Dai Bin | When did night tourism come from? Where to go?

In order to better promote the theoretical research of night economy, give full play to the leading role of innovative cases and benchmark projects in night tourism, and promote the realization of a beautiful night life shared by hosts and guests, the "2023 China Night Economy Forum" jointly hosted by China Tourism Research Institute, Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, Sanya Municipal People's Government and China Urban Rural Holdings Group, and organized by Sanya Tourism Development Bureau and Sanya Municipal Bureau of Commerce, will be held in Sanya on October 11, 2023. Dean Dai Bin delivered a keynote speech on the theme of night tourism titled "When does night tourism come from? Where does it go?" The full text is shared as follows:

The restart of the Night Economic Forum in the beautiful Sanya that Lu looks back on seems to remind us to never forget our original aspirations for the future

Since 2018, the theoretical construction, policy promotion, and market practice of night tourism have achieved historic leaps and achieved remarkable achievements in various aspects that have attracted worldwide attention

In the past five years, we have achieved an innovative process of introducing concepts into social practice, from theoretical exploration of night tourism, to policy promotion of night economy, and then to market practice of night leisure. Nighttime reading, leisure, and consumption activities have existed since ancient times, and the concept of night tourism and night economy has been officially introduced, forming a practical hotspot jointly promoted by the market and the government in just five years. At the beginning of 2018, the China Tourism Research Institute submitted the "Release New Demand for Nighttime Tourism and Cultivate New Driving Forces for Urban Tourism" to the former Party Group of the National Tourism Administration in the form of a "Tourism Internal Reference". In March 2019, the research team publicly released special data and research results on night tourism, clearly declaring that "night tourism is the right time". The main leaders of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism gave positive instructions on the special achievements of night tourism in the "Special Report on Tourism Internal Reference". Mainstream media such as Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, and China National Radio have tracked and reported on the public achievements from different perspectives, which has attracted widespread attention from party committees and governments at all levels, tourism operators, lighting engineering companies, and various sectors of society. In November 2019, the China Tourism Research Institute, together with the People's Government of Wuhu City and Mingjiahui Technology Co., Ltd., held the first Night Economy Forum, forming a broad consensus of "promoting high-quality development of night economy with cultural and tourism rights as the center", and launching a number of cities, enterprises, scenarios, and project cases with demonstration significance and promotion value. In October 2020, the China Tourism Research Institute, together with the Wuxi Municipal People's Government and Liangye Technology, held the second Night Economy Forum, which conducted more in-depth discussions on leisure activities such as night culture, art tourism, catering, and shopping from the perspective of economic and social development, and established the development direction of "culture leading night economy, and hosts sharing a better life". The re launched benchmark cities, enterprises, and project cases have caused a wider social response. Since then, governments at all levels have accelerated the introduction of policies to promote the night economy and the construction of night time cultural and tourism consumption clusters. In the past three years, the nighttime economy has not stagnated due to the epidemic, and since the spring and summer of this year, it has entered a peak period of accelerated development. In the past five years, we have expanded from the time of tourism activities to the space of tourism consumption, creating a new space for night life that is both nearby and far away, and shared by hosts and guests. At night, after the day. For a considerable period of time, the night has not been included in the perspective of tourists and the scope of the tourism industry. Whether participating in organized tour groups or self guided travel, the vast majority of tourists "enjoy the scenery during the day and sleep at night". On the contrary, whether it is products and services for group travelers or public spaces for self guided travelers, there are almost no nighttime tourism and leisure scenes to choose from. With the process of urbanization and the development of the economy and society, especially the advancement of lighting technology, at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, there are still thousands of lights on, and urban leisure is just in time. The psychological perception of tourists and residents regarding day and night has undergone significant changes, and the demand for nighttime cultural leisure and tourism consumption has begun to be awakened, satisfied, and created. Under the joint promotion of consumption, investment, and policies, the time of tourism activities has been effectively extended, and 18:00-22:00 is known as the "golden four hours" of the night economy. The tourism and leisure space has been effectively expanded, and the consumption scenes continue to enrich. In addition to KTV, catering, and shopping, there are also new experiential projects such as immersive performances, script shows, light and shadow shows, music festivals, livehouses, and Hanfu gardens. Around the residential apartments, hotels, and homestays, the surrounding 6-kilometer blocks, commercial districts, and cultural and museum venues are also known as the "Silver Six Kilometers".

In the past five years, while driving residents' leisure and tourism consumption, we have also cultivated a group of new market entities, promoting product research and development, content innovation, and business development. The high-quality development of the night economy requires creating an environment, creating content, and researching and developing products. The business opportunities that come with market size have attracted more and more capital, technology, and entrepreneurs to enter the field of night tourism and night leisure. Liangye Technology, Mingjiahui, Haolson and other urban lighting enterprises have successfully transformed into night life operators by combining the engineering advantages of lighting with the atmosphere creation of scenic spots, resorts, streets, and commercial districts. Enterprises creating content such as night performances, immersive performances and music festivals, as well as more creative projects, such as The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting of Oriental Performing Arts Group, Nanjing Joy of Nanjing Tourism Group, Drama Fantastic City of Henan Jianye, Shenzhen Festival Avenue of IDG, as well as night scenes created by theme parks and resorts such as Disney, Universal, Chimelong, Happy Valley, Hengdian, Yinji, Haichang Ocean Park, have gained good market reputation and commercial benefits. The night economy also provides a solid market foundation for the creative R&D and business innovation of Ctrip, Meituan, JD and other Internet platforms, Huawei, Dajiang, iFLYTEK and other high-tech companies, as well as more cultural, artistic, scientific and educational institutions.

In the past five years, we have also formed a group of nighttime economic agglomeration spaces with distinct cultural characteristics, from cities, neighborhoods, commercial districts to rural areas, scenic spots, and vacation areas. 243 national level nighttime cultural and tourism consumption clusters, such as Beijing's Qianmen Street, Liangma River Scenic Waterfront, and Taiyuan's Bell Tower Pedestrian Street, provide vivid scene support for tourists and citizens to experience the urban atmosphere and share a beautiful night life. They are also popular check-in spots for CityWalk. More central towns and key tourist villages, such as Helanshan Manpu Town in Ningxia, Hongcun in Anhui, and Nianhua Bay in Wuxi, not only expand the consumption space for citizens and tourists, but also help narrow the urban gap, allowing more young people in small towns to experience modern civilization at their doorstep. This is the contribution of the tourism industry to economic growth and also its responsibility for social development.

02

Only by adhering to the development for the people, forming a joint force of policies, relying on the market for innovation, and sharing achievements with society, can we continue to promote the high-quality development of night tourism

To develop nighttime cultural leisure and promote nighttime tourism consumption, we must adhere to the people-centered development concept, and take the improvement of the quality of cultural leisure and tourism consumption of urban and rural residents as the purpose and guidance. In just five years, the night economy has achieved such great success because we have always insisted on using cultural undertakings, cultural industries, tourism industries, as well as related production factors and human resources, to create more excellent literary and artistic works and high-quality tourism products, constantly meeting the cultural and tourism rights of the people. It is precisely because of such guiding ideology, rather than for the wealth growth or political achievements of a few people, that industry consensus can be widely gathered, social forces can be coordinated, and more and more public cultural spaces such as museums, art galleries, libraries, and cultural stations can extend their opening hours, more and more food districts and temporary commercial outlets can extend their business hours, and more and more artistic performers can extend their working hours, so that more citizens and tourists can enjoy high-quality cultural leisure and tourism experiences. The public resources invested in sanitation, urban management, public security, emergency response, etc. for this purpose are difficult to directly measure. When we enjoy the beautiful night life and plan the future blueprint of the night economy, we should pay deep respect to them. To develop night time cultural leisure and promote night time tourism consumption, we must adhere to the principle of the people's call and the government's response, and continuously improve the modernization of the governance system and governance capacity. In August 2019, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Stimulating the Potential of Cultural and Tourism Consumption" (Guobanfa [2019] No. 41), which proposed for the first time at the central government level to develop the night economy, enrich the night cultural performance market, optimize night dining, shopping, performing arts and other services in cultural and tourism venues, and encourage the construction of 24-hour bookstores. By 2022, build over 200 national level nighttime cultural and tourism consumption clusters. Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Measures on Unleashing the Potential of Tourism Consumption and Promoting the High quality Development of the Tourism Industry" (State Council Document [2023] No. 36), which requires the orderly development of the night economy and puts forward clear requirements for night culture and tourism consumption clusters, supporting service facilities, and delays, promoting the exploration of night consumption potential and market expansion from multiple dimensions such as food and sports. In the past five years, local governments have issued 139 policy documents to promote the development of nighttime economy, mainly implementing specific requirements of higher-level policies, widely involving organizational leadership, consumption guidance, scene creation, infrastructure improvement, night market cultivation, financial subsidies and rewards, and other aspects. Without the policy guidance of the central government and the administrative promotion of local governments, it is difficult for the night economy to achieve its current development achievements.

To develop nighttime cultural leisure and promote nighttime tourism consumption, it is necessary to adhere to the enthusiasm of investment institutions and market entities, continuously cultivate new driving forces, new elements, and new formats of the nighttime economy. The continuously growing nighttime consumer flow has generated differential land rent in the existing spaces of neighborhoods, commercial districts, and leisure complexes, attracting more and more industrial capital, cultural creativity, and technological innovation, and thus giving rise to a large number of new market entities. The nighttime economy has also driven the optimization of urban and rural spatial stock, as well as the innovation of business models for hotels, homestays, serviced apartments, travel agencies, OTAs, and community clubs. Innovation from the market is also driving the efficiency and improvement of public services and social management such as security, cleaning, public transportation, subway, telecommunications, public security, and emergency response. These urban "lamplighters" and "lantern bearers" not only provide more efficient and warm public services, but also provide a modern business environment for commercial investment and market innovation. From the case studies of night economy cities, enterprises, and projects launched in the past two sessions and this forum, it can be seen that they are all the result of the positive interaction between the government and the market, as well as the leading role of commercial institutions in investment and innovation.

03

The future night tourism should not only meet the new demands of cultural leisure and tourism consumption, but also inherit excellent traditional culture, and create modern civilization and advanced culture

The future night tourism should meet the new needs of tourists and urban and rural residents, and better serve the national strategy and local economic and social development requirements. Nighttime economy is not just about eating, drinking, and entertainment performances, but also includes shopping, sightseeing, watching dramas, night reading, stargazing, and social needs. The existing nighttime economy mainly relies on existing space and commercial resources to meet the material and primary cultural and leisure needs of citizens and tourists. With the completion of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the overall consumption demand that is both layered and upgraded requires both high-quality material satisfaction and high-level spiritual enjoyment. The development of local economy and society requires both traditional human fireworks and shining stars of the future. We need more infrastructure developers like China Urban and Rural Holdings, international block operators like Lan Kwai Fong, fashion and commercial investors like Taikoo Li, large-scale block creators like IDG, and entrepreneurial innovators who are small yet beautiful for the community. We should focus on cultivating a multi-level, multi type, and diversified industrial ecosystem, especially through creative investment in technology, art, sports, and other elements, and strive to create a number of landmark projects and phenomenal products with strong radiation and driving force. We cannot just talk about landmarks and compare them to Dubai's sailboat hotels or Las Vegas' MSG balls. We need to fully consider China's national conditions and economic and social compatibility, and find a development path that harmoniously coexists with the ecological environment and urban space. In the future, night tourism should continue to rely on the "three zones and one circle" of cities to promote deeper and wider integration of culture and tourism, and should also pay more attention to night life in county towns, central towns, and rural areas. When urban tourism is confused about whether what you see in front of you is Tokyo or Paris, don't forget that there are still millions of rural residents singing old songs in the villages and alleys, living the traditional life of "working at sunrise and resting at sunset". A strong country, national rejuvenation, and happy people in China cannot let our elderly brothers who are far away in their hometowns spend sleepless nights watching old televisions. Nighttime culture and leisure should go to rural areas, timely targeted policies should be introduced, coupled with public cultural investment and tourism and leisure facility construction, to create new scenes for rural tourism night time consumption. Support the development of night tourism products and services such as night tours, night gatherings, night entertainment, and night shows in key rural tourism areas according to local conditions, encourage the innovation of traditional opera, folk art, and promote the integration of traditional and trendy culture, and continuously create night entertainment brands. Support the development of activities such as rural concerts, bonfire parties, food festivals, picking seasons, camping festivals, etc. Guide tourism, leisure, technology, engineering enterprises, and cultural and artistic groups to go to rural areas, and cultivate new spaces, content, projects, and formats for nighttime living for rural residents and tourists.

The future night tourism consumption should fully draw on the development experience of the global night economy, steadily improve the tolerance of personalized needs and the inclusiveness of diverse consumption. There are successful experiences and characteristic models of developing night economy in various countries and regions around the world, which all carry common values and have underlying logic of regional and local culture. Whether it's Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong, Ginza in Tokyo, Jeongdong Night Walk in Seoul, Night Garden in Miami, Left Bank in Paris, or monthly citizen roller skating in Brussels, they all carry vitality, freedom, equality, and unlimited creativity. We need to have in-depth exchanges and diverse cooperation with more international sister cities. Professor Jung Ganghwan, Dean of the School of Festival Tourism at Baekje University in South Korea and founder of South Korean "Night Tour", shared theoretical viewpoints and practical experience with Chinese counterparts at the first forum, which is very inspiring for China's early night tourism. Civilization exchange and cultural mutual learning are not simply transplanting and imitating, but promoting the localization of foreign cultures and the internationalization of local cultures, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to the implementation of global civilization initiatives and the construction of a world tourism community.

Author | Dai Bin

Editor | Xue Shiyi

Manuscript Review | Yang Liqiong

Source | China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism)

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