At present, Harbin has become the "top" city of Internet celebrities. While people are paying attention to another phenomenon-level craze, Zibo, Shandong, which was out of the circle last year, has also returned to the public eye. Why did these two internet celebrity tourist cities become popular? What are the similarities and differences? Facing the cooling of the craze, is Zibo ready to make new preparations and continue to create traffic myths in 2024?
From Harbin to Zibo, with various questions, Red Star News reporters had an exclusive conversation with Yan Xu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Zibo Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau. He told Red Star News that it was unexpected for Zibo to be out of the spotlight due to barbecue, but it was expected that Zibo would continue to be popular.
▲ Harbin and Zibo cultural tourism departments link up
Now, when Harbin takes over the "traffic baton" from Zibo, as a person who has experienced the development of Zibo's cultural tourism and cultural tourism industry, Yan Xu is sending blessings while also comparing I saw the gap between Zibo cultural tourism and Harbin...
Harbin is becoming popular, how does Zibo feel?
Yan Xu: Serving as an example, I am sincerely happy for Harbin
Red Star News: Many netizens said that today, when Harbin’s cultural tourism is booming, they have seen the shadow of Zibo’s past. As one of the leaders of Zibo’s cultural tourism, How do you feel now?
Yan Xu: We are very much looking forward to seeing more other cities experience the popularity of Zibo at that time, especially Harbin’s high popularity this time. We are sincerely happy for them.
As a cultural traveler in Zibo, we are not jealous of the current tourism boom in Harbin. On the contrary, we believe that Harbin can become popular and use our own practical actions to keep the traffic flowing. This has played a strong role model for more cities, including Zibo.
Red Star News: How does understand this demonstration effect?
Yan Xu: For example, Harbin’s online and offline tourism promotions can effectively improve the quality of urban services, improve infrastructure construction, and respect the spirit of tourists. Zibo and even many city cultural and tourism departments can learn from it.
▲In order to take care of southern tourists who are not familiar with ice and snow roads, the underground passage of Harbin Central Street has been paved with carpets. According to Visual China
Harbin’s sweet tofu curd and frozen pear slices and carvings were “ridiculed” by netizens. The local government also invited Oroqen people to parade and linked up with other cities to exchange specialties. In fact, this is to respect tourists and improve service quality. Performance. Therefore, as cultural travelers, we are not jealous of Harbin, but wish Harbin well and feel happy for Harbin.
Red Star News: What do you think of the statement on the Internet that "Hainan's biggest competitor turned out to be Erbin" this winter?
Yan Xu: The fundamental reason for is that we have entered the "era of sinking tourism." In the past, people naturally believed that tourists would migrate south in winter to escape the cold in warm cities. But things are different now. In the era of the sinking tourism industry, tourists are attracted by the special fireworks and unique cultural phenomena of different cities, and are no longer limited to seasonal tourism migration.
Therefore, Harbin, as a northern city, can attract southern tourists this winter because people see the charm of ice and snow in this city. This is a good phenomenon, because it provides possibilities for more seemingly inconspicuous small towns. This also means that even cities without abundant tourism resources can become popular for some sudden reason.
For example, Jiangmen, which became popular with the TV series "Crazy", and Rongjiang, Guizhou, which became popular because of the "Village Super", etc. Because the hot spots of people's attention are constantly changing, any city has a 5-minute chance to become popular. But more importantly, when the heat comes, can this city be able to withstand the "flooding wealth"?
Red Star News: As an Internet celebrity city that became popular earlier, what do you want to say to Harbin?
Yan Xu: opportunities are reserved for cities that are prepared. Tourists will use a magnifying glass to pick and choose, but Harbin’s reputation is obvious to all. This is based on Harbin’s preparations over the past year to continuously improve the city’s service capabilities, upgrade products, and meet the needs of tourists. Therefore, Zibo wishes them well and will work with them.
Why is the industrial city Zibo so popular for its barbecue?
Yan Xu: The barbecue fire was unexpected, but the continued fire is expected.
Red Star News: Zibo, as a traditional industrial city, exploded due to barbecue last year. Was this expected by the local government?
Yan Xu: It was unexpected that became popular due to barbecue, but it is expected that it will continue to be popular. In fact, Zibo has its own cultural business cards, such as the famous city of Taoliu, the birthplace of football and Boshan cuisine, but these have nothing to do with barbecue, so I really didn’t expect Zibo to be famous for barbecue.
▲Tao Liu art is one of Zibo’s cultural business cards. According to Visual China
, we later analyzed the reasons. After college students started school on March 4 last year, we unexpectedly found that the surrounding population entering Zibo increased. What’s even more strange is that most of them are students, and they all rush to eat barbecue.
But then I thought about it and figured it out. After the surrounding college students returned to campus, it happened to be the spring and summer barbecue season, and Zibo barbecue was cheap and affordable, so it attracted many college students. Then, the students spontaneously checked in to promote the event on the Internet, and the Zibo barbecue industry went out of business.
Red Star News: is very popular in Zibo. Some people think that there is a cultural and tourism department behind it to promote it?
Yan Xu: depends on how the word "promote" is understood. It is not a promoter of the Internet, but a promoter of improving the quality of urban services.
We advocate the development concept of "all-region tourism" and "host-guest sharing". Therefore, Zibo Cultural Tourism is not just deliberately created to attract tourists. The ultimate goal is to improve the entire city's infrastructure and improve the entire tourism resources. In this way, not only tourists can enjoy a better tourism experience, but the living standards of local people in Zibo can also be improved.
I agree with the popular "city walk" concept. Tourists go to other cities to experience the city's fireworks and the living atmosphere of the locals. In Zibo, the cityscape and citizen spirit that tourists see are not pretentious but what they are. The scenic spots in Zibo are not built just to attract tourists and do not allow local people to participate.
Therefore, under the concept of "sharing between host and guest", the development of cultural tourism in Zibo is shared by everyone and co-constructed by everyone. It is by no means a marketing or deception. The popularity of
has lasted for half a year. Why did Zibo catch the "flooding wealth"?
Yan Xu: We listen to advice
Red Star News: Many people comment that the root of Zibo’s popularity is the four words "political connections and people". How do you understand it?
Yan Xu: We are very grateful to netizens for giving such a high evaluation of Zibo. However, Zibo's ability to provide tourism services to everyone's satisfaction is inseparable from the full cooperation of various departments, each performing its own duties. In addition, we also found that actually reading more comments and comments from netizens and paying more attention to the voices of tourists can often achieve twice the result with half the effort.
We have personal experience. At first, the official made many travel guides for tourists, but later we found that it would be better for tourists to share their own guides on the Internet, so we also added tourists’ guides. This shows that tourists themselves do not lack knowledge about tourist cities. The so-called "government and people's coordination" actually means being able to pay attention to the demands of the people and then implement their reasonable suggestions as well and as quickly as possible.
Red Star News: Zibo government departments will really take the suggestions and comments of netizens seriously?
Yan Xu: Of course I will read , and I will focus on those bad and fault-finding comments. Including various online platforms, we must pay attention to the suggestions and suggestions of netizens. If someone raises a problem, we will check and rectify it. If someone gives good suggestions, we will hold a meeting to discuss the feasibility. To use current Internet buzzwords, it means Zibo listens to advice.
▲ Zibo "Haiyue Dragon Palace Barbecue Experience Area" Pictured by Visual China
For example, the "Haiyue Dragon Palace Barbecue Experience Area" we launched, actually the original idea came from the suggestions of netizens. At that time, someone suggested launching a "BBQ Festival". Our bureau, together with the Municipal Commerce Bureau and other departments, held a meeting to discuss and basically decided on the spot to implement the netizen's suggestions. The planning plan was roughly finalized within a few days of the meeting.After more than a month of preparation, the "Haiyue Dragon Palace Barbecue Experience Site" successfully met tourists in time for the May Day holiday.
Red Star News: Zibo’s phenomenal tourism boom lasted from early April last year to after the National Day holiday. What supports the continuation of the boom?
Yan Xu: , on the one hand, Zibo can continuously adapt to market demand, and on the other hand, Zibo can continue to meet the actual needs of tourists. Zibo is a thousand-year-old city. When tourists come to Zibo for barbecue, they not only eat barbecue, but also look at the city with a magnifying glass. They consider the quality of city services and explore more tourism resources in the city. After many people come to have barbecue, they pay attention to Zibo's pottery art. Every bit of cultural characteristics are discovered, which can naturally attract tourists for a long time.
Of course, Zibo can be well received by tourists, which is also inseparable from the honest management and friendly hospitality of our market entities. Even ordinary citizens can organize themselves to maintain the city's image and work hard to receive guests. This has to be mentioned what is engraved in the bones of us Shandong people. Under the influence of the long-term Qi culture, qualities such as enthusiasm, honesty, and polite hospitality have become the foundation. This cannot be faked in a day or two.
To sum up, the fundamental reason behind Zibo’s continued attention is “beautiful people, good things, and unity of mind.”
Zibo’s popularity has waned. How to deal with it in the future?
Yan Xu: It is impossible to stand at the peak of traffic forever. Compared with Harbin, we still have a gap.
Red Star News: Do you feel that the popularity of Zibo is lost now?
Yan Xu: If traffic can go up, it will inevitably decline. It is impossible to stay at the top forever. This is a rule and is expected. But this heat loss is only compared to the previous peak. After this round of tourists' attention to Zibo, the number of tourists in Zibo has increased a lot compared to the same period in previous years.
▲Yan Xu Pictures According to Qilu Evening News
Let’s talk about the data. The "2024 New Year's Day New Year's Eve Tourism Report" released by Ctrip some time ago shows that Zibo has ranked first among the top ten dark horse New Year's Eve destinations in China on New Year's Day, with tourism order volume An increase of over 1628%. This was unimaginable in the past.
Red Star News: After the popularity of has passed, do we have to review the shortcomings of the development of Zibo's cultural tourism industry?
Yan Xu: There are definitely deficiencies in . Comparing it with Harbin, we still have a big gap. For example, in the construction of tourism infrastructure, as a general industrial city, most of our targeted tourists are business travelers, so the number of hotels is It cannot keep up. Compared with many provincial capital cities and tourist cities, this is an obvious shortcoming.
The second one is the lack of our core scenic spots. So far, Zibo does not have a 5a-level scenic spot. This is also our focus to improve in the future. The third is that we have entered the era of leisure and vacation tourism, but Zibo's leisure and vacation facilities are not enough, and there are no complete urban service blocks. These are areas that we need to improve and improve.
Red Star News: So what is the development focus of Zibo’s cultural tourism industry this year?
Yan Xu: We regard 2024 as our industry development year. This year we will focus on developing the tourism industry, try our best to launch a number of higher-level scenic spots, and at the same time continuously improve tourism facilities. To sum it up in one sentence, I hope tourists will come to Zibo again when spring comes and flowers bloom, to experience a different Zibo.
Red Star News reporter Yang Yuqi intern Zhang Junjie
editor Zhang Xun editor-in-chief Wei Kongming
