As "Erbin" became the first "top stream" at the beginning of 2024, netizens from all over the country could not sit still and shouted to their hometown's cultural and tourism bureau to "come and copy the homework." How can
catch this overwhelming wealth? Cultural tourism companies from all over the world have tried their best to use marketing methods such as "topic tactics", beauty traps, calling celebrities to come home for endorsements, and making local videos to create memes. This once refreshed netizens' understanding of cultural tourism promotion. Netizens called " It’s so enlightening that it’s scary.”
This Internet carnival tourism marketing craze has also made people in the tourism industry unfamiliar. Zeng Bowei, director of the China Tourism Economics and Policy Research Center at Beijing Union University, lamented to Southern Weekend reporters that the performance of cultural tourism in various places is very different from the past. "I think cultural tourism has made great progress. It has lowered its stature, even if it is self-deprecating, making the government's image more approachable. In my opinion, its significance has exceeded the tourism promotion itself."
Internet industry analyst Zhang Shule I saw strong "interaction" in it, not only between cultural tourism and netizens in various places, but also between cultural tourism. "The cultural and tourism department finally knows how to play, and it is no longer a traditional routine."
“I am determined to be the winner of this volume”
While other cultural tourism has not yet found a niche, Henan has already become a hot topic thanks to the “beautiful man trick”.
In order to welcome tourists from all over the country, on January 12, at the exit gate of Longmen High-speed Railway Station in Luoyang, Henan, a group of 1.85-meter-tall "warriors" wearing golden armor and holding red tassel guns lined up to greet passengers exiting the station. Shouted: "Luoyang, the capital of the gods, welcomes Her Royal Highness back to the city."
All major scenic spots in Henan followed suit. The homepage of Henan Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area shows that in the snow of Yuntai Mountain, a muscular man is naked with his upper body, wearing a horse-faced skirt and holding a long knife, showing his chivalrous appearance; Xinxiang Nantaihang Tourist Resort is also following this Wave traffic showed a promotional video in August 2023. In the video, strong men were naked from the waist down, kneeling in front of a waterfall and roaring to the sky. Netizens were so addicted that they jokingly said, "I'm telling you to attract tourists, not to seduce them." ".
Henan Culture and Tourism has "crazy points", and Jiangxi Culture and Tourism also came to share a piece of the pie at the call of netizens. First, the official account name was changed from "Jiangxi Scenery is Uniquely Beautiful" to "Jiangxi Culture and Tourism". Later, netizens suggested opening the submission mailbox with the main message "Listen to advice." On January 11, Jiangxi Culture and Tourism made a harsh statement: "I am determined to be the king of the paper today." Two days later, Jiangxi Culture and Tourism sent a muscular man named "Jin Yiwei" with his upper body exposed, calling on netizens to "come and give Jiangxi Culture and Tourism a big score." .
"If you want to succeed, go crazy first and rush forward at all costs." On January 14, Chongqing Cultural Tourism released a scene from the movie "All or Nothing", which matched the cheering people in the original video with the names of districts and counties in Chongqing. With the topic "Chongqing's cultural tourism is in urgent need", it was on Douyin's hot list that day.
Directors of culture and tourism have also become the focus of this “competition”. On January 13, the director of the Harbin Acheng District Culture and Tourism Bureau appeared at the Ice and Snow World and led the dance on stage. The audience was delighted. Many netizens made comments and made jokes, urging the director of his cultural tourism bureau to hurry up and get things done.
Netizens who were also anxious began to frantically solicit jobs for their own cultural and tourism directors, with the main slogan "I don't care whether the directors live or die." Netizens joked, "Our director of the Shandong Culture and Tourism Bureau can climb Mount Tai in ten minutes", "Our director of the Shanxi Culture and Tourism Bureau can show off three pounds of vinegar in one breath", "Our director of the Hebei Culture and Tourism Bureau can do 50 sets of perfect test papers in one breath", and some even A Henan netizen boasted, "Our director of culture and tourism can fly."
At the same time, various places are also using the celebrity effect to promote themselves and "roll" their own stars. Chongqing Cultural Tourism invited Xiao Zhan to help, and it became a hot topic on Weibo on January 14. Hebei Cultural Tourism also called for Zhao Liying to come home as a spokesperson. Zhao Liying replied in the comment area, "I'm here! I carry the banner for Hebei Cultural Tourism." Inner Mongolia Cultural Tourism quickly found Phoenix Legend. Linghua rode a black horse in a majestic and domineering manner, "My grassland, my horse, I can play whatever I want."
Culture and tourism from all over the world are vying to be conspicuous, and they are showing their talents on the Internet platform. Zhang Shule "has no choice but to pay attention", and the push of major platforms "directly rushes into his eyes". In his impression, in the past, the promotion of cultural tourism in various places was more "upright" and focused on grandeur, "but now it has begun to lower its profile, actively interact with netizens, and become more down-to-earth."
"Zibo became very popular last year. All the cultural and tourism bureaus in Shandong went to Zibo to solicit tourists. Many directors of cultural and tourism bureaus went to get advice. Now the whole country is going to Harbin, and they must go together to raise this hot spot. It is not just about watching. If you are lively, I will be lively too." In Zhang Shule's view, Harbin's tourism outing in 2024 is a further step forward in continuing last year's Zibo BBQ model. When cultural tourism from all over the country participates, the popularity of tourism promotion will increase. High, and thus everyone benefits. "From another perspective, this kind of linkage between cultural tourism in various places is actually not an involution, but a kind of external expansion."
"Obviously not a way of expression for an organization"
Compared with serious promotional videos, crazy promotional videos are more cost-effective for a while. On September 21, 2023, Harbin Cultural Tourism played a role in "local dog literature" through the shout-out video "My surname is Ha": "My surname is Ha, drink Haha, everyone from all over the world praises me, slippery in the ice and snow, thousands of miles across the country I'm the best." At that time, some Harbin citizens said they wished they could cancel their accounts on the spot regarding their song "My Surname is Ha".
But after four months, Harbin tourism exploded, and Shandong cultural tourism followed suit. On January 11, 2024, a Shandong local flavor shouting wheat video turned out: "My surname is Dong, Da Shandong, the Yellow River, Taishan and San "Kong" and other rhyming lyrics are paired with magical brainwashing melody and rhythm, and promotional videos of local scenic spots have become popular all over the Internet. Just like "Erbin makes Harbin people strange", netizens commented that "Shandong cultural tourism makes Shandong people silent." . As of the evening of January 15, the promotional video had received 1.065 million likes and 606,000 comments on Douyin.
This move attracted cultural and tourism bureaus from all over the country to imitate it. Sichuan, Chongqing, Ningxia, Guangxi, Hubei and other places followed closely, all releasing videos calling Mai in the style of "My last name is ×". Although netizens in the comment area commented that "the toes are digging out of the three bedrooms and one living room", they have to admit that this kind of brainwashing video is a traffic code.
html On January 14, Cao Jinpeng, the author of the original sound of "My Surname is Shi", who has been hailed by many cultural and tourism accounts, showed his computer desktop, which was densely packed with audio files that were hailed by cultural tourism accounts from various places. He said that he sat for more than ten hours a day and shouted more than 80 times. "Recently, cultural tourism has been involved in various places. Why am I the one who suffers? My microphone is smoking.""This kind of shouting is fast-paced and takes only tens of seconds or a minute. It doesn't waste everyone's time. It's also very magical. , which conforms to the communication characteristics of short videos." Zhang Shule believes that compared with the slow-paced high-end scenic blockbusters in the past, the fast-paced approach that is earthy and not vulgar is more popular with traffic because of its down-to-earth atmosphere. If the latter is used well, it can also achieve top-notch results.
"It is actually not easy for a government department that has always had a serious image to do this." From various trendy publicity tricks, Zeng Bowei can see that the cultural and tourism departments have liberated their minds, and the starting point behind all the tricks is the same. Exceptions are made to please consumers. "Unlike before, when we do tourism promotion, we mainly use traditional one-way promotion methods such as advertising on TV stations and participating in tourism trade fairs. We don't pay much attention to the audience's preferences."
From the current marketing methods of cultural tourism in various places, The cultural and tourism departments are actively catering to the preferences of young audiences, and the "contrast cuteness" of government departments is also very popular among netizens. "When you look at some of the copywriting, it is obvious that it is not the expression of government agencies. Many cultural and tourism departments will outsource services to some marketing agencies. We must affirm their attitude of interacting with consumers attentively." Zeng Bowei said.
’s new attempt in the cultural and tourism sector has indeed gained huge traffic.Taking the "Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers" (Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, and Henan) as an example, Xindu data shows that in the past month (December 17, 2023-January 15, 2024), Henan Cultural Tourism increased its fans by 128.08 Ten thousand, Hebei Cultural Tourism gained 564,100 followers, Shandong Cultural Tourism gained 186,500 followers, and Shanxi Cultural Tourism gained 128,200 followers.
Among them, Hebei Cultural Tourism became famous for its "Thaihai Tactics". On January 13 alone, Hebei Cultural Tourism updated 75 videos a day, and was reminded by Douyin officials that “it’s too much to post in one go, please take a rest first.” In response, Hebei Cultural Tourism responded that "75 is the limit for Douyin, not Hebei Cultural Tourism." On the same day, Shanxi Cultural Tourism said: "Just roll it! The review speed can't keep up with the publishing speed!"
html On January 14, Shanxi Cultural Tourism announced that "Starting today, Jinbao will not take a lunch break and officially declares war on Hebei Cultural Tourism." . Hebei Cultural Tourism also insisted on releasing videos between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and the topic "Hebei Cultural Tourism made me cry in the editing" sparked heated discussions. Netizens joked that "I was caught in Shanxi Cultural Tourism and cried"...Sichuan Cultural Tourism is in this situation He also won the title of "Model Worker" in the "Cultural and Tourism Bureau Competition". On January 13, Sichuan Cultural Tourism released 62 promotional videos on the Douyin platform from 0:00 to 24:00. In addition, Sichuan Cultural Tourism also continues to encourage prefecture-level municipal cultural tourism and local residents to actively contribute articles to "higher points" for Sichuan.
In addition to the single-player combat mode, cultural tourism in various places also does not forget to "join forces". Sichuan Cultural Tourism, Chongqing Cultural Tourism, Yunnan and Guizhou Provincial Departments of Culture and Tourism jointly released "The Legend of Southwest F4", which uniquely shows the southwest region The local customs and customs of Sichuan and Chongqing are frequently interacted with each other, and they shout to each other on the short video platform to remind each other to update videos.
Just when pk was in full swing everywhere, on January 14, Hunan slowly launched a nonsense literature promotional video: "Hunan is the only province in the country that has both 'Culture and Tourism Hunan' and 'Hunan Culture and Tourism'." This is consistent with 2023 The promotional video for Hunan’s cultural tourism in December 2018 is in the same vein: “Hunan is the only province in China called Hunan.” Hunan netizens “feel like they can’t hold their heads up.”
After various cultural and tourism companies released videos calling for Mai, netizens expressed that their "hanging hearts have finally died" and joked that they had decided to "sign a mutual non-laughing treaty".
helped bloggers from all over the cultural and tourism industries to shout out to Mai, and they called hundreds of them in two days. Visual China
From "I want you to come" to "You want to come"
"This also reflects the local anxiety in economic development, like a pre-examination assault class, making temporary response plans." Zeng Bowei analyzed that today's local development pressure is relatively large, and tourism, as an important driver of the consumer economy, has also become a major point of competition for various regions. "So now the local government attaches great importance to tourism, and will take active actions if there is an opportunity. In addition to attracting tourists, it can also attract investors."
But can this wave of traffic really attract tourists who come to spend money? "It is very likely that everyone will join in the fun in the end, but overall, this is definitely a good sign." Zeng Bowei said.
Zhang Shule also believes that the current Internet carnival is more about "asking you to come". How to achieve "you want to come" requires cultural tourism in various places to spend more efforts to improve substantive services.
"We used to say that investment could not be limited to the three northeastern provinces, and in many cases, tourism could not be limited to the three northeastern provinces." Zhang Shule told Southern Weekend reporters that in the past, negative news about Heilongjiang's scenic spots emerged one after another, but this time Harbin has made a wonderful turnaround. The marketing method attracts attention, mainly because of the sincerity of the service, such as laying anti-slip carpets on Central Street and hanging the moon to accompany tourists to take photos... "Only when the details of this kind of service are carefully considered can we be able to absorb this overwhelming wealth, otherwise we will fall out of the circle. It’s just for a while.”
Zhang Shule also discovered that cultural tourism has recently shown a trend in terms of services: giving tourists the opportunity to earn money. For example, when the roads in Xinjiang were blocked by heavy snow, the article "Free accommodation and food for tourists" became a hot search again. Jiangsu, a major cultural province, even launched 1,200 cultural and tourism activities during New Year's Day, with free tickets, half-price tickets, free public transportation, and free parking spaces... "The biggest beneficiaries of the 'volume service' are the majority of tourists."
Zeng Bowei added, do a good job Service is one aspect. It also needs to be based on the cultural resources of the region itself to build a city's brand.When a city's brand effect spills over, it brings not only tourism revenue itself, but also helps improve the city's visibility and brand image. "The explosion of Harbin has brought benefits far beyond tourism revenue. Tourism revenue may not be much more than before, but the change in its city's brand image is positive."
various marketing campaigns for this online carnival Zeng Bowei believes that it is a good thing for the cultural and tourism sector to be able to use new media to spread marketing rules, but if it is not used properly, it can easily "overturn".
html On January 16, Southern Weekend reporters found out that some promotional videos have indeed caused controversy. For example, on the same day, Jiangxi Cultural Tourism released a set of promotional videos featuring "Little Jack Ma" Fan Xiaoqin, with the caption "Who ordered Fan Xiaoqin? Here he is." Fan Xiaoqin, who has a second-level intellectual disability, had previously caused heated discussions when he stopped a car on the street and asked for money. The promotional video was also removed from the shelves amid doubts from netizens. On the same day, Zhangjiajie’s “Xiangxi Hunan Corpse Drive” promotional video disappeared, and famous scenes such as the “muscular man with bare upper body” in the Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area in Henan were also removed from the official account."The public needs to look at the degree of cultural tourism promotion rationally. We often have a misunderstanding. We believe that marketing is omnipotent, as long as it creates a hot topic. But some people use gimmicks for the sake of gimmicks and pursue short-term effects to engage in some creative ideas that may be excessive, which can attract temporary attention. traffic, but it may not be beneficial to the long-term development of the local area." Zeng Bowei said that tourism is not a one-time deal, and long-term considerations should be taken when promoting it.
Zeng Bowei told Southern Weekend reporters that local development has many aspects, and the cultural and tourism department is just one department located at the front end of the city. "We can lower our profile in terms of tourism promotion, but in the future, can we further lower our profile and innovate in terms of the business environment and serving the people? This change can actually be expanded."
Southern Weekend reporter Zheng Dan Southern Weekend Intern Zhang Yongqi Wu Peiru
Editor-in-Chief Tan Chang
