When night fell, Qianzhou Ancient Town in Jishou City was lit up by neon lights on August 29. On the painting bridge over the Wanrong River, more than 60 paintings showing the natural scenery of Xiangxi and portraits of non-heritage inheritors attracted many tourists.
This summer, Xiangxi has planned cultural tourism promotion activities, enriched cultural tourism products, and optimized services. From July to August, the prefecture received 14.88 million tourists and achieved tourism revenue of 14.88 billion yuan, an increase of 62.8% and 71.27% year on year respectively.
Cultural tourism forms became more diversified
This summer, tourism forms like homestay tours, parent-child tours, self-drive tours and study tours, popular scenic spots, characteristic villages, cultural venues, and leisure experience tourism products such as water sports and camping were popular among tourists.
On July 24, the Xiangxi Water Sports Center of in Luxi County was opened. A series of water projects such as jet skis were launched.
On August 4, the “Youshui Pearl” ship of Baojing County sailed for the first time, and tourists took a cruise to “Youshui Gallery”.
Tourists could enjoy the immersive art cruise tour provided by Fenghuang County until midnight, furthering to activate the night economy of the Fenghuang Ancient Town which received more than 40,000 passengers per day during the summer vacation.
The music festival held at Aizhai Canyon Starry Sky Campsite of Aizhai Wonders Tourist Area in Jishou City throughout the summer vacation drew more than 90,000 tourists.
Laosicheng Scenic Area and Tusi Campsite Resort in Yongshun County presented a series of performances, allowing tourists immerse in the local folk customs.
Bamian Mountain Scenic Area of Longshan County improved the quality of parking lots, cliff roads and cliff hotels, and held the tent music festival, inviting Li Keqin, Shui Mu Nian Hua band and other singers to sing, which attracted lots of tourists. “The number of people coming here for summer camping peaked at 6,000 a day,” said Tan Fu, deputy general manager of Bamian Mountain Scenic Area.
In order to welcome the arrival of the aviation era, Xiangxi carried out a series of activities to celebrate the opening of Xiangxi Biancheng Airport and the Huayuan Miao Ganqiu Festival. Huayuan County planned a series of Red study tour activities, and vigorously developed rural tourism.
This summer, the panda study tour project of Phoenix China Giant Panda Garden, the batik and tie-dye study and experience project at Window of Phoenix Scenic Area, and the Miao culture project of Zhongzhai Village in Guzhang County were popular among students in summer vacation.
The tourist reception of crossing Guzhang Red Stone Forest canyon, Yongshun Mengdong River rafting and other projects was more than three times that of the same period last year. Fenghuang Zhushan Scenic Area received about 10,000 tourists per day, and achieved a tourism income of 6,088,500 yuan.
Cultural tourism consumption continued to rise
This summer vacation, Xiangxi’s cultural tourism market continued to heat up. Tourism consumption changed from sightseeing to leisure vacation and in-depth experience. It focused on new trends and created new scenes of immersive cultural travel.
The hosting of the second Xiangxi Tourism Development Conference has boosted the popularity of Fenghuang Ancient Town. As a new consumption item of cultural tourism, travel photography in Fenghuang is loved by tourists. Up to now, a total of 1,026 travel photography shops have emerged in Fenghuang Ancient Town, with more than 5,000 direct employees, and the annual operating income is expected to exceed 500 million yuan.
“Xiangxi Ever-bright City” of Jishou City, through the “Xiangxi culture plus innovative performance” and “immersive plus smart night tour” new models, boosted the night tour market and effectively stimulated consumption.
“Medium and long distance travels gained popularity again this summer.” According to an official of the culture and tourism bureau of Xiangxi, the majority of tourists in the summer still came from local places in Xiangxiand other regions in Hunan Province, but the number of tourists outside the province in the core popular scenic areas increased significantly. Inbound tourism recovered gradually, with Vietnam’s tourist groups accounting for a larger proportion.
This summer vacation, Xiangxi cultural tourism market continued to have good news, and the soft environment for cultural tourism consumption continued to be comfortable. Fenghuang County and Baojing County were selected as the “Charming Counties of Deep Breathing Eco-Tourism” in 2023. Fenghuang County was listed among the top 100 counties with comprehensive county tourism strength in 2023, and Jishou City was listed among the top 100 counties with the best county tourism development potential in 2023. Guzhang County maintained the title of “China Natural Oxygen Bar”, and Luxi County was newly awarded the title of “China Natural Oxygen Bar”.
