The 14th Anhui International Cultural Tourism Festival was held in Hefei on September 10. Wang Qingxian, deputy secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and governor of Anhui Province, presided over the opening ceremony. Liang Yanshun, secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, Zhang Xu, chairman of the World Tourism Alliance, and Peter Simon, chairman of the Asia Pacific Tourism Association, delivered speeches. At the invitation of the organizing committee, Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Research Institute, gave a special report on "Scenic Spots, Cities, Routes and the Construction of World-Class Tourism Destinations". The full text is shared as follows. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's tourism development has entered the fast lane, forming the world's largest domestic tourism market, becoming the largest source country and major destination for international tourism. The tourism industry has grown from small to large and from weak to strong. It has become an emerging strategic pillar industry and a livelihood industry and happiness industry with significant characteristics of the times. It has successfully embarked on a unique path of China's tourism development. One of the important signs of this road is to coordinate the development of international and domestic tourism, always give priority to inbound tourism, and implement more convenient and efficient visa, route, payment, promotion, and quality improvement policies for foreigners to come to China. In the process of China's 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. At present, many provinces and cities such as Anhui, Hunan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi have issued documents on the construction of world-class tourist destinations and started urban demonstration pilot work. Anhui is the ideological source and practical innovation place for the development of inbound and outbound tourism in my country, and for international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan tourism exchanges and cooperation. In particular, the Huangshan area, Hefei and cities along the Yangtze River and Huai River have made historic contributions to the development of tourism in my country, and have formed a number of development experiences worthy of summary and promotion. In 2023, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government held a high-level conference on the construction of a strong cultural province and a conference on high-quality tourism development, and issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Culture and Tourism, Demonstrating the Anhui Style and Anhui Charm, and Accelerating the Construction of a High-quality Tourism Power Province", which will promote the construction of a strong cultural province and a strong tourism province. Systematically studying the theoretical connotation, indicator system and practical key points of world-class tourist destinations, and scientifically evaluating the policies, plans and measures that have been introduced will undoubtedly have very important practical significance for promoting high-quality tourism development.

World-class with profound cultural heritage

Tourist attractions and resorts

Looking at the history of international tourism development and the global tourism development pattern, sightseeing, leisure and vacation have always been the main demand and basic market. Tourist attractions and resorts built and developed based on natural and cultural heritage are the basic resources for the development of tourism economy. From July 11 to 16, 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited Huangshan on foot, held a symposium of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and the Huizhou Prefectural Party Committee, and delivered the "Huangshan Talk" of the "China Tourism Reform and Opening-up Declaration", which clearly required "to be ambitious and promote the brand of Huangshan", and repeatedly emphasized the specific requirements of service, hygiene, product packaging, remuneration and other aspects. After several generations of efforts, from "Huangshan in Southern Anhui" to "Huangshan in China" and then to "Huangshan in the World", Huangshan has become an indispensable national brand element in the international tourism promotion system and an important symbol of the level of tourism economic development. In 2023, Huangshan Scenic Area received a total of 4.575 million tourists, Huangshan City received 83.266 million tourists, and the total tourism revenue was 74.31 billion yuan. Huangshan is also one of the 60 sample cities for national tourist satisfaction monitoring. Huangshan Tourism Group has been selected as one of the top 20 Chinese tourism groups for many consecutive times. Anhui Province has developed into one of the important domestic tourist destinations. According to data from various provinces and cities, in 2023, Anhui received a total of 850 million domestic tourists and domestic tourism revenue of 851 billion yuan, ranking fifth and tenth in the country respectively.

Figure 1: Ranking of Tourist Visits Received by Provinces and Cities in China in 2016, 2019, and 2023

Figure 2 Ranking of comprehensive tourism income of provinces and cities in China in 2016, 2019 and 2023

In recent years, the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government have made strategic decisions to build a world-class leisure and health tourism destination in Huangshan, relying on the world-class brand of Huangshan, linking the four cities of Huangshan, Xuancheng, Chizhou and Anqing. This is a strategic plan for Anhui to build a world-class tourist destination and promote the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industries, and it is also a practical exploration of taking the lead in building a tourism power. Under the high-level promotion of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, the "Dahuangshan" strategy is following the innovative path of platform empowerment, double recruitment and introduction, project promotion, business integration, and industrial upgrading, accelerating the layout of health travel, medical tourism, cultural tourism integration, characteristic towns, low-altitude economy and international reception halls, and realizing a batch of early harvest lists such as Yingze Art Museum and Qihong Town, and reserving a batch of large and good projects that lay the foundation, benefit the long-term and increase stamina. In the first half of this year, the GDP of the Dahuangshan area reached 362.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, reflecting the results of cluster development and the transformation and upgrading of the cultural and tourism industry, as well as the spillover effect on driving the overall development of the region.

From tourist attractions to tourist resorts, and then to international tourist destinations, what has changed is not only the spatial scale, but also the modernization of development concepts, planning ideas, project construction, factor development, product research and development, policy coordination and governance system governance capabilities. In this process, the high-level promotion and strategic planning of the provincial party committee and the provincial government are needed, and the policy support and scientific guidance of the central government are needed. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China requires the acceleration of the construction of a number of world-class tourist attractions and resorts with rich cultural heritage. The Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are about to fully launch this work. In theory, world natural and cultural heritage sites are key elements for entering the list of world-class tourist attractions. Huangshan, which has many world-class and national titles such as world natural and cultural dual heritage and 5A-level tourist attractions, should be included and has the conditions to enter the list of world-class tourist attractions. After a period of cultivation and construction, the international reputation, reputation, global competitiveness and influence of Huangshan Scenic Area will be raised to a higher level, forming a strong support for world tourist destinations. We should also give full play to historical and cultural scenic spots such as Huizhou Ancient City, Bao Family Garden, Qiankou, Chengkan, Tangmo, and Sanhe Ancient Town; mountain and forest scenic spots such as Jiuhua Mountain, Qiyun Mountain, Tianzhu Mountain, Langya Mountain, and Tiantangzhai; river and lake scenic spots such as Taiping Lake, Balihe River, Wanfo Lake, Caishiji, and Taohuatan; and theme parks such as Fantawild, to form a matrix of high-quality scenic spots with cultural flavor, fireworks, and a sense of the times.

Compared with the abundance and height of tourist attractions, national and local tourist resorts need to work harder in terms of development concepts, market cultivation, planning and construction, product design and business management. Whether it is the national tourist resort cultivated as a functional area in the late 1980s, or the national tourist resort evaluated as a product brand in the past decade, they are always faced with the leadership of vacation demand and the cultivation of the vacation market. If tourist attractions are centered on the tourist attractions seen by tourists during the day, then tourist resorts are centered on the accommodation experience of tourists at night, and the destination color of the lifestyle of a different place is stronger. From a global perspective, tourist resorts are mainly developed around seashores, islands, and oceans, such as the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, South Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions and cruise industries. There are also mountain resorts, such as ski and hot spring resorts in the Alps, the Nordic fjords, and Hokkaido, Japan. Chinese-style vacations originated from summer vacations, winter vacations, and cultural leisure for the scholar-official class. The kind-hearted enjoy mountains, the wise enjoy water, and the young enjoy the sea. There are many spaces that can be used as tourist resorts. Mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, sands, ancient towns and villages, and historical and cultural cities can all be optional spaces for national tourist resorts in the new era, and are also the starting points for world-class tourist resorts. From a national perspective, we need tourist resorts with world-class IP support and large-scale space such as Disney, Universal, Chimelong, Changbai Mountain, and Taihu Lake. We also need special tourist leisure areas such as Hefei Bantang Hot Spring Tourist Resort, Yixian International Rural Tourist Resort, Fantawild Theme Park, Squirrel Town, and Xiangyuan Flower World. If Anhui Province wants to build a world-class tourist destination, it should and must have a number of world-class and national tourist resorts, especially introducing and cultivating a number of world-class resort hotel brands, integrating high-quality life into natural scenery and local culture, and thus attracting international and domestic tourists to live here.

Distinctive cultural characteristics of the world-class

Tourist cities and neighborhoods

International tourist destinations need the support of internationally renowned cities. It is precisely the cities with global influence and closely connected urban clusters that constitute the underlying components of world-class tourist destinations. The Atlantic Coast Tourism Belt constructed by major cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington in the United States, the Tokyo Bay Tourism Area supported by Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba, and Kawasaki in Japan, the Greater Bay Area supported by Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao in China, and the East China Jiangnan Tourism Area supported by Shanghai, Jiangsu, Nanjing, and Hangzhou are also the same. Cities are the most important source markets. The endogenous demand upgrades in the urbanization process provide a continuously growing local and short-distance market foundation for the construction of world-class tourist destinations. Cities are the most important tourist destinations. High-quality living environments and modern commercial reception systems, including public cultural services, have become key factors in attracting tourists to visit. Cities are also the most concentrated space for tourism entrepreneurship and innovation. Capital, technology, culture, education, and the rule of law environment constitute fertile soil for tourism investment and ecological development. It is difficult for provincial-level administrative regions and municipal district-level administrative regions to be built as independent tourist destinations, especially to build a clear tourism image and promote it globally. It is in this sense that the focus of tourism work in the new era should be shifted to cities.

Anhui is relying on national and regional central cities to build an overall development pattern of "one zone, three circles and four belts" as a world-class tourist destination. First, it is to build a high-level international cultural tourism demonstration zone in southern Anhui with Dahuangshan as the focus; second, it is the Hefei urban science and technology innovation culture and leisure tourism circle, the Dabie Mountain red and green cultural tourism circle, and the northern Anhui cultural tourism integration development circle; third, it is the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Xin'an River, and Jianghuai Canal cultural tourism development belt. Relying on the coordinated development pattern of cities, radiating villages and towns, and integrating scenic spots and resorts, it will help optimize the al of tourism resources and the high-level integration of industrial elements. From the perspective of development, it is necessary to further enhance Hefei's strategic position in the province's tourism development pattern and further increase strategic investment in cities along the river and Huaihe River. From the al advantages and energy level advantages of the provincial capital city to the transportation advantages of aviation, railways and highway networks, especially the modernization advantages of education, science and technology and advanced manufacturing, Hefei has the necessary and conditions to become the general hub of Anhui culture and tourism, thereby driving the development of tourism in cities along the river and Huaihe River, and leading Anhui tourism from the "star scenic spot era" to the "good life era". Special monitoring data on tourist satisfaction from the China Tourism Academy shows that tourist satisfaction in Hefei and Huangshan has been increasing year by year, with the satisfaction score rising from 70 to 80, significantly higher than the national average, providing effective support for Anhui's construction of a world-class tourist destination.

Figure 3 Comparison of tourist satisfaction between Hefei and Huangshan from 2014 to 2023

International tourist destinations need internationally renowned historical and cultural blocks and business district brands. Historical and cultural blocks and business districts are the living space of citizens and also the scene of tourism consumption. In the contemporary tourism economic development system, the "three districts and one circle" composed of tourist attractions, resorts, historical and cultural blocks and business districts that are endogenous to the city and developed based on the city constitute the spatial pattern of tourist destination construction. The higher the quality of life and the more perfect the business environment, the more it can attract tourists from home and abroad. The more tourists from foreign countries come and experience more, they will naturally form a feeling for the city. With the accumulation of time, the temperament and image of the city begin to take shape or evolve. In the process of building a world-class tourist destination, a number of small and beautiful, small and exquisite, and small and warm tourism and leisure projects are developed and invested in around urban renewal and rural revitalization. Anhui Province has many historical and cultural blocks and urban business districts with distinctive cultural characteristics. Hefei's Huaihe Road Pedestrian Street and Lei Street, Huangshan's Tunxi Old Street, Liyang in Lane, etc. are all popular tourist check-in places for tourists, and are also the vitality factors for Anhui to build an international tourist destination.

World-class tourist destinations need internationally renowned cultural symbols, especially those that are symbols of the Chinese civilization spirit with world significance. Culture that carries national memory and common values ??is always the most valuable and attractive tourist resource. Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, ancient villages in southern Anhui, Huangmei Opera, and Anhui cuisine are already national cultural symbols with extensive international fame. National archaeological sites such as Lingjiatan and Shuangdun will also become new cultural landmarks of world-class tourist destinations.

World-class with global influence

Travel routes and tourism products

Whether it is a country or a province or city, it is unthinkable to build a world-class tourist destination without world-class and national-level tourist routes. In the global perspective, river trips represented by famous rivers such as the Danube, Rhine, Volga, Mississippi, and Nile, as well as the Cote d'Azur in southern Europe, Caribbean vacation trips, and railway trips such as the Orient Express, Pride of Africa, and European Railways, hot spring trips in Japan and Hungary, "Grand Study Tours" in Europe, and Russia's Golden Circle and Silver Circle, together constitute national tourist routes with global influence. After years of precipitation, these tourist routes have become symbols of tourism in their respective countries and have always been core products that focus on the international tourism market.

Relying on natural resources and historical and cultural resources, we should cultivate world-class tourist routes. The Yangtze River is not only a cultural belt, but also a tourist route. Anqing, Chizhou, Tongling, Wuhu and Ma'anshan along the Yangtze River are rich in traditional cultural genes, the essence of red revolutionary culture and the physical manifestation of advanced socialist culture. They are windows that highlight the traditional cultural heritage and the happy life of contemporary people. They have the potential to become a model of national tourist routes in the new era. We should make full use of intangible cultural heritage such as the four carvings of the Hui style, the inkstone of Hui inkstone, the Hui style architecture, the Hui style cuisine, the Hui merchant culture and the Xin'an River landscape gallery to cultivate the national tourist route of Hui culture. The construction of world-class and national tourist routes should be supported by cities, blocks, scenic spots and resorts, and should have natural landscapes, humanities and history, contemporary life scenes, interactive experience projects, global promotion by national and local governments, and professional operation by travel agents, so as to coordinate the government and the market, demand and supply, protection and utilization, international and domestic, development and safety. This requires the destination government to set up professional tourism promotion agencies and international professional teams to be responsible for destination brand building, image promotion, product iteration and commercial operation. In the near future, we will focus on planning and implementing brand activities such as "Dialogue between Beautiful Anhui and the World" and the global promotion of Mount Huangshan, and organize exhibitions and festivals such as the Anhui International Cultural Tourism Festival, the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Skills Exhibition, and the Chinese Farmers' Song Festival with high quality.

Relying on modern transportation networks to cultivate world-class tourist routes. One-stop multi-stop tourist routes for long-distance markets, especially cross-regional coordinated national tourist routes, require the support of airports, airlines and airport-related industries, and should focus on developing tourist charter flights and code-sharing routes. In order to develop inbound tourism and expand international market share, the central and local governments need to provide policy support in terms of 144-hour visa-free transit, airport and city duty-free shopping, and multi-currency consumer payment, and strive to improve the multi-language tour guide and interpretation system. Regional national tourist routes for medium and short-distance markets require the support of railway, highway and shipping networks. They should focus on developing tourist trains, RV self-driving camps, car rentals, and motel formats, and focus on supporting the construction of tourist scenic roads such as "Anhui-Zhejiang Line 1", "Southern Anhui Sichuan-Tibet Line", "Huangshan 218", and "Dabie Mountain Scenic Road", and orderly launch themed tourism boutique routes such as self-driving, study, photography, and hiking.

Relying on the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and people's happiness, we will cultivate world-class tourist routes. Recently, China Travel has become the traffic code for many overseas bloggers, mainly due to the huge contrast between the audience's impression of China and the content of the video reports. These videos will definitely cause the audience to think: Has China changed so much? What is the real China like? In the future, more foreign tourists will come to China and Anhui with these questions. The destinations they visit will not only have traditional famous mountains and rivers and cultural relics, but also transportation and urban infrastructure, public services, leisure districts and high-tech life scenes that can better reflect the economic and social development of the destination. The sense of technology, cultural flavor, and fireworks will become a new experience of world-class tourist destinations. Cities such as Hefei, Wuhu, and Bengbu should connect large scientific facilities, scientific research institutes, iFlytek, NIO, China (Bengbu) Sensor Valley and other science and technology experience sites, integrate urban commercial districts, urban parks and other life scenes, and create new routes for scientific research and future life with Anhui characteristics.

World-class international competitiveness

Tourism companies and service brands

A world-class tourist destination must be able to attract the continuous attention of world-class investment institutions. Capital is powerful. Incremental investment can bring technology, talents and information, revitalize local stock resources, and drive local employment. Capital is also sensitive and has strict requirements for the destination market environment, business environment and supporting factors. Fundamentally speaking, business is not attracted by the government, but by the market. The government should do more to "momentum" in the industry, rather than "matter" in a certain enterprise or a certain project. There are so many investment and financing conferences, resource matching meetings, and project negotiation meetings. The real effect urgently needs professional evaluation. To properly handle the relationship between the government and the market is to give play to the leading role of the market in resource al, make up our minds to let the "visible hand" idle, reduce the sense of presence in the market, and do more foundation-laying and long-term work in public services. Anhui Province and major cities have made remarkable achievements in attracting investment.

World-class tourist destinations require the commercial presence of world-class market players, including travel service providers, tourist accommodation providers, tourist resort operators, tourist retailers, as well as cultural, fashion, media and design agencies. In recent years, the national and local tourism policies and administrative measures have been issued in large numbers, the strategic positioning has been high, and the publicity and promotion has been strong, but why are the levels of regional and urban tourism development uneven? The root lies in the degree of development of the modern tourism system, and the key lies in the innovative vitality and market competitiveness of tourism enterprises. Recently, I visited the Helan Mountain Wine Industry Belt and Tourism Resort in Yinchuan, the Desert Tourism Resort in Zhongwei, Turandot Town, Tengger Desert Resort, Diamond Hotel, Starry Sky Hotel, and Yellow River Suji, and was shocked: without the involvement of international-level investment, design, construction and operation agencies, and without the permanent presence of professional teams with international vision, it is hard to imagine that there can be such international-level tourism reception in the northwest. In 2023, a total of 2,811 cultural and tourism projects in Anhui were signed, started or put into production. The red metaverse immersive performing arts project "100,000 Theater" premiered in Jinzhai. Projects such as the Huoshan Ski Resort and Tongling Liqiao Water Town were put into operation, providing strong project support for the high-quality development of Anhui's tourism industry and the construction of a world-class tourist destination.

World-class tourist destinations need to cultivate localized tourism enterprises, and then form a collaborative and innovative tourism industry chain, industrial clusters and industrial ecology. In recent years, Anhui has focused on the development of homestay industry and rural tourism. The provincial government has issued guiding opinions on promoting the development of tourism homestays. The cultural and tourism departments have selected the top 20 "Anhui Beauty" gold medal homestays. Xidi Village in Yi County was named the "Best Tourism Village" by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, forming homestay brands such as Tashan Academy, Yanwoli, Anruo West Street, Zhulan Sanba, Xishe Yiyantang and Shanshuijian that are widely recognized by the tourism market.

Modernized governance system

and governance capacity

The construction of a world-class tourist destination requires complete public services and a modern governance system and governance capabilities. Tourism public services usually include public information, public transportation, emergency rescue, health and safety, ecological resource protection, historical and cultural resource protection, people-friendly services, and service personnel training. On the basis of ensuring the basic rights of tourists and local residents, creatively introducing market entities into some public service areas can effectively improve the efficiency and sustainability of public service supply. Accurately grasping the scale and scope of market entities entering tourism public services is the embodiment of the modernization of the governance system and governance capabilities, and it is also a higher requirement for the governance system and governance capabilities in the construction of a world-class tourist destination.

The construction of a world-class tourist destination requires the timely introduction of guiding policies, as well as policy feedback and evaluation after the implementation cycle. In recent years, Anhui Province has launched a series of implementation plans in the construction of tourism infrastructure, the improvement of service quality supervision, the reform and development of cultural and museum venues, and plans to launch a number of key construction projects and enterprise cultivation plans, which will provide indispensable land, funds and personnel guarantees for the construction of a world-class tourist destination. In the process of implementing policies and plans, it is necessary to emphasize industry supervision, standard promotion, and project entry, and also pay attention to market feedback and effect evaluation of policy implementation.

The construction of world-class tourist destinations requires the government to work hard to lay the foundation and establish long-term work. It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the latest development of world-class tourist destinations through tourism statistics and big data, tourism economic operation analysis, and tourist satisfaction levels. Focus on strengthening statistical monitoring of the integrated development of culture and tourism, and build statistical indicators for tourism power and high-quality development of the tourism industry. Strengthen the construction of tourism development theory, promote the research of key, hot and difficult topics such as world-class tourist destinations, world-class tourist attractions and resorts, world-class and national tourist routes, world-class tourism enterprises, and the deep integration of culture and tourism, lead the team with projects, cultivate a group of reliable, useful and retained theoretical achievements and think tank platforms, and continuously improve the education, science and technology and talent support for the tourism governance system and governance capabilities.

Author | Dai Bin Editor | Liu Xin Source | China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) Please indicate the author and source for reprinting