On New Year's Eve not long ago, many cities staged spectacular drone shows. In the night sky, hundreds of drones, in neat formations and with colorful lights, wove dreamy scenes, refreshing people's imagination of the night sky. Drone shows have also become a landmark event for many cities to celebrate the New Year.

Over the past year, the low-altitude economy sector, including products such as drones, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), and helicopters, has shown vigorous development. With continuous technological advancements and policy improvements, the low-altitude economy has been included in the national strategic emerging industries and is gradually becoming a new engine for economic growth. Among numerous application scenarios, the low-altitude cultural and tourism industry, with its unique charm and broad market prospects, has become one of the most practical and promising industries in the low-altitude economy sector.

Rapid Growth in Market Size

In recent years, the term "low-altitude economy" has appeared in several policy documents, becoming a focus of attention.

The low-altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form centered on low-altitude flight activities, driven by new productive forces such as unmanned flight and low-altitude intelligent networks, interacting with airspace, markets, and other elements, promoting the development of low-altitude infrastructure, low-altitude aircraft manufacturing, low-altitude operation services, and low-altitude flight support.

The 2023 Central Economic Work Conference proposed creating several strategic emerging industries, including the low-altitude economy; the 2024 Government Work Report proposed actively creating new growth engines such as the low-altitude economy; the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and Promoting Chinese-Style Modernization, adopted at the 20th Session of the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee, emphasized the need to "develop general aviation and the low-altitude economy." Recently, the low-altitude economy sector has received new positive policy signals—on December 27, 2024, a "Low-Altitude Administration" was added to the "Institutional Setup" section on the official website of the National Development and Reform Commission.

As one of the typical representatives of new productive forces, driven by both policy guidance and market demand, the low-altitude economy is rapidly emerging as a trillion-level new industrial track. The China Low-Altitude Economy Development Research Report (2024) released by the CCID Consulting shows that in 2023, China's low-altitude economy reached 505.95 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 33.8%. In the next few years, as low-altitude flight activities gradually increase, the effect of driving low-altitude infrastructure investment will also gradually become apparent, and China's low-altitude economy will continue to maintain rapid growth. According to the prediction of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, by 2025, the market size of China's low-altitude economy will reach 1.5 trillion yuan, and it is expected to reach 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035.

"The low-altitude economy connects high-end technological innovation on one end and low-altitude flight applications on the other. Green, low-carbon, and cross-border integration are important characteristics of the low-altitude economy." Jin Wei, deputy secretary-general of the China UAV Industry Innovation Alliance, said in an interview with the media that as an important area for cultivating and developing new productive forces, it is the right time to develop the low-altitude economy. It is precisely by recognizing the huge potential of this vast market that 26 provinces and municipalities across the country have included the low-altitude economy in their local government work reports. Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Changsha have successively introduced relevant policies and measures to provide a good policy environment for the development of the low-altitude economy.

Emerging Consumer Scenarios

As consumers' demands for tourism experiences continue to rise, the low-altitude economy is showing a diversified development trend. Several research institutions' analysis and release of low-altitude economic development white papers mention that in the process of promoting the development of the low-altitude economy, many regions across the country focus on application scenario development, promoting the landing of "low-altitude +" scenarios, and clearly proposing to develop the application of the low-altitude economy in the cultural and tourism field.

At present, the low-altitude economy is firmly grasping the growth engine of "general aviation + cultural tourism," fully promoting the deep integration and synergistic development of general aviation with the cultural tourism and sports sectors. The efficient and convenient nature of general aviation, combined with the unique perspective of low altitude, cleverly combines with the rich connotation of the cultural tourism industry to create a series of refreshing tourism products and service models, bringing unique tourism experiences to consumers.

On the first day of the 2024 National Day holiday, at the Hukou Waterfall scenic area of the Yellow River, more than 300 people soared into the sky, enjoying the magnificence of the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River. Whether overlooking the magnificent mountains and rivers from a helicopter, savoring the pastoral scenery in a hot air balloon, or challenging oneself in paragliding, a series of low-altitude tourism projects are constantly enriching the forms and content of tourism, expanding the boundaries and depth of tourism, and effectively promoting local economic development.

Since 2024, many scenic areas and resorts have taken the lead in introducing low-altitude tourism products, using low-altitude aircraft such as helicopters and hot air balloons to provide aerial sightseeing services for tourists. In addition, low-altitude cultural and tourism performances, such as drone light shows and aerial stunt flying performances, combining modern technology and traditional art, are becoming new favorites at major tourist destinations.

The low-altitude economy has also given rise to low-altitude sports such as gliding, skydiving, and hot air balloon competitions, bringing unique experiences to tourists. These sports activities not only have high viewing value, but also allow tourists to personally experience the speed and excitement of low-altitude flight, satisfying tourists' needs for adventurous and exciting tourism experiences.

In the sky above the Badain Jaran Desert in Alxa Right Banner, Inner Mongolia, powered paragliding, hot air ballooning, hang gliding sightseeing, and skydiving activities are eye-catching. Novel low-altitude tourism projects provide tourists with diverse choices, promoting the iterative upgrading of the traditional cultural tourism industry and broadening the path to wealth for local villagers.

In the past two years, Alxa League has seized the opportunity to develop the low-altitude economy, establishing a general aviation company and building facilities such as general airports and destination landing sites, building a complete network of landing sites. At the same time, it has carried out comprehensive businesses such as aviation flight services, aerial sightseeing, helicopter guidance, emergency rescue, aerial inspection, and drone applications, introducing low-altitude tourism projects, and exploring new paths for the development of the low-altitude economy with "general aviation + cultural tourism" as a growth point.

In July 2024, the Badain Jaran Desert—Lake and Sand Dune Group was successfully listed as a World Natural Heritage site. It has tall sand dunes, unique lake resources, and famous landscapes such as the Bilutu Peak. The natural environment is unique and the scenery is beautiful, but due to its vast area and relatively inconvenient transportation, it is difficult for tourists to enter. Low-altitude flight provides an option for tourists who are not suitable for long-distance driving to enter the scenic area, allowing this hidden landscape to enter people's vision through high-altitude views.

On-site, the "fairy descending" parachute performance, powered paragliding formation performance, and wingsuit flying performance livestream not only brought unforgettable experiences to tourists but also brought new opportunities to the tourism industry, exciting local villagers and herders. "In the past, the business of farmhouses could only see profits during the peak tourist season, and specialty products were also unsatisfactory due to traffic limitations. This year, there are more tourism projects in the scenic area, tourists have fun, and surrounding accommodations and farmhouses are also bustling, and the sales of local products such as jerky and camel milk are better." A local herder revealed.

A relevant person in charge of the Alxa League Culture, Tourism, and Broadcasting Bureau introduced that the local exploration in "low-altitude economy + tourism" includes the opening of low-altitude sightseeing projects in key scenic areas such as the Badain Jaran Desert Scenic Area, the Alxa Dream Desert Motor Aviation Paradise, the Alxa League Populus euphratica Forest Tourist Area, and the Tonghu Grassland Tourist Area; the low-altitude economy is also applied to desert tourism security services, providing helicopter rescue support for desert off-road crossing experiences; and building a systematic talent training system to introduce talents in areas such as drone applications and low-altitude economic management planning.

In the industry's view, "low-altitude + tourism" has greatly enriched the types and levels of tourism products, not only creating unique tourism brands and images for tourist destinations but also significantly improving the popularity and reputation of tourist destinations. Low-altitude flight performances and low-altitude sports events often attract public attention, thereby greatly increasing the exposure of tourist destinations and attracting more tourists to visit and experience. Low-altitude tourism projects combined with ground tourism activities jointly build a coherent and diverse tourism experience. From low-altitude sightseeing and low-altitude sports and other air projects to ground supporting services such as dining, accommodation, and shopping, effectively extending the length of tourists' stay in the tourist destination, also driving the development of related local industries.

To improve the tourist experience, as early as October 2022, Shenzhen Window of the World and Splendid China Scenic Area cooperated with Meituan drones to provide drone delivery services to tourists in a flash mob format, attracting many people to try it out.

In 2023, Shenzhen Window of the World, Shenzhen Happy Valley, Splendid China, and East Coast Overseas Chinese Town and other scenic areas comprehensively deployed the normalized operation of drone takeout, reducing the delivery time by nearly half. During the "May Day" holiday of the same year, the first domestic normalized route for scenic areas in cooperation between Shenzhen Window of the World and Meituan drones officially opened, providing tourists with a new experience of takeout falling from the sky. After tourists order food in the scenic area, they only need to go to the airdrop cabinet set up in the park to pick up the food, so they can enjoy delicious food without leaving the scenic area.

Liang Junjun, a staff member of the marketing department of Shenzhen Window of the World, introduced that the drone takeout route starts from Yitian Holiday Plaza, a shopping mall outside the scenic area, and currently, many popular dishes from various brands have been launched. Tourists can rest assured to place orders while playing in the scenic area, and they can receive the food in as fast as 10 minutes. "Meituan drones entering the scenic area provide tourists with more convenient catering services, alleviate the pressure on catering supply in the scenic area, and create a unique travel experience." Liang Junjun said.

According to the introduction, the air route during drone delivery adopts the comprehensive optimal logic instead of the nearest distance logic, which not only meets safety requirements but also takes into account the feelings of surrounding users. Considering the high population density and high-rise buildings in Shenzhen, drones will try to avoid noise-sensitive areas such as schools and hospitals, and prioritize flying over green belts, rivers, and roads.

In addition to drone takeout, the scenic area's drone performances, especially the "drone + fireworks show," have also become a major highlight in attracting tourists.

On the evening of June 18, 2024, Shenzhen Window of the World held a 30th-anniversary celebration event, using AIGC technology to hold a wonderful drone performance show. Accompanied by the roar, nearly a thousand drones and tens of thousands of fireworks staged a spectacular scene of fire trees and silver flowers above the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe of Shenzhen Window of the World, using technologically advanced drones and fireworks shows with traditional aesthetics to write a new chapter of "tourism + technology." Today, the drone performances here have become normalized. At the performance site, tourists took out their mobile phones to record the unforgettable moment and share it with their relatives and friends.

According to the introduction, the drones participating in the performance are all equipped with high-precision navigation systems and intelligent control algorithms to ensure the stability and accuracy of the flight process. At the same time, combined with artificial intelligence and big data analysis technology, a scientific performance safety area is delineated according to the scale of the drone performance to ensure the order of the performance and viewing.

In the future, Shenzhen Window of the World will create more shocking and rich visual effects by increasing the number of drones, or by adopting innovative forms such as cold fireworks, to bring audiences a cutting-edge, romantic, and technologically advanced visual feast, allowing tourists to obtain an immersive new tourism experience.

Cultivating talent, enriching creativity

Currently, the low-altitude economy is developing strongly. Industry experts believe that the industry has shortcomings in service support and infrastructure. To fully tap the potential of diverse application scenarios, it is necessary to build a complete flight service support system and complete infrastructure. The establishment of the Low-Altitude Office of the National Development and Reform Commission will provide strong support for the construction of relevant infrastructure and help the low-altitude economy move forward steadily.

Although the low-altitude tourism market has huge potential, the scale of currently operating projects is relatively small, and a mature business model and long-term development plan have not yet been formed. What is even more discouraging for consumers is that low-altitude tourism projects have certain risks, and there is currently a lack of high-quality themed products in the market, and consumers' awareness and acceptance of them are relatively low. Coupled with the relatively high individual consumption prices, the consumption potential of low-altitude tourism products has not been fully released.

Currently, analysis agencies attribute the problems facing the development of domestic low-altitude tourism to "one large and one small" and "one high and one low," that is, the difficulty of entry is high, the supply scale is small; the consumption price is high, and the publicity is low. From the product perspective, current low-altitude tourism products mainly focus on air sightseeing tours, with insufficient product innovation and a lack of experiential products. In response to this, various places have also fully realized that they should combine scenic resources to make the best of their advantages, launch customized products, and provide unique product services so that low-altitude tourism can "fly" longer and farther.

With the vigorous development of the low-altitude economy, the demand for professional talents is becoming increasingly urgent. From the operation and maintenance of aircraft to the planning and operation of low-altitude tourism projects, and to the provision of related services, all aspects require talents with professional knowledge and skills. The industry estimates that there is a talent gap of 1 million for drone operators alone. With the continuous accumulation and upgrading of talents and creativity, the low-altitude tourism industry is expected to usher in a broader development prospect, bringing consumers a more exciting and diverse experience.