Flowers bloom all over the city, visitors are like a weaver, and Xuzhou’s cultural and tourism industry welcomes a “little spring”. Ctrip has released a travel forecast for the Qingming Festival, and Xuzhou has been selected as one of the top ten dark horse tourist destinations for the festival due to a more than 5-fold year-on-year increase in order volume. On March 26th, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a new batch of approved national cultural industry demonstration bases, and Xuzhou Cultural Tourism Group Co., Ltd. was named as the new batch of national cultural industry demonstration bases.
From the “hot and spicy” during the Spring Festival and the “little sunny spring” in spring, to adding the honor of “national brand” to Xuzhou’s cultural tourism. With a rich supply of high-quality cultural and tourism products and cultural and tourism consumption carriers, Xuzhou seizes development opportunities, emphasizes technology leadership in the digital age, cultivates new quality productivity in the cultural and tourism industry, iteratively creates new growth points in cultural and tourism, and makes cultural and tourism hot and economic prosperous.
Integrating new technologies to shape experiences with intelligence
On the evening of March 12th, the night tour performance of “Pengcheng Fenghua” at Yunlong Lake welcomed the first performance of this spring.
With the rapid development of technology, digital technology is constantly creating new cultural patterns in Xuzhou. The Pengcheng Fenghua, created by Xuzhou Cultural Tourism Group Co., Ltd., innovatively applies various cutting-edge technologies and artistic presentation methods, allowing audiences to experience a diverse artistic atmosphere in live performances and immerse themselves in the scenes of that era. Data shows that in its first year of operation, “Pengcheng Fenghua” has received over 120000 visitors, with audience feedback far exceeding expectations. Out of town tourists account for over 55% of the total, and market praise has rapidly increased. Self media has rated it as “super like”, successfully creating a benchmark product for “cultural tourism” in the Huaihai Economic Zone.
The application of digitalization has enriched the supply of all-weather cultural and tourism products. In recent years, Xuzhou’s cultural and tourism industry has vigorously implemented the “Moon Building Project”, and a large number of cultural and tourism projects have successively opened and operated. Tourism products created using digital technologies such as virtual reality and big data are deeply loved by tourists.
On the evening of March 22nd, accompanied by a dazzling light show, amusement projects were taking turns at Xuzhou Amusement Park. “The feeling during the day is completely different, and visiting Xuzhou Amusement Park at night is like opening up a new world,” said tourist Lin Yuxin.
Xuzhou Amusement Park combines local elements, culture, and modern trendy elements to provide tourists with the best park experience, and plans and extends a series of innovative themed activities and gameplay. The “Legend of the Fallen Demons” launched in October last year and the “New Year Lantern Festival” launched this year’s Spring Festival have created a unique brand image and made a brilliant debut. During this year’s Spring Festival holiday, Xuzhou Amusement Park received a total of 197300 visitors, a year-on-year increase of 130%, setting a new historical record for the same period since its opening. The highest daily passenger flow was nearly 40000, also reaching a new historical high.
In recent years, Xuzhou’s cultural and tourism department has been accelerating the development of smart tourism characterized by digitization, networking, and intelligence. The Municipal Culture and Tourism Group has launched a smart tourism system to create a giant tourism product for Yunlong Lake, covering various areas such as the Yunlong Lake Cruise Terminal, Ropeway, and Aquarium. The perception tentacles extend to various parts of the scenic area. At the same time, the group is accelerating the digital transformation of the cultural and tourism industry. With the help of new media marketing and online access to the supply chain of scenic spot tickets and other products, the existing resources will increase revenue by over 10 million yuan in 2023.
Exploring New Value and Leading the Industry with “Technology”
The cultural and tourism industry is essentially a green industry. The promotion of the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture cannot be separated from the combination with technological innovation.
On March 20th, in the Xiangbao Culture Courtyard of Mazhuang Village, Pan’anhu Street, Jiawang District, the “embroiderers” were busy, accompanied by the sound of laser cutting machines working, and pieces of fabric were quickly cut neatly. Since the end of last year, Mazhuang Village has been focusing on the theme of innovation, continuously making efforts in new production materials, new products and services, etc. “Last year, the sales revenue of Mazhuang sachets exceeded 10 million yuan, driving nearly 400 people to find employment.” Wang Xia, Deputy Secretary of the Mazhuang Village Party Committee and Director of the Village Committee, introduced that the sales revenue of Mazhuang sachets achieved a historic leap.
Under the leadership of his grandmother Wang Xiuying, Sun Geyao, the inheritor of Xuzhou’s intangible cultural heritage of sachets, continuously innovated and applied patented technologies such as “Quick Sculpture” sachet 3D qualitative method software, “Shayi Sanwei sachet making software, and visual sample creation software, injecting new vitality into the development of the sachet industry. “‘3D board making ‘refers to the use of machines instead of manual labor to make the’ keel ‘cardboard that supports sachets. It can save some labor and is relatively standardized.” Sun Geyao introduced that the application of new technology can improve production efficiency by 30-50%.
This year’s government work report pointed out that we will deepen the innovation and development of the digital economy. From sachets to amusement projects, the transformation and innovation of digital technology are profoundly influencing and accelerating the integration of culture and tourism.
Li Linyu, a tourist from Changsha, arrived in Xuzhou and his first stop was at Xuzhou Fantawild Park. “Da Feng Ge” uses live action singing and dancing performances and phantom imaging technology to interpret historical and exciting scenes, leaving a deep impression on him. Xuzhou Fantawild Park continuously provides tourists with a richer and more diverse amusement experience by introducing advanced digital technology and innovative interactive experiences. It is reported that Xuzhou Fantawild Park will start the Future Cyber Festival on April 4th. Tourists can interact with Cyber Mech NPCs under gravity sensing, perfectly combining technology and art, allowing them to explore the Cyber World while experiencing the charm of future technology.
Developing new business formats to revitalize history through “culture”
Cities are carriers of culture and emotional memory, and culture is the key to showcasing the charm of cities. In recent years, while strengthening the protection and inheritance of historical context, Xuzhou has actively carried out urban renewal and developed new productive forces according to local conditions.
The Pengcheng Qili, a historical and cultural axis with a total length of about 3.5 kilometers, connects hundreds of historical and cultural relics, including Huanglou, Wenmiao, Huilongwo, and Hubu Mountain. Last year, Yunlong Mountain and Xuzhou Museum were connected and opened, making the tour route that runs through the historical and cultural axis of the old urban area of Xuzhou more smooth.
“Right in front of me, I feel like I can touch these cultural relics with my hands up.” On March 26th, Zhang Chengshan and his wife, tourists from Hefei, wore AR glasses at the Xuzhou Museum to experience the collision between technology and history. Empowered by technology, innovative inheritance, and “making cultural relics speak”, the AR immersive exhibition technology launched by Xuzhou Museum allows visitors to not only see and listen, but also interact with cultural relics through voice commands and visual recognition during use.
The key to protecting historical and cultural heritage lies in its vitality. Only by better integrating historical and cultural heritage into people’s lives can it have stronger vitality. Based on the folk culture of Xuzhou, the Municipal Culture and Tourism Group has closely followed the theme of immersive street life, completed the reconstruction project of “Huilong Night Club”, and carried out cultural and entertainment activities such as the Plum Blossom Show in Spring Festival, China-Chic Han style performances on weekends, festival themed fairs, etc., with a remarkable effect of attracting and guiding tourists. In 2023, the passenger flow will exceed 3 million person times, realizing the triple improvement of online red card punching, consumption driving, and brand building. Hubushan Huilongwo Block has successfully created a “cultural and tourism block model”, and has been selected as a national tourism and leisure block.
In 2023, Xuzhou launched the “Colorful Culture and Tourism · Shared Life” four season cultural and tourism activities, successfully organized the “Xuzhou Flavor · Tourism Season” series of cultural and tourism consumption activities, and collaborated with relevant departments to organize the Strong Han Culture and Tourism Festival. The cultural and tourism market is thriving, with record numbers of tourist reception and tourism revenue.
In 2024, various cultural and tourism business activities are overwhelming, ranging from the launch of the “Six Scenes for Celebrating the New Year” initiative during the Spring Festival to the ongoing “Spring Mountain Covenant in Pengcheng” Xuzhou Spring Cultural and Tourism Series, covering various aspects of “food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, entertainment, and shopping”.
Focusing on the city brand of “Happy Xuzhou” and “China-Chic Hanfeng”, we will continue to enrich the supply of cultural tourism business integration products and drive the popularity of cultural tourism in Xuzhou. During the New Year’s Day holiday in 2024, the city received a total of 1.3708 million tourists, an increase of 131.2% year-on-year, and achieved a total tourism revenue of 1.522 billion yuan, an increase of 232.3% year-on-year. During this year’s Spring Festival, the city received a total of 7.7808 million tourists, achieving a total tourism revenue of 5.569 billion yuan, an increase of 71.19% and 85.49% respectively compared to the 2023 Spring Festival holiday according to comparable standards. According to data from the Meituan platform during the Spring Festival holiday, Xuzhou City ranks third in terms of tourist reception and cultural tourism consumption in the province, with tourist reception ranking 25th in the country.
Behind the data of “Hot and Spicy” is the continuous acceleration of the application of new quality productivity in the cultural and tourism industry in Xuzhou through new projects, new scenarios, and new experiences, promoting the updating and iteration of cultural and tourism formats, showcasing innovative expressions of youthfulness and digitization, and leading the cultural and tourism industry to accelerate towards high-quality development.
Reporter Zhao Tian
Correspondent Yang Bo, Zhou Jingnan, Zhang Huanyu
Proofread by Tao Shangong
Translator Ruby
Editor’s note: Welcome to Xuzhou
