural tourism needs of foreign tourists. Yang Xiaodong said.
In an interview with the China Economic Times, Cao Shuai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tongcheng Travel's Government Affairs Cooperation Department, said that at present, various places are actively building world-class tourist destinations, which reflects the great importance that many places attach to the cultural tourism industry. The development of the cultural tourism industry can bring popularity to various places and drive the development of many local industries, many places have taken the cultural tourism industry as an important pillar industry to build, hoping to promote local economic development, promote cultural exchanges, and enhance local visibility and influence through the cultural tourism industry.
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Tapping into the cultural heritage allows visitors to have an immersive experience
With the continuous recovery of China's cultural tourism market after the epidemic and the successive introduction of various favorable policies, the inbound and outbound tourism market has shown a significant recovery trend. According to data from the National Immigration Administration, in the first quarter of this year, there were 13.074 million foreigners entering and leaving the country, a year-on-year increase of 305.2%. Foreigners come to China for more than 30 percent, followed by business, visiting relatives and friends.
In an interview, a reporter from the China Economic Times found that in the process of building world-class tourist destinations, all localities pay great attention to excavating and protecting local unique culture and natural resources. For example, the ancient town of Lijiang in Yunnan attracts countless tourists with its unique Naxi culture and beautiful natural scenery; The peculiar landform of Zhangjiajie and the ancient city of Phoenix in Hunan have also become tourist attractions that domestic and foreign tourists yearn for. While preserving the natural environment and preserving cultural heritage, these places have also succeeded in attracting more tourists and boosting the local economy.
"The core of building a world-class tourist destination is to tap into Chinese culture, and at the same time, it can also combine the latest cultural and creative concepts to form innovative products. Only in this way can foreign tourists be more attractive. Huang Huang, an associate researcher at the China Tourism Research Institute, told the China Economic Times that taking Xi'an as an example, the Terracotta Warriors, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and other "old tourism products" have considerable attraction to foreign tourists, and at the same time, many "new" tourism projects, such as the immersive Chinese cultural experience products in the Tang Paradise, also have a strong attraction to foreigners. Therefore, how to form new cultural and creative products on the basis of excavating local resources and bring immersive local cultural experience to tourists from all over the world is the key to the transformation of tourist attractions from "national" to "world-class".
Huang Huang said that in the future, the development of the tourism and vacation industry in various places should adhere to the position of Chinese culture, refine and display the spiritual identity and cultural essence of Chinese civilization, accelerate the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system, tell Chinese stories well, spread Chinese voices, and show a credible, lovely and respectable image of China.
Attaching importance to the development of local resources and the excavation of culture is an important part of building world-class tourist destinations in various places. Cao Shuai believes that tourist destinations need to find their own "world-class" first and only, attach great importance to the excavation of local resources and culture, shape a unique destination personality, and establish their own highly recognizable cultural tourism brand. It is also necessary to do a good job in "world-class" infrastructure construction and security services, from the convenience of eating, housing, transportation, travel, shopping and entertainment, multilingual signage system, intelligent construction of cultural tourism, new formats and new products, professional talent team, safety and rescue guarantees, etc., so that world-class tourist destinations can be implemented.
"The market is changing rapidly, and only by meeting the needs of tourists and serving them well can we truly be recognized as a world-class tourist destination." Cao Shuai said.
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Pay attention to the quality of service and continuously improve the satisfaction of tourists
At present, building a world-class tourist destination is becoming the goal of many places. The Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism said that it is necessary to firmly adhere to the two bottom lines of development and ecology, focus on the three major elements of resources, tourists and services, further promote the industrialization of tourism, comprehensively promote the in-depth integration of culture and tourism, and boost Guizhou's efforts to build a world-class tourist destination.
The "Sichuan Provincial Plan for Building a World Important Tourist Destination (2023-2035)" issued by the General Office of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government proposes to upgrade the level of tourism products with high standards, transform high-quality tourism resources into special tourism resources, and cultivate a number of world-class tourist attractions and resorts.
While digging deep into local characteristics and embracing local culture, it is worth paying attention to how to provide international high-quality services.
"Good service quality and visitor experience are important factors in determining whether a tourist destination is popular with tourists. Only by attaching importance to service can we make domestic and foreign tourists feel our sincerity. A staff member of a travel agency told the China Economic Times that while building a world-class tourist destination, all localities should continue to improve infrastructure construction, strengthen tourism reception capacity, and improve service levels to ensure that foreign tourists can get a good experience during their travel in China. At the same time, all localities must not only make things happen, but also tell stories; It's not just about telling the story, it's about telling the story well. In this regard, we can show China's unique charm to domestic and foreign tourists through various channels and attract more foreign tourists to travel.
"Tourism services play a vital role in the development of the inbound tourism industry, directly affecting the experience and satisfaction of tourists, which in turn determines the attractiveness and competitiveness of tourist destinations." The relevant person in charge of Ctrip said that at present, through the upgrading of inbound facilitation, the cultivation of inbound tourism service talents, and the improvement of the overall quality of inbound tourism service reception, it is a key step to further build a world-class tourist destination brand by comprehensively optimizing the travel experience before and during the trip.
"To build a world-class tourist destination, we also need to work hard and make highlights in terms of tourist source acquisition, consumer demand guidance, tourism infrastructure construction, and tourism attraction upgrading, so as to promote the continuous progress of regional tourism." Yang Xiaodong said that improving the visibility and reputation of world-class tourist destinations requires the joint efforts of the government, industry, enterprises and people. It is necessary to pay attention to tourism image branding and value output, and carry out comprehensive promotion and full-staff, full-process and all-round marketing strategies in the face of the broad market.
"Building a world-class tourist destination is not an empty slogan, it requires an international vision, a world-class brand, products, services and marketing. Only by working together can we create a better world-class tourist destination. Cao Shuai said.
Image source of this article: photo.com
Chief Producer丨Wang Hui Che Haigang
Producer丨Li Piguang, Wang Yu, Liu Weimin
Editor-in-Chief丨Mao Jinghui Editor丨Chen Shuhan