Dai Bin: "A good tourist city must withstand the daily scrutiny of local citizens"

Many times, the cultural and tourism promotion of many places focuses more on what they have, rather than considering what tourists want. There is no such thing as a city living a hard life for tourists to experience the beauty. A city first serves thousands of local citizens. If thousands of citizens love this city from the bottom of their hearts, it will naturally radiate warmth from the inside out. We cannot rely on the tourism director to make harsh words, but we must return to the track of the rule of law and build a complete government public service and micro-governance system.

In December, Harbin welcomed the "Meinan" short video of "Southern Little Potato", which once again swept social networks. This ice city became the most popular tourist destination on the entire Internet by the end of 2024.

Harbin became a new favorite of traffic in 2023, following the popular Internet memes such as frozen pear plating and "Erbin", and became a new Internet celebrity city. After a year, these old memes have not been completely forgotten, and some new ones have been created.

In recent years, there have been many "magical" stories of a city attracting a large number of tourists in a short period of time due to overwhelming traffic. However, as time goes by, some cities gradually become quiet and no longer as popular as they were in the past; some cities are backfired by traffic and have changed from opening their doors to welcome traffic to actively cooling down.

By the end of 2024, Harbin will be more like a "return of the king", and is expected to become an Internet celebrity city that transcends cycles. As a result, it has become a focus of analysis and research in the cultural and tourism industry. Southern Weekend interviewed Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Research Institute. He believes that a good tourist city must first be able to withstand the daily scrutiny of local citizens.

Harbin’s culture and tourism are in a strong government state Southern Weekend: After a year, Harbin is still so popular. What did it do right?

Dai Bin: After a year of precipitation, let’s look at the popularity of the 2023-2024 ice and snow season. There may be three keys to unlock its cultural and tourism traffic code.

First, I think it is Harbin's ice and snow resources and ice and snow culture. Tourists from southern China have a natural love for ice and snow. Both traditional ice and snow sports and ice and snow culture are very popular with them. Especially after the promotion of the Beijing Winter Olympics, people's enthusiasm for ice and snow sports and ice and snow leisure has greatly increased. Harbin just meets people's imagination of ice and snow cultural tourism.

The second reason is that Harbin has shown its sincerity and kindness in the last ice and snow season, as well as its warm and inclusive urban characteristics. This has inspired many tourists to empathize with the city and make them feel that this city is theirs.

Often, the cultural tourism promotions of many places focus more on what they have, rather than what tourists want. Harbin has been focusing on "listening to advice" from the initial letter to tourists to the large slide project and artificial moon project of the Ice and Snow World. Until showing the affection for the nicknames of "Little Potato" and "Little Kumquat", citizens spontaneously drove to pick up tourists, releasing sincerity and goodwill. Including the bathing culture in the north, tourists feel that they can participate in the lives of local citizens.

The third key is that as mass tourism enters a new stage of comprehensive development, city managers are playing an increasingly important role. Harbin has devoted a lot of effort to coordinating ice and snow tourism, ice and snow leisure, and ice and snow culture.

The government has fully mobilized the public to fully realize the benefits that tourism development brings to the local city image, economic and social development, cultural construction, and the improvement of the quality of life of local residents. You see, many of Harbin’s popular news happened in very life-like scenes, which shows that the public participation is very high.

Southern Weekend: What are the new situations and trends in Harbin’s ice and snow season in 2024?

Dai Bin: First, with the support of the Asian Winter Games and the promotion of the ice and snow tourism season to be held by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Harbin, this year's Harbin Ice and Snow Season has been strengthened by greater policies and major events. Second, in the creation of ice and snow projects, more attention is paid to the cultural heritage and atmosphere, and to the improvement of the quality of life. We have seen some recent measures in Harbin, which can be said to have made corresponding organizational preparations, supply preparations for high-quality products, and preparations for public services and emergency management for the upcoming ice and snow season. Third, it is to spread ice and snow tourism to the surrounding areas. Whether it is Harbin's snow village culture or Yabuli Ski Resort, they have become a highlight of Harbin's diversified cultural tourism, forming a tourism system with rich levels and diverse types. Fourth, Harbin's market entities, including product research and development entities and travel services and commercial reception systems, have gradually improved.

Southern Weekend: Judging from the standards of high-quality cultural tourism, what areas do you think Harbin needs to improve?

Dai Bin: I think there may be several points. First, build a group of investment institutions and market entities with greater market competitiveness and broad social influence. Harbin now gives people the impression that it is still a strong government state. From the perspective of high-quality development of the international tourism industry, especially the construction of urban tourist destinations, if there are no corresponding investment institutions, no travel agencies represented by travel agencies, no tourist accommodation represented by hotels and homestays, no entertainment space represented by scenic spots, resorts, cultural and entertainment venues, and even the branding of the entire shopping and catering aspects, then high-quality cultural tourism is unsustainable.

Secondly, the local investment environment, especially the legal environment and contract environment, is also crucial. Tourism is an industry with large initial investment and long payback period. Tourism is a process of endurance and wisdom. It is impossible to support the long-term development of a city by relying on the temporary traffic of Internet celebrities. It requires greater determination and more wisdom to promote the construction of the underlying framework and guarantee system of tourism governance and tourism development in accordance with the law, including but not limited to tourism management regulations and tourism development plans formulated by provincial and municipal levels, as well as service standard construction and product system standardization, which are also crucial.

It’s impossible to live a hard life yourself, so let tourists experience the beauty. Southern Weekend: In recent years, many internet celebrity cities have become popular. Do you know the current situation of these traffic-type internet celebrity cities?

Dai Bin: It should be said that those internet celebrity cities that were once popular still have some popularity, but objectively speaking, compared with their peak period, they have greatly declined.

In general, the reason for this situation is that the public service system, including infrastructure and commercial facilities, has not followed up. It is okay to travel thousands of miles to join in the fun, but it cannot last long. Today's tourism is based on satisfying people's yearning for beauty.

The development of a city cannot be supported by fleeting fireworks, but by its internal system. If a city wants to become an excellent tourist destination, it must be a living space where "near and far visitors come, and hosts and guests share". There is no such thing as a city that lives in misery itself and allows tourists to experience beauty.

Southern Weekend: What is different about Harbin compared to other popular internet celebrity cities?

Dai Bin: In the short term, an internet celebrity or a show can make a street or even a city popular, but in the long term, it is still too weak. Harbin is not like this. It does not rely on just one point to drive and support. In the past 100 years, or even longer, this city has a very strong ice and snow culture, including music and art, and a high quality of life. Its IP is endogenous, it is an endogenous culture, and it is a combination of opportunities in the era of rapid growth of mass tourism.

For Harbin, it just seized a traffic window, but as mentioned above, they did some things right. They did not let the traffic die out naturally, but instead let everyone see the culture and heritage of the city itself behind the traffic.

Southern Weekend: Internet traffic comes and goes quickly, and sometimes it is a double-edged sword. How should cultural tourism utilize it?

Dai Bin: We need to establish a healthy and sustainable view of traffic, and not just focus on traffic. For all traffic, we need to see what its internal rules are and what kind of traffic it is.

If a city is a low-lying area, the traffic may flood it if it comes in like a flood; if the traffic is external, brought by some internet celebrities, then when the internet celebrities leave, the traffic will naturally go away as well, and it may come like the tide and recede like the tide.

Only a good life with deep water and quiet flow can retain tourists. A city first serves thousands of local citizens. If thousands of citizens love this city from the bottom of their hearts, they will naturally radiate warmth from the inside out. If tourists come, I will have an extra pair of chopsticks. If tourists don't come, I can still live my own good life. This is the calmness, determination and grandeur that a city should have. To use the current popular words, it is a sense of relaxation. So I say that a good tourist city must withstand the daily scrutiny of local citizens.

Southern Weekend: However, traffic still has a strong appeal, and local cultural tourism is very popular. How do you view this phenomenon of local cultural tourism attracting traffic?

Dai Bin: "The first person to try something new" is eye-opening, but "flocking" to imitate is a bit too much. We need to return to the objective laws of tourism economic development. Internet celebrity cities often have some triggering points that can resonate, such as being down-to-earth, and the scenes there are closely related to people's lives, and people are willing to participate and experience them. Whether a city is a space for a good life and a space shared by hosts and guests is crucial.

Southern Weekend: What suggestions do you have for these internet celebrity cities, or cities that want to become internet celebrities?

Dai Bin: The first is the image of the city. Don’t try to educate tourists from a high position, telling you: I am so great, I am so good, just come. Cultural confidence cannot be reflected in this way.

Second, in the process of building a world-class or national-level tourist city, there must be several solid pillars. First, the transportation infrastructure. No matter how good it is, without aviation, railways, and roads, tourists cannot come in and it is meaningless. Secondly, the city's small transportation system, subways, buses, taxis, online car-hailing, shared bicycles, etc., can move freely in the city. Thirdly, the city's cultural infrastructure. I often say that the development of a city is often closely related to the "three districts and one circle, four museums and one station". The "three districts and one circle" refers to the business district formed by the city's tourist attractions, resorts, and historical and cultural blocks. The "four museums and one station" are museums, art galleries, science and technology museums, libraries, and cultural stations.

Third, our administrative regulations and public service systems must be improved. If a city is friendly to every citizen, safe and high-quality, then tourists can just share it. One more person means one more pair of chopsticks, right? We cannot rely on the tourism director to make harsh remarks, but we must return to the track of the rule of law and build a complete government public service and micro-governance system.

Reporter | Li Zailei Editor | Liu Xin Source | Southern Weekend Please indicate the author and source for reprinting