Promotion craze
open hub for international tourism, a gateway into the Asia-Pacific region drawing tourism investment and a metropolitan city displaying the latest digital development,” said Fang Shizhong, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.
Tourism authorities around t he country are pulling out all the stops in their innovative efforts to attract tourists and ensure they have a wonderful time. And some of these innovations have come as a surprise to visitors.
For example, the tourism department of Luoyang i n Henan Province in central China has stationed actors dressed as ancient guards in suits of armor to welcome travelers at the city’s highspeed railway station. As visitors pass through the station’s exit, these “guards” use the language of ancient China to greet them loudly with phrases like “Luoyang welcomes the return of Her/His Royal Highness.”
Luoyang has tapped into its distinctive tourism advantages, being an ancient city with over 4,000 years of history and the capital of 13 Chinese dynasties. One of the services that most draws tourists, especially young people, is renting hanfu, the traditional Han Chinese clothing style from centuries past that has made a comeback in recent years. Posing for pictures wearing hanfu at historical sites in Luoyang and posting them on social media has become a must for many travelers.
Several cities are using the popularity of neighbors to promote themselves as destinations. “It takes just one hour by train from Erbin [a term of endearment for Harbin coined by netizens] to reach Qiqihar,” Liu Chunfeng announced on social media on January 6. Liu, who is head of the culture, radio, film, television and tourism bureau of Qiqihar, also in Heilongjiang, appeared on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to express his warm welcome to potential visitors from the rest of the country. “After getting off the train, you can watch [China’s revered red-crowned] cranes, eat grilled meat and soak in the hot springs. Watching cranes in the snow is only possible here in Qiqihar,” Liu said.
Other interactions between the tourism authorities of different regions, as well as between other people in the tourism industry, are becoming increasingly common on social media. Local governments are teaming up, calling on their own and each other’s residents to pay visits and enjoy the fun and hospitality of the other side.
Movie and TV stars and i nfluencers are being invited to promote the attractions in their hometown. Shen Han, a professor
of tourism at Fudan University in Shanghai, said celebrities have the power to draw visitors from within their online following. “A celebrity’s own fame and charm can improve consumers’ attitudes toward local areas,” she told Zhejiang Province-based news portal Tide News.
Sustaining growth
“Consumption is an i mportant driving force for economic development, and tourism is a major area for consumption growth. So it’s likely governments at all levels will pay more attention to tourism in 2024 than in previous years,” Bao Jigang, a professor of tourism and Director of the Center for Tourism and Planning Research at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province,
Beijing Review.
told
Despite all the eye-catching methods to attract tourists, the most important prerequisite for the development of tourism is having full-fledged tourism products, infrastructure and supporting services, Shen said. “Also, focusing on consumers and their needs is very important. The basis for this is to establish effective and timely communication between tourism departments and tourists. Harbin’s response to the Ice and Snow World ticket refund incident is the best example. Their swift improvement of products and services has won the hearts of travelers,” she added.
Moreover, Bao suggested that with the growth of tourism, the country should pay attention to reducing the industry’s carbon emissions. Trip.com revealed that in the first half of 2023, the world produced an average of 27 million tons of carbon emissions each day, of which 11 percent came from the tourism industry. Emissions by the hotel industry accounted for 60 percent of the total carbon produced by tourism.
According to incomplete statistics collected
by Peng Qing, a professor at the School of Tourism Management at SYSU, in 2022, the number of accommodation facilities in China was 482,603, with 18,164,158 guest rooms. Bao said the energy consumption of air conditioners in these rooms is one of the major reasons the industry’s carbon footprint is so large.
“Energy conservation not only requires reducing the use of disposable items, but also bringing down air conditioning consumption to reduce carbon emissions. Electricity consumption can be reduced through the application of energy-saving technologies,” Bao concluded.