Dai Bin | Integration of culture and tourism promotes the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry (Adhere to "two creations" and pay attention to literature and art in the new era)

Adhere to the "two creations" and pay attention to the literature and art of the new era. On July 19, Dai Bin, President of the China Tourism Research Institute, was invited to publish a special article in the People's Daily titled "The integration of culture and tourism promotes the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry." Tourism is upward, opening up new space in the performing arts market; art is sinking, meeting the diverse tourism and cultural needs. The full text is shared below.

The 4th Gulangyu Music Festival in Xiamen.

Photo courtesy of Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Fujian Province

West Lake landscape in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Photo by Zhou Yilu (Image China)

Photos of the Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Choir’s performance.

Photo courtesy of Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Choir

Core Reading In the past, people's understanding of tourism remained at the sightseeing stage of "seeing mountains, water and scenery". Today, the integration of culture and tourism has promoted the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry. Tourists not only enjoy the beautiful scenery during their travels, but also experience a better life. In particular, cultural projects such as art festivals and concerts, as new tourism resources, have become an important force in promoting the high-quality development of the tourism industry.

Art is the best carrier of humanity and human feelings. Like famous mountains, rivers, scenic spots and historical sites, quality life enabled by art is also the key competitiveness of urban tourism.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We should strive to improve the modern tourism system, accelerate the construction of a tourism power, and make the tourism industry better serve a better life, promote economic development, build a spiritual home, showcase China's image, and enhance mutual learning among civilizations." In the past, people's understanding of tourism remained at the sightseeing stage of "seeing mountains, water and scenery". Today, the integration of culture and tourism has promoted the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry. Tourists not only enjoy the beautiful scenery during their travels, but also experience a better life. In particular, cultural projects such as art festivals and concerts, as new tourism resources, have become an important force in promoting the high-quality development of the tourism industry.

Tourism is on the rise, opening up new space for the performing arts market. At the beginning of this century, the first real-life performance of landscapes, "Impression of Liu Sanjie", created an early form of tourism performing arts. In the past, people came to Guilin and went down the Li River to visit three mountains, two caves and a river, and then they would set off on their way home. The night of Yangshuo was unfamiliar to millions of tourists every year. The appearance of "Impression of Liu Sanjie" lit up the night sky of the Li River. Tourists visiting Guilin can not only appreciate the beauty of the world's most beautiful landscapes in the natural scenery during the day, but also enjoy wonderful performances that integrate classic folk songs, ethnic customs, Lijiang fishing lights and other regional elements at night. This unique performing arts form, which uses real mountains and real waters as the performance stage and local culture and folk customs as the main content, quickly reaped considerable social and economic benefits. A large number of tourism performing arts that are deeply loved by tourists and enhance the cultural content of tourist destinations have emerged. The "Impression Series" in Lijiang, Wuyi Mountain and other places, the "See You Again Series" in Wutai Mountain and Pingyao, as well as large-scale live performances such as "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Eternal Love of Songcheng" and "Traveling Through Dehua Street" are very popular among tourists, and tickets for many performances are hard to come by during holidays.

In the past 10 years, with the substantial growth in tourism demand, the integration of stage art and tourism has entered a new stage of technological support, content innovation and rapid growth. According to estimates, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday this year, a total of 110 million domestic tourists traveled in my country, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%; the total expenditure of domestic tourists on travel was 40.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. Since 2023, my country's tourism market has recovered rapidly and has become one of the highlights of economic growth. With the expansion of market space and the support of industrial policies, more resources have entered the tourism industry, and a number of cultural enterprises facing the tourism market have grown rapidly. Tourist resorts such as Shanghai Disney, Beijing Universal Studios, Happy Valley, and Chimelong have played a leading role in realizing the clustering of performances, entertainment, catering, accommodation, shopping and other formats and the scale of tourism consumption.

As social media has an increasing impact on the tourism industry, personalized travel methods are becoming more popular. Tourists' travel destinations are determined not only by traditional natural resources and historical and cultural resources, but also by cultural and artistic resources that highlight individuality and freshness. The phenomenon of rushing to a city for a play, a performance, or an exhibition is becoming more and more common. In 2023, there will be more than 5,600 large and medium-sized concerts and music festivals in China with more than 2,000 people, with 35.52 million viewers. The popularity of "New Dragon Inn" has made Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe an important check-in place in Hangzhou. Wearing Hanfu, touring West Lake, and watching Yue Opera have become the fashionable "three-piece suit" for young people to travel. High-quality stage arts such as "Only Green", "Confucius", "Li Bai", "The Eternal Wave", and "Wing Chun", which are well-known to the public, are hard to get tickets in various tours, and have initially acquired the market appeal of resident performances.

It is worth noting that art forms such as chamber choirs, symphonies, small theater dramas, and modern dance have also become important factors in boosting tourism popularity and improving tourism quality. Chamber choirs such as Shanghai Rainbow, Xiamen Love Song, Wuhan Galaxy, and Chengdu Zhigeng, and groups or institutions such as Beijing Nine-Person Drama and Guizhou Symphony Orchestra have become well-known brands in related vertical art segments, and have also become engines for driving young people into a city. Driving tourism consumption through cultural activities such as literary and artistic performances has deeply stimulated the vitality of the tourism market, enriched the supply of tourism products, and improved the urban tourism experience.

Art sinks to meet the diverse tourism and cultural needs. From the "fire" of Zibo and the "hot" of Tianshui to the snowflakes of Harbin, the flowers of Shanghai and the hairpin flowers of Quanzhou, the popularity of one city after another is highlighting the fact that satisfying people's emotional needs and showing more kindness, sincerity and warmth are the real "traffic code". Similarly, for tourism performances, only by deeply understanding the needs of tourists can we effectively enable the high-quality development of the tourism industry, which is related to a better life and economic development, and truly achieve the unity of social and economic benefits.

Cultural products for tourists should not only show their characteristics, but also have a clear positioning. Because of the different scenes, tourism performances have different product positioning from ordinary theater performances. If foreign tourists want to watch Peking Opera when traveling to Beijing, the martial arts drama "Havoc in Heaven" may be more effective; if foreign tourists go to Henan to watch Henan Opera, "Mu Guiying Takes Command", which tells the story of the Yang family generals, should win a lot of applause. This means that in the early stages of the creation of art works for tourism, the connection between the characteristics of the works and the needs of tourists must be carefully considered. If a cultural heritage wants to introduce opera performances to expand the dimension of the tour, it might as well arrange a short play that matches the building, and then add costume fittings, facial makeup and other links to enhance the tourists' experience, thereby better integrating art and tours.

Construct new tourism scenes according to local conditions and cultivate new art spaces. At present, blocks, business districts, etc. have also become new spaces for tourism performances. The Crazy Barber Shop performed by Kaixin Mahua at Shanghai Ruihong Tiandi Moon Bay is set up in a shopping mall. The stage is no longer a "frame" suspended on a high platform, but is connected to the audience seats, narrowing the distance with the audience. During the performance, the audience becomes a participant and promoter of the plot, and multiple versions of the ending allow the audience's choice to influence the direction of the story. "Drama in the mall" not only brings performances to the audience, making it a cultural project within reach, but also brings tourists a new cultural experience. Commercial blocks such as Beijing Wangfujing, Shanghai Huaihai Road, Chengdu Chunxi Road, and historical and cultural blocks such as Beijing Nanluoguxiang, Houhai, and Dashilan are dotted with small and beautiful intangible cultural heritage displays and art exhibitions; Beijing's Guomao, Yansha, Huamao, Guangzhou's Huanshi East Road, Beijing Road and other business districts have gathered cultural and artistic leisure formats including cinemas, small theaters, and script shows, attracting more and more local residents and foreign tourists, especially young customers. The integration of art and tourism can also revitalize idle urban spaces, revitalize ancient buildings, and make "going upstairs to watch a good show and going downstairs to drink coffee" a wonderful life experience. The organic combination of new performing arts spaces with commercial spaces and living spaces has lowered people's psychological threshold for entering art, turning watching performances from "going to watch specifically" into "experiencing at any time."

Nowadays, more and more young people are entering the fields of culture, art, tourism and leisure to innovate and start businesses, reshaping the tourism scene with wisdom and creativity. Government departments, tourism agencies and academia are also tracking and studying these new tourism trends in a timely manner to tap into tourism potential. These efforts have demonstrated the broad prospects of shaping tourism with culture and promoting culture with tourism.

Art is the best carrier of humanity and human feelings. Like famous mountains, rivers, scenic spots and historical sites, quality life enabled by art is also the key competitiveness of urban tourism. We hope that artists and tourism practitioners will join hands, adhere to innovation and integrated development, launch more outstanding art works and high-quality tourism products, and let art and tourism jointly create a better life.

Author | Dai Bin Editor | Liu Xin Source | People's Daily Please indicate the author and source for reprinting