Changsha sees booming summer cultural tourism consumption
2023-08-14
Due to the hot climate, Changsha used to enter a tourist off-season in summer. However, in recent years, Changsha has developed its summer tourism and gained great popularity. With the emergence of new tourism strategies and forms, Changsha welcomes the booming summer tourism.
New tourism forms
The integration of culture and tourism has become an important means to upgrade cultural tourism consumption. Since the beginning of this year, the performance economy has become a new “growth point” in the cultural tourism market.
It’s a pity that Changsha lacked sufficient large-scale cultural tourism performances in the past. However, this summer, Changsha has made it.
The first China’s large-scale local epic drama “the Story of Hunan” was released in July, which has become a hot topic on the Internet and a new must-see program for tourists in Changsha.
The drama tells the touching stories about Hunan during several key periods of Hunan in the history of Chinese civilization and vividly shows to the audience what Hunan is, how it was developed, and what its significance is in the history of Chinese civilization.
“Audience can have a deeper understanding of Hunan through the drama,” said Su Haiqiang, a cultural scholar.
Besides, the first immersive emotional experience drama in China “When We Are Young” has been launched in Orange Isle since May, and it is difficult to get a single ticket.
The drama focuses on the youth of Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Xiang Jingyu, Tao Siyong, and others, with their growth process as the main narrative clue. It makes audience feel like they were in the “awakening age”, experiencing a youthful journey integrating culture and technology, with multimedia art expressions to break the boundaries of time and space.
The Qindao Performing Arts Center, a defender of Changsha singing hall culture, has also launched the “Changsha Ballad”, an original music stage show created by itself, which opens a unique window for tourists to understand Changsha.
At present, the drama has performed more than 10 times at its theatre, with a comprehensive attendance rate of 80%. Mr. Ouyang from Changde City said, “Every time I come to Changsha, I will go to the singing hall, and this time it’s astonishing that I could also experience Hunan culture.”
The popularity of cultural tourism performances is a microcosm of Changsha’s expansion of cultural tourism projects. According to the Changsha Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Film and Television, the city has 261 reserved cultural tourism projects with a total investment of 120.933 billion yuan.
This year, the 2.0 version of Jinggang Ancient Town in Wangcheng District was opened, the Zifu Kiln Scenic Area in Ningxiang City was put into operation, Dawangshan SkyShuttle was officially opened, and the Dufu Pavilion was renovated and upgraded.
Changsha’s cultural tourism industry has been increasingly diverse to better meet the market demands.
New travel strategies
Changsha has developed some cool-off tourism activities to meet people’s demands for health consumption and travel comfort in summer.
Xiangjiang Happy City, which has been open for three years, has become a carnival park this summer, with music festivals, romantic firework shows, and various new entertainment activities staged one after another.
In addition, the Water Park of Daolin Ancient Town Scenic Area has been newly decorated and opened to the public this summer. Huitang Golden Sun Hot Spring Farm has also launched a series of summer cool carnival night activities. The Ancient Town of Tongguan Klin Scenic Area has held a large-scale water splashing festival.
Zhouluo Grand Canyon in Liuyang City has attracted a large number of tourists with unique natural landscapes and rich entertainment activities.
Since the beginning of summer, the order volume of various tourism products has far exceeded that of the same period in 2019. Among them, the bookings of entrance tickets of the scenic area have increased by over 20%, and the admission rate has increased by 40.53% year on year.
Changsha Window of the World has provided diverse night activities, such as the Mango Water Gun Festival, the 0731 electric music festival, and the summer performance.
As the host city of the second Changsha Tourism Development Conference, Liuyang City has launched a series of activities with high participation, profound cultural significance, and strong driving effects.
On weekends, one ticket to the firework show is hard to get. The tourist flow in the streets near the Sky Theater often exceeds 20,000 people, which has also driven up the popularity of real stores such as shopping malls, supermarkets, hotels, and restaurants.
New activities
This summer, with the upcoming “Dear Museum” (Season 2), 52 museums in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan have jointly launched a hundred-day series of cultural activities, among which, the interactive stamp collection activity has become a hot topic on the Internet.
The stamp collection event has made little-know museums such as the tea museum popular and enriched the travel experience of tourists. A group of tourists hold small notebooks and travel to various scenic spots just to collect unique stamps.
In addition to museums, there are also many other places in Changsha where stamps are available. The Changsha Planning Exhibition Hall and Li Zijian Art Museum have all launched commemorative stamps, and the Zhijian and Sisyphe bookstores also welcome visitors to collect stamps.
Meanwhile, a series of activities has been launched during the 2023 Changsha Cultural Tourism Consumption Season. The 2023 First Changsha KOL Livestreaming Competition, a grand annual online marketing event in Changsha, will introduce the characteristic cultural tourism consumption products of Hunan to netizens through livestreaming sales, which empowers brand promotion and achieves efficient exposure.
The first Changsha International Beer Festival was held at the Beer Festival Square of Dawangshan Tourist Resort in Xiangjiang New Area on August 11, which marks that a dazzling summer carnival began.
This beer festival is one of the 2023 Consumption Boosting Year activities in Changsha, and a characteristic summer consumption venue will be created to promote the continuous development of the night economy, enhance the city’s charm as well as cultural soft power, and give new impetus to the city’s development.
Thanks to the continuous heating-up summer tourism, the Changsha Dawangshan Holiday Inn is almost at full occupancy in July. Xu Xueping, general manager of the hotel, stated that in order to better meet the needs of tourists, the hotel will launch multiple parent-child and holiday products with refined services.
