Why domestic and foreign tourists love Xiangxi

In early winter, an endless stream of tourists from home and abroad came to Furong Town Scenic Area of Yongshun County, Xiangxi Prefecture. Since the beginning of this year, thanks to China’s a series of measures taken to facilitate inbound tourism, a large number of foreign tourists have come to Xiangxi.

In the first three quarters, Xiangxi Prefecture received 254,000 inbound visitors, a year-on-year increase of about four times. It received over 56 million domestic and foreign tourists and achieved a total tourism revenue of over 55 billion yuan, an increase of 5.22% and 5.64% year on year respectively. Xiangxi Prefecture focuses on building a renowned tourist destination both domestically and internationally by promoting the integrated development of culture and tourism.

21 projects with a total investment of over 7.3 billion yuan were signed at the Xiangxi Tourism Development Conference on November 9.

New business forms

Xiangxi Prefecture has enriched its night business forms such as night banquets, night tours and night shopping, in order to create a new tourist destination that combines charming ancient towns with Xiangxi’s cultural blocks.

The Dehang Grand Canyon Scenic Area in Jishou City is crowded with tourists. During holidays, the immersive 5D Miao wedding banquet theater of “Dehang Fantasyland” is packed.

The performance takes basalt cliffs with a history of billions of years as the backdrop and Miao village buildings as the stage, showcasing the courage and responsibility of Xiangxi people to defend their homeland. This year, “Dehang Fantasyland” has continued to be popular, with the number of audience members in the performance season reaching 35,000, and the tourism income hitting 5.53 million yuan.

In the evening, visitors will see an immersive art cruise light show themed “Meet on Tuojiang River” that integrates light and shadow technologies and Miao culture on Tuojiang River.

The “Meet on Tuojiang River” project is an immersive night cruise experience project on the Tuojiang River in Fenghuang Ancient Town. It integrates various sound, light and shadow elements, such as Chinese style anime, live action filming and water mist projection, making people intoxicated.

The live-action drama “Border Town” adapted from Shen Congwen’s novel “The Border Town”, and the large-scale indoor interactive performance “Fenghuang Yangzi” staged in Fenghuang County are sold out every time. Travel photography has become a new trend in Fenghuang Ancient Town. In rows of ethnic clothing rental stores, there are a lot of tourists dressed in ethnic costumes and adorned with exquisite hairpins, and photographers are busy capturing every touching moment.

Now, there are more than one thousand travel photography shops emerging in Fenghuang Ancient Town, with over 5,000 people directly engaged in the industry. The total revenue exceeded 2 billion yuan in 2023.

To meet the diversified needs of the market, new business forms and products such as Fenghuang travel photography, the live-action performance “Border Town” and the sky walking project of the Aizhai Bridge have been launched. Diversified nighttime consumption projects have enriched tourists’ nighttime life and entertainment experiences. Xiangxi Prefecture has continued to expand its consumer market and enrich consumer forms. Traditional festivals and brand activities such as Tujia Sheba Festival and Miao Ganqiu Festival are held. Night economy of Fenghuang Ancient Town, Qianzhou Ancient Town and Furong Town is developed. Xiangxi’s Miao embroidery, silver jewelry and other intangible cultural heritage projects are transformed into products from exhibits.

In terms of deep integration of culture and tourism, it has made efforts to fully tap its ethnic culture, protect cultural heritage, hold tourism festivals and events, and create a batch of new cultural forms with original, local and ethnic characteristics. New entertainment projects

Relying on four major scenic areas including Fenghuang Ancient Town, Laosicheng and Bamian Mountain, it has driven the development of rural tourism in 113 villages, and developed a number of new spaces, new scenarios and new activities, making Xiangxi’s tourism popular.

While hosting the third Xiangxi Tourism Development Conference, Yongshun County also carried out other wonderful activities.

As new Chinese-style tourism forms such as taking photos in ancient towns and cities and experiencing intangible cultural heritage becomes popular, Furong Town holds characteristic cultural tourism festivals and intangible cultural heritage exhibitions every year, like Xiangxi Mud Festival, Sheba Festival and Tujia New Year Festival, allowing tourists to get different travel experiences and experience colorful folk culture throughout the year. “The Carnival of Bifzivsar” is performed every day, depicting the Tusi Kingdom with a history of 800 years. With beautiful scenery and profound history and culture, Longshan County has built six major scenic spots, including Liye Ancient Town, Rebala, Bamian Mountain and Ciyantang. It has explored new paths for the deep integrated development of sports plus cultural tourism, and expanded spaces for integrated development of culture, sports and tourism.

In August of this year, the 2024 “Beautiful Xiangxi:Cycling on the Cloud” Bicycle Invitational was held on Bamian Mountain in Longshan County. The track connected the natural landmarks and cultural landscapes like Liye Ancient Town, allowing participants to enjoy beautiful scenery while competing.

To promote tourism development, Jishou City cultivates event brands, and holds brand festivals and events, including the tea and cultural tourism festival, Aizhai Bridge International Marathon Invitational, and Aizhai Bridge High-altitude Triathlon Challenge. In Morong Scenic Area of Guzhang County, such projects as Miao musical dialogues in antiphonal style, silver jewelry forging and Miao cross-stitch are popular with tourists.

Huayuan County actively explores the ways for the integrated development of sports and cultural tourism, promotes tourism through competitions, and strengthens the sports consumption market.

“We hope to promote Red tourism through sports events, and attract more tourists to Shibadong Village to experience the fruitful achievements of China’s poverty alleviation and rural revitalization up close,” said Zhao Qian, chief referee of the China (Shibadong) Mountain Cross-Country Challenge. In the future, more national-level sports events will be held in Xiangxi Prefecture.


Chinese source: hunantoday