High-quality development of food tourism | Shang Bin: Taste of Hunan - Go to "Xiang" for a delicious place

In order to implement the important speeches and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on culture and tourism, implement the spirit of the National Tourism Development Conference, explore the path of in-depth integration and development of "food + tourism", assist Liaoning Province in implementing the strategic goal of building a Northeast Asian tourism destination, and promote the steady and long-term development of in-depth integration of culture and tourism, on May 25, the "High-quality Development of Food Tourism·Northeast Asian Tourism Destination Construction Series of Activities and Liaoning Province Northeast Asian Food Culture and Tourism Week Closing Ceremony" co-organized by the China Tourism Research Institute and Liaoning Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and hosted by Dalian Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Dalian Municipal Bureau of Commerce was held in Dalian, Liaoning Province. Shang Bin, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, delivered a keynote speech entitled "The Taste of Hunan·Go to "Xiang" for a Tasty Place". The full text is shared as follows:

Good afternoon, leaders and colleagues! Thank you for the invitation from China Tourism Research Institute and Liaoning Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. It is an honor to participate in this event and have the opportunity to learn and exchange ideas with colleagues and experts from all over the country. Since March 2023, with the high attention of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism has taken the promotion of tourism and food activities such as "Taste Hunan, Go to 'Xiang' as a place of taste" as a starting point, continuously telling the story of Hunan, expanding brand influence, igniting cultural and tourism consumption, promoting open development, and triggering enthusiastic responses from all sectors of society, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry in the province. Below, I would like to share with you some achievements in promoting food tourism in Hunan: Our department adheres to the principle of "provincial mobilization, provincial linkage, industry leadership, and subject participation", and plans to launch the "Ten Ones" series of activities based on the idea of "promoting food brands, promoting food tourism integration, prospering food tourism consumption, and developing food tourism". On July 27th, the kickoff ceremony of the food promotion event and the opening ceremony of the food tourism exploration program "Go to 'Xiang' and be a Delicious Place" were held in Hengyang City. From August 7th to 18th, the "Hunan Tourism and Food Experience Season" will be held in nine hotels, Hunan hotels and other places, introducing ten well-known catering brands and presenting ten themed cultural and tourism banquets. The tourism and food experience season will be carried out synchronously in cities and prefectures throughout the province in a 114 mode, achieving provincial linkage. From September 4th to September 26th, we collaborated with Hunan TV to produce and broadcast the food and tourism variety show "Go to Xiang, a Delicious Place" on Hunan TV and Mango TV every Monday to Thursday, with an average viewership ranking first among provincial TV stations. On September 16th, during the 2nd Hunan Tourism Development Conference, the China Tourism Research Institute hosted the "First China Food Tourism Development Forum" and released a research report on Chinese food tourism, focusing on promoting Hunan's tourism cuisine. The "Taste Hunan, Go to 'Xiang' as a Delicious Place" tourism food promotion activity was awarded the "Special Contribution Case of China's Mass Tourism Food Series". On December 22nd, the launch ceremony of Hunan cuisine tourism map and Hunan tourism snack market were held in Changsha, which once again sparked a wave of offline and online dissemination.

We have implemented policies based on local conditions and materials, coordinated and orderly promotion, and formed a great momentum, achieving significant results, mainly reflected in the "five effects": first, the promotion effect of food culture. Using the variety show "Go to Hunan" produced by Hunan TV as a carrier, this article analyzes the relationship between food, people, and cities from the perspective of well-known hosts such as Wang Han. The United Provincial Local Chronicles Compilation Institute has launched the work of compiling the "China Hunan Cuisine Chronicles" and set up a special column on the red web called "Hunan Food Tourism Everyone Talks". It has coordinated CCTV's "One Cuisine for a Thousand Years" and "China's Good Taste" food programs to intensively enter Hunan, exploring the social changes, cultural inheritance, and spirit of the times behind Hunan cuisine, vividly interpreting Hunan's characteristic food culture, developing and enhancing the food tourism industry, and continuously improving its recognition and reputation. The second is the traffic effect of hotspot dissemination. Build a communication matrix composed of mainstream media such as Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV, Tiktok, and integrate all media channels to create a tipping point for Hunan food tourism marketing. More than 11 million people watched the launch live broadcast of food promotion activities. The variety show "Going to" Hunan "as a Tasty Place" was searched for over 223 times on the whole network, 14 times on microblog, 150 million times on the main topic of Tiktok, 210 million times on the program video, and more than 2 billion times on the whole platform. It was reprinted and praised by the People's Daily, Guangming Daily and other central media for many times. The third is the window effect that promotes communication. Inviting the top 20 enterprises of China Tourism Group, Michelin Guide, Black Pearl Restaurant Guide and other selection agencies, well-known food program producers and directors to attend the China Food Tourism Forum, making "Food Tourism in Hunan" and "Eating in Hunan brings good taste" become industry brands. Organized the 6th Taiwan University Journalism and Communication Major Summer Internship and Exchange Group in Hunan, consisting of over 600 people including entrepreneurs, cultural scholars, artists, and media experts, to taste Hunan's cultural and tourism themed banquet, promoting cross-strait exchanges through delicious food, showcasing Hunan cuisine, and expanding communication and exchange. Singapore's Star and Vision TV stations have purchased the copyright of the program 'Go to Hunan, Be a Taste Place', marking new progress in our province's cultural expansion overseas. The fourth is the synergistic effect of concerted efforts. From the perspective of regional linkage, from August to November, the cultural, tourism, and business departments of 14 cities and prefectures in the province organized 308 catering enterprises to participate in store exploration experiences and activity execution, all of which held large-scale food tasting banquets with strong local characteristics and prominent cultural and tourism cores. The themed food tasting event of "Flavoring Chenzhou Cuisine, Supporting Tourism Development Conference" in Chenzhou City has attracted over 120 media reports and over 1 billion exposures across all platforms. From the perspective of social interaction, Hunan Hunan Cuisine Industry Promotion Association, Hunan Provincial Food and Beverage Association, Hunan Provincial Tourism Association and other industry organizations participated in the whole process in depth, and Meituan, Alipay, Ctrip, Elema, Gaode Map, Tencent Culture and Tourism and other well-known enterprises gave strong support, which gathered a surging force for development. The fifth is the engine effect that drives consumption. Launch the Hunan food tourism map, publish the "Hunan Tourism Food Collection", release 10 Hunan food tourism routes, launch the first batch of 14 tables of Hunan cultural and tourism themed banquets, 100 Hunan gold and silver medal dishes, 100 Hunan gold medal tourism snacks, and 30 most popular Hunan tourism snacks among consumers. Changsha Yanghu Lake Street is accelerating the development of a Hunan tourism and food district, forming a large number of high-quality food tourism products. During the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in 2023, the province received a total of 30.682 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 82.87%, which is 12 percentage points higher than the national level. The cultural and tourism consumption scale of Meituan Travel Platform ranked sixth in the country. The daily average consumption scale of service retail in Changsha increased by more than 220% compared to 2019, and the dining and dine in consumption of tourists from other provinces increased by 133% year-on-year.

The results are encouraging and the experience is invaluable. We have gained many profound insights through hosting this food event.

First, organizational leadership must be strengthened. Secretary Shen Xiaoming of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee has emphasized many times that "the Hunan cuisine brand must be promoted" and has personally guided and promoted food promotion activities. Six provincial leaders successively issued instructions and instructions on the food promotion activities, which provided a strong guarantee for the success of the activities.

Second, we must plan based on the overall situation. Adhere to a broad vision and systematic planning, and consider food promotion activities in the context of promoting the recovery and development of the cultural tourism industry, cultivating and expanding new consumption, building a 44 modern industrial system and building a world tourism destination, promoting high-quality economic and social development, and generating achieved significant macroeconomic benefits.

Third, we must persist in innovative thinking. On the basis of respecting the laws of cultural inheritance, industrial development and modern communication, we continue to innovate forms and carriers, and create new IP, new variety shows, and new products, allowing Hunan Culture and Tourism to seize new opportunities and form a strong brand in regional competition. New advantages.

Fourth, we must stimulate market vitality. The Hunan Food Tourism Visiting Program "Go to Hunan for Tasty Places" took only 41 days from planning to filming and achieved impressive results. This is due to our consistent consultation, co-organization and sharing with market players, which fully stimulated their initiative, creativity and execution, and released huge development potential.

In the future, we will adhere to the work orientation of "laying a solid foundation, continuous efforts, creative leadership, and intensive cultivation", based on the development idea of ​​"promoting food with tourism, supporting tourism with food, and guiding and expanding cultural tourism consumption with food tourism" to further Give full play to the "long tail effect" formed by this food promotion activity, continuously gather the joint efforts of all parties, deeply explore the market potential, make comprehensive efforts, and continue to polish and strengthen the "Go to Hunan as a delicious place" brand. The first is to improve product quality. Use cultural empowerment to enhance the product quality and added value of Hunan's tourism cuisine, guide market entities to develop and launch new dishes and new styles that integrate cultural tourism and catering, and enhance the business image of Hunan cuisine. The second is to further enhance the brand. Make good use of Hunan's advantages in media communication and innovation and creativity, deeply explore the IP value of "Go to "Hunan" as a delicious place", continue to launch the second season of the program and carry out combined publicity, and continue to amplify the influence of Hunan's tourism and food. The third is to further expand the platform. Enrich and improve the functions of Hunan Food Tourism Map and "Hunan Tourism Food Collection", accelerate the secondary development of Meituan, Douyin, Alipay and other platforms, guide Changsha to build Yanghu Water Street Hunan tourist food district, and enhance consumers' experience of Hunan cuisine sense and loyalty.

Author | Shang Bin Editor | Liu Xin Source | China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) Please indicate the author and source for reprinting