Tourism shows a trend of "occupying" our lives, in our circle of friends, in the short videos we have swiped, and in the news we see, there is its shadow everywhere, of course, it also appears in our living arrangements - weekends, holidays, whether to travel, where to go.
Some people go to climb mountains, some go to the beach, some go to the ancient city, and some go to the countryside...... There are also people who "go to heaven".
You read that right, following immersive performances, ancient style experiences, and the city that never sleeps, low-altitude tourism has also "rolled up". Tourists want to "change the perspective" to see the beautiful rivers and mountains, and all localities are also sincere to provide air convenience as much as possible, and low-altitude tourism is rising strongly.
One
The so-called low-altitude tourism refers to the tourism activities engaged in by air transport, general aviation aircraft and low-altitude aircraft in low-altitude airspace, such as the use of helicopters, hang gliders, hot air balloons, parachutes, etc.
In the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of General Aviation" issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in June 2022, it is clearly stated that it is necessary to promote the development of low-altitude tourism, support the competent departments of culture and tourism to expand the coverage of scenic spots such as air tours and high-altitude skydiving, support local governments to develop "general aviation + tourism", encourage the enrichment of low-altitude tourism connotation by relying on sightseeing tours, theme tours, experience tours and other forms, and support the development of general aviation characteristic leisure agriculture and boutique tourism in poverty alleviation areas.
The premise of low-altitude tourism "taking off" is the benefit of low-altitude economy.
In recent years, the state has introduced a series of policies to promote the development of the general aviation industry, including accelerating the construction of general aviation infrastructure, cultivating the general aviation market, and expanding the opening of low-altitude airspace. The Central Economic Work Conference at the end of 2023 proposed to build a number of strategic emerging industries such as the low-altitude economy. This year's government work report of the State Council also includes commercial aerospace and low-altitude economy.
With the low-altitude economy being included in the national key development goals, low-altitude tourism has also ushered in the best strategic opportunity period and golden window period in history. All localities have laid out and accelerated the implementation, in order to seize the opportunity in the low-altitude tourism track.
Miyun District, Beijing has launched a number of low-altitude travel tourism lines Source: Beijing Daily client
During this year's "May Day" holiday, low-altitude tourist routes in many places are hot to welcome guests. For example, Miyun Airport, the mainland's first low-altitude tourism demonstration base, has opened a number of low-altitude tourist routes on May Day, and tourists take helicopters to overlook the Simatai Great Wall, Jinshanling Great Wall, Miyun Reservoir and many other scenic spots from the air. Another example is Hainan's Sanya Haitang Bay, Phoenix Island, Sanya Bay and other helicopter bases, as well as Boao, Lingshui and other paragliding bases, their low-altitude tourism products are also quite popular.
Shandong's low-altitude tourism is developing rapidly. In Mengshan, tourists take paragliding and set off from the top of Tianmeng at an altitude of 1,001 meters above sea level and soar above the mountains; In the hot air balloon camp in Rizhao Dongyi Town, you can experience the flat version of "romantic Turkey", and many people like to line up to take a hot air balloon at night in summer to watch the night view; In the tourist area of Tianma Island, Junan County, Linyi City, more and more tourists come to experience paragliding flights; At the general airport in Lanshan, Rizhao, before the "May Day" holiday, the research appointment orders have been full; In Xueye Lake, Laiwu District, Jinan City, the private driving experience project is very popular......
Tourists go paragliding experience
Source: Qilu One Point
Two
Competing for the "city in the sky", Shandong is poised to take off.
As early as 2019, Shandong launched the Jinan (Xueye) to Zaozhuang (Taierzhuang) low-altitude route sightseeing project, the air flight time of the route is about 2 hours, tourists can overlook the lake and mountains in the morning, and visit the charming ancient city of Taierzhuang in the afternoon.
In March 2023, the Shandong Provincial Government introduced at a press conference that Shandong will improve the tourism functions of general airports such as Binzhou Dagao and Laiwu Xueye, accelerate the construction of general airports such as Linyi Feixian, and build a general airport cluster covering the whole province, coordinated and efficient, and providing high-quality services; Support the cultivation of 8 low-altitude tourism areas, such as the Wonderland Coast, the Yellow River Estuary and the Ping'an Taishan, and help enhance the attractiveness of festivals and events such as aviation festivals and flight experience festivals in various places. Shandong Airport Group focuses on the development of "cultural tourism + aviation" products, and will launch high-quality "Huanlu Fei" commuter routes.
To develop low-altitude tourism, Shandong has unique advantages.
First of all, Shandong is rich in regional cultural resources, not only the Yellow River, the Grand Canal, the Great Wall of Qi, the Yellow Bohai Sea, and the Yimeng Revolutionary Base Area, but also the characteristic scenery of Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai and other cities, and the low-altitude tourism resources that can be developed are abundant.
Secondly, high-standard airports are the carrier of the development of low-altitude tourism, and Shandong is accelerating the formation of a general airport tourism network to promote the development of low-altitude flight tourism. Taking Jinan as an example, there are currently four general airports of Pingyin Yushan Airport, Pingyin Xiaozhi Airport, Laiwu Xueye Airport and Jinan Shanghe Airport, and flight training, air tourism, emergency rescue, general aviation testing, remote sensing mapping and other businesses have been fully rolled out, and talent training and reserves for the development of the industry are also in progress.
Schematic diagram of the layout of Jinan Shanghe General Airport
Photo source: Poster News
Thirdly, at the policy level, Shandong is quite powerful. The "Shandong Aerospace Industry Development Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Development Plan") and the "Implementation Plan for the High-quality Development of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry in Shandong Province" have been issued one after another. Among them, the "Development Plan" proposes to support the use of idle land on the edge of the city, ecological parks and green spaces and other suitable areas for the construction of aviation flight camps. Gradually establish a network of low-altitude tourism routes covering qualified key scenic spots in the province, promote high-altitude parachuting and other aviation sports activities, and support the development of aviation clubs.
In the future, when the general aviation airport is networked into a piece to achieve full coverage of the low-altitude tourism route network, a complete take-off and landing field network can be built, which will facilitate the planning and implementation of low-altitude tourism routes and promote the integration and sharing of tourism resources.
Tourists can take a helicopter flight over Linyi Tianmeng Mountain
Source: Qilu One Point
Three
Although low-altitude tourism has broad prospects and good momentum, comparatively speaking, our low-altitude tourism field as a whole is still in its infancy, and there are still many barriers to be broken through to the sky to tourism benefits.
First of all, the development of low-altitude tourism and the promotion of airspace opening are the key and premise. It is necessary to explore the efficient air traffic control operation mode, comprehensively use digital technology, promote the refined control and utilization of low-altitude airspace in different flight periods, explore the independent evaluation of airspace operation efficiency and the integrated operation of manned and unmanned based on computing power, and improve airspace capacity and control efficiency.
Secondly, combined with the local cultural context, mountains, water veins, cities and other landscape characteristics, the development of attractive low-altitude tourism routes. The low-altitude tourism products in the form of air tours and flight experience have certain particularities, compared with other forms of tourism and vacation, the economic income, health status, personal quality and other conditions of the consumer group are higher, in order to expand the market, the entry-level market segment products should be enriched as much as possible, such as the layout of hot air balloons, airships, paragliders and other low-priced, multi-point flight forms, and can not only stare at large helicopters to fly, so as to enhance the diversity of products, but also to enhance the fun of tourists.
Third, strengthen publicity and promotion. The sustainable development of low-altitude tourism depends on the cultivation and inheritance of aviation consumer culture, for many tourists in the mainland, low-altitude tourism is still an emerging field, and many people may not dare to try it easily. It can be combined with the extensive and in-depth dissemination of aviation culture, make full use of the Internet and social media and other tools, through a variety of channels to make the public feel and participate in aviation activities, for example, pay attention to the design of experiential products during the air show, and guide more people to experience flying, feel flying, and like flying.
In addition, it is necessary to encourage general aviation enterprises to cooperate with the government and cultural and tourism enterprises to promote the integrated development of low-altitude tourism-related industries. At the same time, strengthen the training of low-altitude professionals and enhance the ability to guarantee safe flight services, so as to ensure the safe, orderly and sustainable development of low-altitude tourism.