On December 31, 2023, tourists were playing in the Ice and Snow World in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. Picture of this article Visual China Picture
The first Internet celebrity city in 2024 was born.
Entering the end of 2023, more and more tourists from all over the world are flying to Harbin to enjoy the ice and snow. As of December 20, 2023, Harbin Airport's passenger throughput in 2023 will exceed 20 million, becoming the first airport in the Northeast region with a passenger volume exceeding 20 million in 2023.
With the arrival of the New Year's Day holiday, Harbin's popularity has reached a new level. According to data from a travel platform, Harbin has topped the list of most popular B&B destinations for the first time, with bookings for B&Bs on New Year’s Day increasing 27 times year-on-year. On social platforms, netizens and tourists praised them in such a way that local officials had to admit in an open letter - "Your propaganda has made many Longjiang people unable to survive." While tourists on social platforms He also readily accepted the nickname "Little Potatoes of the South."
On December 31, 2023, during the New Year's Day holiday, in Harbin Ice and Snow World, tourists hung prayer ribbons and hit the lucky bell to pray for blessings in the new year. The high popularity and praise of
not only dissipates the haze of "ticket refunds" on the opening day of Harbin Ice and Snow World some time ago, but also eliminates many people's previous negative stereotypes about the Northeast tourism market represented by "Snow Country".
What did Harbin do right this time?
The first thing to point out is that winter is the peak tourist season in the Northeast. After the Beijing Winter Olympics, domestic ice and snow tourism continued to heat up, which also added fuel to the Northeast tourism market. A report from the B&B platform shows that as of December 13 last year, the number of B&B bookings containing keywords such as "skiing" and "ice and snow" on the platform increased 7.5 times compared with 2019.
Of course, these factors are not enough to fully explain Harbin’s current double harvest of popularity and reputation. You know, also in the peak winter tourist season, Harbin has rarely had such a highlight moment of "out of the circle" before. The main reason behind the "sudden change in painting style" among netizens is that Harbin is indeed undergoing new changes. In the past few years, Harbin's tourism market has been severely affected by the epidemic, and now the local emphasis on tourism is obviously bullish. For example, as an iconic tourist attraction in Harbin, the Ice and Snow World is the largest in history this year, and it was built and opened ahead of schedule. At the same time, the local government has also taken more actions to create a tourism market environment. Public reports show that as early as the end of November last year, in order to maintain the order of the tourism market and the legitimate rights and interests of tourists, create a safe, comfortable and secure tourism environment, and create a "worry-free place" for ice and snow tourism, the relevant local departments held a city-wide winter ice and snow tourism " "Hundred Days Action" promotion conference and training courses for tourism practitioners.
But the more important change is probably due to the "volume" of the national tourism market. All the details about Harbin that have been circulated on the Internet these days are reminiscent of Zibo. For example, a welcome team was organized to play a flash mob at the airport, a symphony concert was moved into a shopping mall, the city subway was transformed into a free "shuttle bus", citizens drove private cars to pick up tourists, and my brother used the gentlest "clip sound" to talk to tourists... …Are these new service increments the same as the various "fancy pampering tourists" that have been staged in Zibo before?
On the evening of December 31, 2023, in Harbin, tourists were admiring lanterns, watching European-style buildings, and checking in at Internet celebrity attractions on Central Street.
Quite coincidentally, after Zibo became popular in the first half of last year, many places across the country began to learn from Zibo. Among them, Harbin is regarded by netizens as one of the cities that should be visited for experience. Looking at it now, it is not clear whether Harbin has gone to seek Buddhist scriptures, but its actual performance is obviously comparable to Zibo. Behind this, it is not necessarily that Harbin is really "imitating" Zibo, but that Zibo has truly gained popularity through its enthusiastic services, allowing more cities to see the possibility of success in this path and be willing to take action.
Some people say that there may be "masters" behind Harbin's popularity. But in fact, the popularity of any city is difficult to “plan”. Whether it will become popular, to what extent it will become popular, and even how long it will last are all very random.But if you want to "get out of the circle", there are some basic prerequisites, that is, you must have a "user mindset", you must know which bites are "good" for current tourists, and be willing to change them, instead of being superior. Let visitors adapt themselves.
On December 29, 2023, in Harbin, at the Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival Park, a brightly colored hot air balloon became a popular experience among tourists.
Especially in the era of social media and global tourism, this is even more important. Because of this era of tourism, people no longer just check in blindly for a certain 5a attraction, but pay more attention to the experience in the process. Compared with the former, which is more of a symbolic meaning, the latter is supported by details.
For example, the so-called attention-grabbing and propaganda of "making people confused" are actually all about "details determine success or failure" - for tourists to take beautiful photos, Harbin built a large artificial moon; in order to facilitate southern tourists to keep warm, another A warm little house was built; in order to make it easier for tourists to eat Harbin frozen pears, a frozen pear plate was specially designed... These details not only made tourists feel comfortable and respected, but also became material that was constantly spread on the Internet. In the end, It has become an "Internet celebrity" landscape... This is an accurate insight into the minds of tourists in the Internet era and complies with the communication rules of social media.
However, we still have to be reminded that after a city becomes popular, it does not mean that it is "perfect". Some problems may even be further amplified due to the focus of traffic, and the "better" of the tourism market cannot happen overnight. merit. Local management departments and market operators should use this as a driving force to continuously improve services, and tourists should also do more "anticipation management." Of course, any city will always have shortcomings of one kind or another. The key is the attitude and efficiency in solving problems. At least for now, Harbin has caught this wave of "wealth and wealth".
"Since ancient times, routines cannot be retained, only sincerity can be achieved." I believe that as long as we sincerely improve services and treat tourists sincerely, we will definitely be able to win more "sincerity for sincerity" and change from "Internet celebrity" to "long-term popularity".
