Original title: China's tourism development has entered the fast lane (towards a tourism power ①)
Huang Jingwei, reporter of People's Daily Overseas Edition
General Secretary Xi Jinping recently made an important instruction on tourism work, pointing out that since the reform and opening up, especially the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's tourism development has entered the fast lane, forming the world's largest domestic tourism market, becoming the largest source country and major destination of international tourism, and the tourism industry has grown from small to large, from weak to strong, It has increasingly become an emerging strategic pillar industry, livelihood industry and happiness industry with distinctive characteristics of the times, and has successfully embarked on a unique path of China's tourism development. General Secretary Xi Jinping made a comprehensive deployment and made clear requirements for accelerating the construction of a strong tourism country and promoting high-quality development of tourism.
From now on, our newspaper will launch a series of reports on "Towards a Tourism Powerful Country", which will show readers at home and abroad the hot practice of promoting high-quality development of tourism, tell moving stories about tourism creating a better life for people, and highlight the important role of tourism in promoting mutual learning of civilizations.
——Editor
In 2023, the number of domestic tourists will reach 4.891 billion, an increase of nearly 2 billion compared with 2012; In the 10 years from 2012 to 2022, the average annual growth rate of domestic tourism revenue is 10.6%. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China's tourism industry has accelerated its development, continued to expand its scale, and continuously improved its quality. It has effectively driven the development of many industries, and successfully blazed a unique path for China's tourism development. Tourism, as a strategic pillar industry of the national economy, has consolidated its position and become the rigid demand of people for a better life, leaping to a new level in high-quality development.
Highlight economic vitality
Since the beginning of 2023, the domestic tourism market has accelerated to recover with a strong momentum. In 2024, from the Spring Festival to the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, and then to the May Day holiday, the tourism market in many places across the country ushered in explosive growth, and cultural tourism consumption boomed, highlighting the vitality of economic development. In addition to "old" tourist cities, a number of new tourist destinations are also increasingly favored by tourists. "Since 2023, the domestic tourism market has been booming and accelerating its recovery. The inbound and outbound tourism supply chain has gradually recovered, achieving the expected growth, and the tourism economy has maintained the expected growth in quantity and effective improvement in quality." Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Research Institute, said that in 2024, domestic tourism and national leisure will turn to a new stage of prosperity and development. After comprehensive research and judgment, It is estimated that the number of domestic tourists will exceed 6 billion in 2024, and the total number of inbound and outbound tourists is expected to exceed 260 million. The strong tourism demand has also promoted the upgrading and iteration of the tourism industry in various regions. Today, tourism has expanded from a single scenic spot in the past to leisure, cultural awareness, scientific and technological experience and other multi-dimensional development. While strengthening the construction of transportation, communication, accommodation and other hardware facilities, each region relies on local cultural resources and natural resources to create special products and routes to meet the diverse needs of tourists.
In Yuanjia Village, Shaanxi Province, the development of cultural and tourism industry based on "Guanzhong folk customs" has made this small village, which is not dependent on mountains or close to water, a typical example of becoming rich, and has won honors such as "National Civilized Villages and Towns" and "China's Ten Most Beautiful Villages". According to the data, Yuanjia Village receives more than 6 million tourists every year. Tourism has become an important way to increase villagers' income and has driven the employment of more than 10000 surrounding villagers.
As one of the most active regions in China's economy, Guangdong Province has vigorously developed the tourism equipment manufacturing industry and launched a series of high-tech tourism products, such as UAV aerial photography, VR experience hall, etc., attracting a large number of young tourists. Guangzhou Tower Light Show and Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Creative Culture Park have become new business cards of the city.
Scientific and technological innovation has also injected new impetus into the development of China's tourism industry. Build a smart tourism platform, improve the efficiency of tourism management, and provide more personalized services for tourists... Big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other applications continue to help create new tourism scenes.
Present cultural charm
On the old street of Qiantong Ancient Town, Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province, Mason from the United States is participating in the local characteristic "Thousand Table Feast". He is enjoying the old tofu, hollow tofu, dried balsams, wheat cakes and other special foods. Morson is a university professor. This is his third visit to China. "I like Chinese food and Chinese traditional culture. I am impressed by the traditional bamboo carving skills displayed in the museum in this ancient town." Mosen said, "I plan to take my family again to experience the wonderful Chinese culture."
Culture is the soul of tourism. Tourism is not only to see the scenery and take scenic spots, but also to experience and exchange culture. In recent years, on the basis of excavating and inheriting local culture, strengthening the deep integration of regional culture and tourism projects to make tourism "hot" and culture "alive" has become a "magic trick" for many places to promote high-quality development of tourism. For example, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, Datang Never Sleeping City, Datang Furong Garden, and the "Chang'an Twelve Hour" theme block deeply explore Tang culture, create an immersive "Tang Tide" tour, and attract many domestic and foreign tourists to visit.
Recently, the Interpretation Report of the Domestic Historical and Cultural Tourism Boom released at the 22nd Xu Xiake Tourism Festival shows that today's historical and cultural tourism is ushering in a new boom. The Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, the Museum of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty and other historical museums, as well as the ancient towns of Guanxian County, Ciqikou Ancient Town, Zhujiajiao Ancient Town, Tangxi Ancient Town, Qiantong Ancient Town and other ancient towns in Sichuan Chongqing and the Yangtze River Delta are popular with tourists. In the antique scenic spot, wearing a Han suit "clocking in" has become a popular representative of "new Chinese style" tourism. At the Xitang Hanfu Culture Week held at the end of last year, many foreign faces also appeared. They wore traditional Hanfu and experienced a variety of Chinese culture tours.
Colorful life
Tourism has become an important indicator of the improvement of people's living standards. In recent years, various regions have continuously increased the supply of high-quality tourism products, and the number of tourist attractions has continued to increase, with more diversified types. At present, 15700 A-level tourist attractions have been built in China, including 339 5A level tourist attractions. The types of tourist attractions have gradually expanded from traditional natural landscapes and cultural relics to villages, ice and snow, red, theme parks, etc.
In the "Eastern Suburb Memory" Cultural Park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the buildings reconstructed from the former site of the state-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory are full of design and "artistic style", and various exhibitions and performing arts activities held are popular with local and foreign tourists. From the dilapidated factory buildings to the crowded "clocking places", tourism has opened a new door for the protection of old industrial heritage. In Chongqing, Ningxia, Fujian and other places, mine butterflies everywhere have become scenic spots and become good places for people to spend their holidays. There are many examples of poverty alleviation, employment and prosperity through tourism. In Anji, Zhejiang Province, former miners turned into people's hosts and received tourists from all over the world in green waters and mountains; In Changbai Mountain, Jilin Province, former lumberjacks have become employees of tourism companies, enjoying the dividends of local eco-tourism development; In Qimen, Anhui, tea farmers can sell all their tea at home
While accelerating the development of eco-tourism, rural tourism, red tourism, health care tourism, research tourism and other forms of tourism industry, more tourists can enjoy the beautiful China, experience the splendid civilization and feel the vitality of development on the journey.
