When spring is chilly, the Silk Road tourism has become warm.
Since January of this year, many tourist cities along the ancient Silk Road in Gansu Province have welcomed a good start in tourism. Dunhuang is located in the Silk Road fortress, rich in cultural and tourism resources, and there are only three world cultural heritage sites. The major scenic spots in Dunhuang received 62785 tourists in January this year, an increase of 282.37% over the same period last year.
In the Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring Scenic Spot in Dunhuang, the sound of camel bells echoes again, and the prayer boards are hung full. “I haven’t seen so many people for a long time, and the tourism heat has exceeded expectations.” Wang Youxia, deputy general manager of Dunhuang Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring Tourism Development Co., Ltd., said that the scenic spot is designing customized tours according to the personalized needs of tourists, enriching the product supply.
Located in the golden passage of the ancient Silk Road, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, has unique landscapes such as snow mountains, glaciers, wetlands, etc. The colorful Danxia is favored by tourists. In January this year, Danxia Scenic Spot received 23600 tourists, up 544.17% year on year. “The consumption recovery momentum is very obvious, and the cultural tourism industry is approaching in spring,” said Li Xiaopeng, the financial director of Zhangye Danxia Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd.
The strong recovery of the market is inseparable from the rich supply of tourism products. Feng Yingchao, director of the Dunhuang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, said that in the past three years, Dunhuang Cultural Tourism has further rationalized the system and mechanism, developed cultural tourism products, and improved the quality of practitioners. “People’s tourism needs are not ‘getting on the bus to sleep and getting off the bus to see the scenery’. It is our goal to fully explore the Dunhuang culture and show tourists a broader picture of the Silk Road culture.”
The Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern Array in Ganzhou District, Zhangye City is the intangible cultural heritage of Gansu Province. “The traditional culture has a lasting and profound charm, and the cultural and tourism industry has a strong recovery momentum. We believe that the cultural and tourism integration will have great potential.” Wang Wei, the person in charge of the scenic spot of Wulan Ancient Town in Zhangye, said that the Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern Array scenic spot has been accessible day and night. In the next step, they will increase investment to build a comprehensive scenic spot project integrating intangible cultural heritage, ancient city characteristics, rural agriculture, etc.
The resources of Dunhuang are irreplaceable. The government and practitioners have long cultivated the reputation of tourism, and people are more eager to travel. At the Dunhuang Sun Hotel, through full staff training and cross-training, the staff of “one specialty and multiple abilities” basically master the whole process of operation. “No matter the restaurant or the guest room, which post can be held, there is no problem with simple foreign language communication, so that we can better cope with the tourist season.” Zhang Xianghua, general manager of the Dunhuang Sun Hotel, who has been working for more than 30 years, said that since the Spring Festival this year, the number of room reservations in the hotel has increased significantly, reaching the level of 2019.
The supply-side structural reform of tourism has also been further promoted in Danxia Scenic Area. Li Xiaopeng said that in the past three years, the scenic spot has taken improving service quality as the direction, introduced advanced management mode, increased the construction of new tourism formats, improved the supply system of tourism products, and the cultural experience tour, self-driving RV tour and so on have continued to rise.
The Dunhuang Research Institute is also exploring more content linking Dunhuang culture with digital technology. “The virtual human ‘Jiayao’ launched last year has been widely praised. At present, we are using new technologies such as XR (expand reality) to make ‘Jiayao’ better ‘break the dimension’, surpass the ancient and modern, and let the Dunhuang culture burst into stronger vitality,” said Du Juan, deputy director of the Financial Media Center of the Dunhuang Research Institute.
The rapid recovery of the market is like a “strong needle”, which has strengthened the market confidence. Many practitioners are full of ambition to brew more development impetus for the future.