"China Tourism Scenic Spots and Resorts Development Report (2024-2025)" was released online

On March 26, our institute hosted the "Annual Landmark Achievements Release Conference of China Tourism Academy", and released a total of 8 landmark research results. Associate Researcher Zhan Dongmei, Director of the Research and Management Department of China Tourism Academy, released the "China Tourism Scenic Spots and Resorts Development Report (2024-2025)" on behalf of the research team.

President Dai Bin made a preface with "Scenic Spots, Cities, Routes and World-Class Tourism Destinations Construction - Special Report of the 14th Anhui International Cultural Tourism Festival", pointing out that in the process of Chinese-style modernization, we must focus on improving the modern tourism system, accelerate the construction of a tourism power, and promote the steady and long-term high-quality development of the tourism industry. We must accelerate the construction of a number of world-class tourist destinations, as well as tourist attractions, resorts, cities, blocks, routes, enterprises and promotion systems that are compatible with them. It is necessary to build world-class tourist attractions and resorts with profound cultural heritage and world-class tourist cities and blocks with distinctive cultural characteristics, create world-class tourist routes and tourism products with global influence, and world-class tourism enterprises and service brands with international competitiveness, and form a complete modern governance system and governance capabilities.

New Trends in Tourist Attractions and Resorts New changes in demand: the choice of scenic spots and resorts is becoming more daily, highly personalized, and more rational.

First, it is becoming part of daily life. Tourism and leisure are accelerating into people's daily lives, making tourism no longer a ritualistic thing. People pay more attention to the beautiful scenery around them and the good life of daily life. On weekends and holidays, a spontaneous trip and leisure at any time are becoming more and more common. From the suburbs to business districts, from theaters to vegetable markets, the daily life scenes of urban and rural residents have become new spaces for tourism and leisure. In the process of traveling, people should not only appreciate the beauty of nature, but also understand the beauty of culture and experience the beauty of life.

Second, it is highly personalized. From "I want to decide my itinerary" to "I want to decide my experience", in the past, people went out to see the mountains, rivers and scenery, but today people are more willing to have a better life beyond the scenery. Whether it is a barbecue or a music festival, it will become a reason for people to visit a city and spend a weekend. In the past, where to travel or what to consume was more determined by the media, advertising and travel agencies. Today, young people born after 1995 don't even make a guide. Traditional high-level A-level scenic spots and even traditional tourist cities are no longer their first choice. "Small towns in the fourth and fifth tiers", "unknown scenic spots" and "wilderness without people" are attracting young people who pursue individuality with their unique charm.

Third, consumption is becoming more rational. In recent years, warm and cold cities, small airport cities and central towns have begun to enter the field of mass tourism driven by reverse tourism, alternative tourism and special forces tourism. More and more tourists are beginning to pursue the cost-effectiveness of projects, products and services. During holidays and weekends, they often avoid popular scenic spots and go to time- and budget-friendly cities such as Hegang, Yanji, Weifang and Enshi to experience new scenes and new consumption projects with high cost-effectiveness.

New atmosphere on the supply side: Scenic spots and resorts insist on shaping tourism with culture and promoting culture with tourism, and constantly explore unique cultural and tourism integration models

From the perspective of cultural leadership, rich cultural experiences continue to enhance the core appeal of tourist attractions and resorts. The scope of cultural experience is very broad, including not only visiting historical buildings and cultural relics, but also visiting museums, experiencing intangible cultural heritage activities, watching performances, etc., which can become relatively independent attractions in themselves. With the improvement of people's living standards and the increase in travel opportunities, people's demand for cultural experience during travel has become stronger, and the forms of participating in cultural experience have become more diverse. Museums, historical and cultural cities, ancient towns and blocks, live performances, concerts, and concerts have become important attractions for many tourist destinations.

From the perspective of tourism expression and creation, scenic spots, as important spaces for the development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries, continue to expand and extend the cultural market, such as art troupes launching innovative programs for tourists, sending actors to scenic spots for performances, and art galleries and cultural centers setting up special exhibitions for tourists. Tourist scenic spots and resorts have become a new space for a better life that attracts people from near and far and is shared by hosts and guests, and citizen leisure and foreign tourism are increasingly integrated.

New trends in tourist attractions and resorts

Scenic spots and resorts are enhancing the vitality of the night economy. Tourist attractions and resorts are introducing more nighttime leisure projects, and public cultural spaces such as museums, art galleries, cinemas, and theaters are extending their closing hours. Whether it is key commercial scenes such as historical and cultural blocks, commercial complexes, and night markets, or major public spaces such as streets, squares, and parks, they are consciously integrating cultural, technological, fashion, and entertainment elements to continuously promote the iteration of nighttime scenes and product innovation.

Theme parks create a new experience of urban life. The rise of "micro-vacations" that take two or three hours by car and last for two or three days has made more and more tourists choose theme parks as their first choice for leisure and entertainment, thus satisfying their pursuit of excitement, novelty and personalized experience. More and more people are moving from pleasing others to pleasing themselves. Not only do they decide their itinerary, but they also decide their experience. Over the past year, China's theme park market has shown a trend of quality, diversification and personalization. According to the "2023 Global Theme Park and Museum Report" released by the World Theme Park Association (TEA), Disney ranks first with 142 million visitors, while China Fantawild Group has jumped from fifth to second place in the global operator list with a growth rate of 111%. China occupies 7 seats in the list of the top 25 theme parks in the world.

The study-and-research craze has promoted the transformation and upgrading of scenic spot-type study-and-research camps. With the joint efforts of the government and the market, my country has become a major country in the world for study-and-research tourism. Public cultural venues such as museums, art galleries, science and technology museums at all levels and types have also developed relevant courses for study-and-research groups, and organized to receive study-and-research teams from all over the country, initially forming a multi-level structure and multi-content dimension of the study-and-research base (camp) system from national to local, from science to nature, from humanities to society. The China Tourism Academy's "China Study-and-Research Tourism Development Report 2023-2024" shows that since 2023, the study-and-research tourism market has recovered rapidly. Behind the phenomenon of "the market is hot and public opinion is even hotter", it reflects the strong market demand and the eager expectation for high-quality supply, which also gives new impetus to the transformation and upgrading of scenic spot-type study-and-research camps.

Ancient villages, towns and cities have become an important support for the development of regional tourism. Tourist towns are nostalgic memories in the process of modernization and cultural landmarks in the international perspective. They play a role in supporting multiple business formats from urban leisure to rural vacations in the modern tourism system. Ancient town tourism has shifted from the early sightseeing-oriented to sightseeing, leisure and vacation, and from focusing on the protection of architectural style and the inheritance of local culture to tourists sharing and community development. Ancient villages, towns and cities have become an important support for the development of regional tourism, showing strong vitality and broad development prospects.

The ice and snow economic industry chain continues to extend, and the ice and snow tourism ecosystem continues to expand. According to the survey of the ice and snow tourism research group of the China Tourism Research Institute, ice and snow tourism has become an important part of the good life of urban and rural residents; ice and snow tourism has broken the old resource space of "ice and snow do not enter Shanhaiguan" and formed a new development pattern of "southward expansion, westward expansion and eastward advancement"; ice and snow tourism promotes "cold resources" to become "hot economy", becoming a key area for expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption. The survey found that my country has formed 15 major categories of ice and snow equipment product systems, covering the entire industry chain from venue construction for competitive competitions to tourism and leisure projects, snow and ice making equipment, supporting equipment, research and development, manufacturing and maintenance of personal equipment.

Museums are becoming increasingly important tourist attractions. On the one hand, museums exist as an important force in cultural undertakings, and on the other hand, the attributes of museums as tourist attractions are constantly increasing. Chinese museums have become important places in the process of integrating culture and tourism, and are also an important business card for expanding the international influence of the Chinese nation. In the context of the era of mass tourism, museums have become an important tourist resource for tourists. In terms of inheritance and innovation, museums play a leading role in the protection and utilization of cultural relics, the production and sales of cultural creations, and the dissemination of culture.

Overall investment in tourist attractions and resorts

2024 is a period of consolidation and strengthening for the rapid recovery and development of the cultural and tourism market. Affected by various favorable factors such as policies, supply, and publicity, urban and rural residents are willing to travel, the tourism market is full of vitality, holiday consumption continues to heat up, the integration of culture and tourism is booming, and service supply is upgraded. The overall outlook for the tourism economy in 2025 is more optimistic, and the high-quality development of the tourism industry is steady and long-term. Investment enthusiasm remains unabated, and the scale of investment and financing in tourist attractions and resorts continues to expand; investment is more rational, and investment in tourist attractions and resorts tends to be "fine and beautiful"; investment objects are not wide enough, and capital flows more to high-quality resources at the top; investment is concentrated on "transportation, food and accommodation, characteristic cultural and tourism projects, and tourism informatization."

In addition, facing pressure and challenges, listed scenic spot companies actively innovate, enrich products, strive to enhance core attractiveness, improve overall profitability, and optimize income structure. The investment model has changed from "culture and tourism +" to "+ culture and tourism", and strengthened integration with other industries. For example, "agriculture + culture and tourism" and "sports + culture and tourism" will create more new consumption scenarios and formats. More attention will be paid to the light asset operation model, and the optimal allocation of resources and maximum benefits will be achieved through the output of management, brand and service.

Pay more attention to the construction of cultural connotations of tourist attractions and resorts, and enhance tourists' sense of identity and memory through tourism performances, situational performances, game interactions, immersive experiences, etc.; pay attention to product details and humanized design, emphasize creating a comfortable, convenient and safe holiday environment, and develop high-quality tourism products and services to meet the diverse, personalized and quality needs of tourists.

Further optimize the regional layout. In addition to popular tourist cities and regional resources, some areas with unique resources but not yet fully developed may receive more attention to achieve balanced development of the tourism market. Investment tends to be in areas with convenient transportation and complete infrastructure to ensure the accessibility and attractiveness of scenic spots and resorts.

We will attach more importance to cooperation and coordinated development, strengthen cooperation among tourist attractions and resorts, and jointly create competitive tourist resort projects through resource sharing and complementary advantages. We will attach importance to close cooperation with local governments, communities, etc., fully consider local interests, promote local economic development, and achieve a win-win situation.

The Chinese style and world style of tourist resorts

At the invitation of Fosun Tourism, Pop Mart, Beijing Universal and other resorts and destination governments such as Zhengzhou Zhongmou County, Luoyang Old Town, Shenzhen Futian District, Dean Dai Bin inspected and investigated relevant projects, conducted exchanges and discussions, and formed a special lecture on "Chinese Style and World Style of Tourism Resorts". He pointed out that the construction of tourism resorts should focus on the deep integration of culture and tourism, inherit the genes of China's excellent traditional culture, create a new scene of oriental aesthetic life, and promote the prosperity and development of the tourism industry in the new era with the Chinese style of cultural confidence and the world style of industrial openness.

Tourist resorts have completed the transformation from administratively-led functional area construction to market-driven brand cultivation. So far, there are 85 national-level tourist resorts, plus more than 600 provincial-level tourist resorts, resort projects in key tourist cities, and resort belts around cities, lakes, and mountains in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Sichuan-Chongqing, Guanzhong, Central Plains, and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which basically meet the different types, levels, and durations of holiday needs of the majority of residents.

The construction of tourist resorts should follow the path of classified guidance and graded construction. It is necessary to build "few but fine" national resorts, "special and excellent" national and provincial resorts, and a large number of "small but beautiful" national resorts. With the establishment of a well-off society in an all-round way, the accumulation of national tourism experience, the optimization of the holiday system for festivals and anniversaries, and the implementation of the paid vacation system, the demand for vacations is growing. Sightseeing, leisure, and vacation are market demands shown by the tourism economy at different stages of development. We cannot simply think of who is low-end and who is high-end. In order to meet the new needs of the people for vacation tourism, it is necessary to bring vacation projects closer and closer to urban and rural residents. Through the coordination of capital, technology, creativity and entrepreneurship, through urban renewal and rural revitalization, a large number of "small but beautiful" projects, products and services will be introduced to make more urban and rural spaces a good place for "micro vacations", so that more people can enjoy "evenings outside Beijing", "weekends on the Beidaihe beach", and "holidays at Taihu Manor".

Promoting the expansion of domestic tourism and the revitalization of inbound tourism is the new mission of the times for tourist resorts and a new driving force for development. It is impossible and unnecessary for China to replicate the development model of the resort industry in the United States and the West in the development of the tourist resort market and the construction of tourist resorts. The national conditions, market, system and development stage do not allow it. A feasible approach is to sort out the cultural heritage and aesthetic orientation of "It is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone", "The benevolent enjoy the mountains, the wise enjoy the water", "Three autumn osmanthus, ten miles of lotus", facing the majority of the people, and cultivating a new space for a better life with rich levels, a combination of movement and stillness, and shared by hosts and guests, so as to develop a tourist resort development model with Chinese characteristics. In the process of planning, construction and operation of tourist resorts, we should not only pay attention to the creative inheritance and innovative development of excellent traditional culture, but also carry forward the advanced socialist culture and enrich the experience content and consumption scenarios of tourist resorts.

Contributor | "China Tourism Scenic Spots and Resorts Development Report (2024-2025)" Research Group Editor | Liu Xin Source | China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) Please indicate the source for reprinting