Even though New Year's Day has passed more than a week ago, Harbin still dominates the hot search rankings, showing its full potential as the first "top" city this year.
In previous cold winters, the warmer south was often more popular among tourists. This year, there has been a "North-South countercurrent" in the number of tourists. Harbin, a well-established Internet celebrity in Northeast China, received more than 3.04 million tourists during the three-day New Year's Day holiday, and its tourism revenue reached a historical peak of 5.9 billion.
The people of Harbin provide meticulous, considerate and humane services. Compared with some short-lived "Internet celebrity check-in spots", Harbin has everything from food, drink, entertainment, history and culture. "Erbin, who is popular if you are not popular?"
"Tourism must become a comprehensive industry." Just as Deng Xiaoping foresaw when my country first launched tourism 45 years ago, it can stand out in the "involution" of cultural tourism in various places. Those who continue to be popular must be "all-around players."
From "resource rice" to "service rice"
Tourism is now commonplace. In fact, our country has been engaged in tourism for only more than 40 years.
In 1978, the reform and opening up began to focus on the economy, and the development of tourism was officially put on the agenda. Within a year, Deng Xiaoping talked about tourism many times: "There is much to be done in tourism, and it must be done prominently and quickly." But no one knew how to do it, and they were all trying to cross the river by feeling the stones.
At the beginning, my country’s tourism mainly relied on “resource food”.
According to Shen Han, a professor at the Department of Tourism at Fudan University and executive deputy secretary-general of the International Tourism Society, in the 1980s and 1990s, both foreign and domestic tourists mainly engaged in "check-in" sightseeing - signing up for a trip. If you are a group, the bus will take you directly to the scenic spot, and then leave after watching the tour.
Whoever gets the resources will win the world. A place with many scenic spots, a good reputation and complete infrastructure will naturally attract more tourists. At that time, the main focus of tourism in various places was resource construction - developing scenic spots and historic sites, building hotels, building roads, improving the transportation system...
Therefore, the old-school tourist cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Sanya were at the forefront. , Huangshan, Guilin, Chengdu, etc. Most of them are blessed with famous mountains, rivers, cultural monuments, and have been engaged in tourism for many years, with rich experience and relatively complete supporting facilities.
Around 2000, tourism began to eat "capital rice". The first Golden Week in 1999 completely opened up the domestic tourism market, with a large influx of capital. Coupled with the accelerated pace of urban life, people are no longer satisfied with catching up when traveling, but also want to find a place for vacation and leisure.
As a result, various large-scale resorts, amusement parks, theme parks, antique towns, commercial streets, etc., built by capital, have sprung up. "Some places where tourism resources are not outstanding can also be established with the help of large funds and large projects. Tourism can be developed, and Shenzhen is a typical example." Professor Shen Han said. As
has grown in scale, it has naturally given rise to a lot of chaos: customer rip-offs, sameness, chaotic management, and selling dog meat... With more tourists, there are more complaints. The focus of tourism work is to focus on construction. It became management.
Later, the epidemic plunged the tourism industry into a cold winter. Until the beginning of 2023, the frustrated cultural tourism industry in various places was working hard to attract tourists. "This time, I will take back everything I lost." The first to go into battle were the cultural and tourism directors.
In the era of social media, "everyone has a chance to become famous for 15 minutes", and the same is true for cities. The "talent show" of the director of culture and tourism, the check-in of bloggers and trendy people, and the encouragement of netizens. Once the fission spread begins on social media, third- and fourth-tier cities that had previously "never heard of it" can also spread in a short period of time. C position debut.
Jiangmen, Zibo, Mangshi... these places without rich tourism resources have attracted a large number of tourists with their simple enthusiasm, human touch and fireworks.
Travel has enjoyed "service rice".
Resources + services, a richer experience
“Nowadays, when people travel, they want a more unique experience and better services. However, without a rich and diversified tourism resources and cultural tourism products, warm service alone is not enough. "
Professor Shen Han believes that traffic comes and goes quickly. To truly do a good job in the tourism industry, resources, services, capital, product systems, etc. are all indispensable.
"From the perspective of building a high-quality, comprehensive tourism industry system, Harbin is a good example."
What made Harbin popular on the Internet this winter was its meticulous and thoughtful service.
As early as early December last year, the Harbin Commerce Bureau issued a proposal to maintain the order of the tourism market. If tourists could not book a room, the National People’s Congress Service Center could still make room for them; tourists repeatedly complained about excessive taxi charges, and Harbin unified the installation New fare meters have been installed; in order to allow tourists to enjoy their time, the airport bus and subway have also extended their operating hours...
Tourism is ultimately a service industry. The thoughtfulness and down-to-earth attitude reflected in details such as catering, accommodation, and transportation industries are important bonus points. What's even more rare is that Harbin is carefully studying the likes and dislikes of tourists, which is what everyone jokingly calls the "pleasant city style."
Tourists wanted to take pictures of the snowy scene with the moon, so an artificial moon rose above Sophia Cathedral; Southerners were afraid of the cold, so a "Tourist Warm Station" was built on the street to provide free heating and hot water; Tourists wanted to experience the West It’s so charming that even the horses are given black wings to cosplay as “Pegasus”... Even the locals said, “Erbin, you make me a little strange.”
"Being consumer-oriented is a very important change in thinking. Optimizing services does not necessarily mean spending a lot of money, but revitalizing existing resources to make them more refined and three-dimensional."
However, and Unlike Zibo, which was also famous for its enthusiasm and sincerity last year, Harbin's tourism is not entirely driven by traffic. Professor Shen Han introduced that Harbin itself is a traditional tourist city and has been vigorously developing the ice and snow tourism industry for many years. This winter’s brilliant debut is both unexpected and reasonable.
As an old tourist city, Harbin has rich financial resources. The World of Ice and Snow, Central Street, Sophia Cathedral, Chinese Baroque Historical and Cultural Street, Volga Manor, Xuexiang, Harbin Grand Theater, Concert Hall, Museum Group, etc., tourists will not have to worry about having nothing to do.
On this basis, Harbin has identified its own advantages-ice and snow resources, and policies and funds have given strong support. Last year, a new investment of 345 million yuan was invested in the Four Seasons Ice and Snow Project of Ice and Snow World, and more than 20 cultural tourism projects started construction.
In addition to the Ice and Snow World, there are also the Sun Island Snow Expo, Harbin Polar Pavilion, Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival, as well as Internet celebrity check-in walls, lantern streets, laser shows, etc. that cater to young tourists. Harbin’s cultural tourism products feature one Rich and diverse.
"From the perspective of Harbin's tourism resources and service system, it has sufficient carrying capacity and sustainable competitiveness." In other words, when the traffic comes, it can be caught and retained.
The same old thing doesn’t work anymore
If Harbin is an example of comprehensively driven tourism industry, Professor Shen Han believes that the future cultural tourism industry will become "creative driven": based on existing tourism resources, services, product systems, capital, etc. , with technology and creativity, it is refreshing.
"For example, Luoyang and Xi'an have rich cultural heritage and tourism resources, and they have worked hard on cultural creativity in recent years. Whether it is Luoyang's "Looking for Luo Shen Fu" and "Tang Palace Banquet" performances, or Xi'an's Datang Night City , are all a combination of cultural creativity and tourism."
Of course, more importantly, these winners in the "involution" of cultural tourism have given some established tourism cities a wake-up call - the old methods no longer work.
To this day, many places still adhere to the old concept: use the limited peak season to make as much money as possible; they always think that rich and unique tourism resources can make the wine delicious and not afraid of the deep alleys. In addition, the management is still careless, and the service and supporting facilities are also so-so.
Ten yuan a bottle of mineral water, chaotic and crowded scenic spots, rip-off restaurants and tour guides, cookie-cutter commercial streets... Tourists are obviously happy to travel, but they find themselves looking for trouble in another place.
In fact, everyone doesn’t want much. Go out for a walk during your precious vacation, spend the money you should spend, see different scenery, and enjoy the services you deserve. It’s that simple.
Tourism is not only an economic industry, but also a people's industry, a service industry, and a cultural industry.
Harbin is just the beginning. It can be predicted that in the future "involution" of cultural tourism, the "all-round players" will have the last laugh.
Where are you going to travel this winter? Chat in the comment section.
Source: CCTV.com
