1.1 Diversification of Models and Types
Unlike the monotonous prosperity of commercial pedestrian streets, tourism and leisure districts integrate urban culture, thematic elements, experiential features, and commercial aspects, placing greater emphasis on cultural integration and exhibiting more distinct tourism attributes.
Most tourism districts in China are open-style. Based on the venue, they are divided into indoor and outdoor tourism districts. For example, Shenzhen Bao'an Daqianli's Nongshijing FARMLAND is Shenzhen's first indoor district with a natural ecological and organic agricultural theme. Based on the theme, they are divided into ecological, cultural, historical, retro, and technological tourism districts. For example, Chongqing Guanghuan Shopping Park is the country's first urban natural community, naturally transitioning between squares, communities, and shopping parks, representing a brand-new experiential commercial model of epoch-making significance for tourism districts. Based on the scenario, they can be divided into immersive experience districts and sports tourism districts. Xi'an Chang'an Twelve Hours and Datang Never Night City are industry benchmarks for immersive experiences. Qingdao Mixc N-Square Park focuses on "sports + shopping," capturing the attention of the mainstream "80s," "90s," and "new generation" consumers. Based on the growth model, they can be divided into single districts and scenic area-based districts. The Yun Tai Shan's shore tourism and leisure district and the Universal Studios' City Avenue rely on scenic areas to create one-stop tourism and leisure districts with dining, shopping, and entertainment experiences. More and more scenic spots are laying out tourism districts at the starting and ending points of their tours. Based on operating hours, they can be divided into all-weather districts and night districts. Kaifeng's Drum Tower District Bookstore Street Night Market belongs to a fast-collection, fast-release night operation model. In 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the industry standard "Grading of Tourism and Leisure Districts" (LB/T 082-2021), dividing tourism and leisure districts into national-level and provincial-level districts, with provincial-level districts considered a prerequisite for national-level districts.
1.2 Diversification of Business Formats and Content
Tourism districts have diverse business formats, involving food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment. They are open activity unit spaces with local characteristics, commonly found in parks, squares, riverside roads, pedestrian streets, and ancient towns. The layout of business formats, supporting content, and industrial development in tourism districts are becoming more diversified, giving rise to more district characteristics, such as historical and cultural districts based on commercial districts, gradually "internet-famous" leisure districts, scenic tourism and leisure districts, cultural and creative streets with a concentration of creative industries, indoor districts with scenically restored environments, and traditional living districts oriented towards the creation of leisure spaces. Diverse business formats, rich content, and industrial upgrades have improved the comfort and experience of district tourism and leisure.
Overall, tourism districts have evolved from traditional historical and cultural districts to commercial pedestrian districts and then to tourism and leisure districts with diversified business formats, gradually exhibiting an IP-driven development trend. At the same time, the "Grading Standard for Tourism and Leisure Districts" defines the layout of business formats and the types of business formats included, standardizing the development and operation direction of district business formats and providing standardized management. For example, Hefei's Lei Jie Street in Anhui Province integrates traditional folk culture into the modern district, using it as a comprehensive cultural venue to create a new business model of win-win cooperation among culture, tourism, and commerce. Based on this, it further enhances the integration of culture and commerce, focusing on the creation of cultural expressions and atmosphere, injecting vitality into tourism and leisure districts.
1.3 Expansion in Quantity and Scale
With the rapid development of various cultural, commercial, and tourism projects, the effective regeneration of cultural symbols of tourism districts in the contemporary era has been achieved. Tourism and leisure districts are the concentration of a city's "atmosphere," "culture," and "food," best reflecting a city's cultural charm. At the same time, with the continuous rise and popularity of suburban tours, local tours, weekend tours, and City Walks, numerous popular cultural and tourism districts have emerged, leading to a surge in both the quantity and scale of tourism districts. Various places are creating new districts with differentiated features and upgrading old districts in a targeted manner. Basically, every city and county is creating its own tourism and leisure districts to support urban renewal, with scenic areas, ancient cities, and characteristic towns creating tourism and leisure districts to promote the integration of culture and tourism. A large number of historical districts, commercial districts, and characteristic districts have been successfully developed into new cultural and tourism landmarks, transforming into new consumption scenarios and internet-famous check-in spots for residents and tourists, and becoming new tourism brands that receive key support and cultivation from the national and provincial levels, exhibiting a sharply upward trend in quantity. According to preliminary statistics, there are more than 2,200 typical tourism districts nationwide.
In recent years, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has intensively released three batches of national-level tourism and leisure districts. As of January 2024, China has 164 national-level tourism and leisure districts, 316 national first-batch provincial-level tourism and leisure districts, and 264 national second-batch provincial-level tourism and leisure districts. Yunnan ranks first in the number of provincial-level tourism and leisure districts, with 30 in the first batch and 32 in the second batch. The scale of the districts is also expanding. For example, Shiquan County's Qinba Old Street in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, was originally economically depressed and neglected. Through government-regulated and controlled development, the district has been revitalized, receiving more than 1.7 million tourists annually on average and achieving comprehensive tourism revenue of approximately 510 million yuan, becoming a popular check-in spot and cultural and tourism landmark in the city.
As consumer demand for tourism continues to evolve, tourism and leisure districts, as tourism products incorporating cultural creativity, will become more thematic and distinctive in their development. Tourism districts are gradually becoming popular urban IPs. For example, Xi'an's Datang Everbright City, from the "Never-tipping Doll Sister" to "Li Bai's Poetry Recitation" and then to "The Secret Box of the Prosperous Tang Dynasty," has consistently launched a series of festival activities and cultural performance IPs in recent years, maintaining its position as a top attraction in commercial districts, attracting countless domestic and international consumers, and becoming a unique urban IP for Xi'an. Similar pedestrian districts, such as Ma'anshan Changjiang Everbright City in Anhui Province, Shijiazhuang Phoenix Everbright City in Hebei Province, Junlian South Silk Road Everbright City in Sichuan Province, Meihekou Northeast Everbright City in Jilin Province, Shizuishan Shahu Everbright City in Ningxia, and Zhangqiu Taiwan Everbright City in Jinan, Shandong Province, have created distinctive tourism districts through differentiated IP positioning, integrating sightseeing, shopping, entertainment, specialty food, and local culture.
The "immersive + physical business" model, with its more diverse scenes and composite formats, gives physical businesses more advantages in "scenes + traffic." The immersive district experience has become a standard for top districts. Through themed districts, ecological art, street alley sentiments, or immersive experiences, it strengthens the connection between the local area and consumers, satisfying the trendy, fashionable, and personalized needs of tourism district consumers while also creating its own unique highlights and memorable moments. Statistics show that over 2,000 districts nationwide are deploying immersive scenes and nighttime consumption models, creating a leisure model where the district is the scenic area, shops are attractions, merchants are actors, service is performance, products are scenes, and consumption is life. For example, Xi'an's Chang'an Twelve Hours uses "popular drama IP + immersive entertainment + themed dining + national tide retail," with six immersive scenes as its core: "Tang Dynasty Food, Costume Role-Playing, Tang Dynasty Gathering, Miniature Chang'an, Situational Performances, and Cultural Feast," to generate interest in the city of Xi'an among tourists.
Development Characteristics of Tourism Districts
2.1 The Concept of Shared Enjoyment by Hosts and Guests is Deepening
In the construction and development of tourism and leisure districts, the principle of "shared enjoyment by hosts and guests" has become a consensus among industry professionals and government regulators. Attracting both local and distant visitors is the key to modern tourism development. Tourism districts, as new spaces for shared enjoyment, must first meet the leisure needs of locals before they can effectively serve out-of-town tourists. Local visitors are the main force behind district consumption. Meeting the leisure needs of local residents is a prerequisite for attracting tourists, and this is the fundamental survival and development issue and basic market for tourism and leisure districts. Prioritizing the leisure and entertainment needs of local residents, and then considering the needs of out-of-town tourists. For example, Changsha's tourism development has transformed the comfortable lifestyles of locals into a tourist attraction, guiding out-of-town tourists to explore the streets and alleys, experience the city's atmosphere, and promote deeper immersion, raising Changsha's tourism popularity from 17th to 6th nationally.
2.2 The Head Effect is Becoming More Pronounced
As an important component of comprehensive tourism, commerce, and culture complexes, more and more phenomenal IP districts are becoming instantly popular, with many places exhibiting a "one street illuminating one city" head effect. Meihekou's Northeast Everbright City, with its exquisite national tide culture as its design core, integrates local Northeast folk culture to form the "soul" of the district. Through a "city stage," it uses performance art to vividly express the most ordinary aspects of Northeast life and regional culture. The ingenious design blending trendy and traditional elements and the pioneering high-dimensional operation concept are the secrets and treasures behind the district's explosive popularity. Ji'an's Xinlv Xunyangli 1723, located at the former site of the imperial examination hall, is a large-scale comprehensive tourism, commerce, and culture complex that responds to urban development concepts and meets the needs of the people, meticulously creating a model of beautiful commerce for Ji'an and becoming an indispensable carrier of its humanistic spirit. According to the "2023 First Half-Year Tourism and Leisure District Passenger Flow Monitoring Report" released by the China Tourism Academy, in the first half of 2023, the number of tourists in 40 typical leisure districts in East China exceeded 73.712 million, averaging 1.843 million per district. Among them, Nanjing's Confucius Temple commercial area had the highest popularity. For tourists from other provinces, Shanghai Disneyland was the most attractive. In Northeast China, 25 typical leisure districts had over 55.094 million tourists, averaging 2.204 million per district. Heilongjiang Province's typical leisure districts were the most outstanding, with over 30 million tourists, and Harbin's Central Street had the highest popularity. In Northwest China, 17 typical leisure districts had over 21.012 million tourists, averaging 1.236 million per district, all showing high tourism appeal.
2.3 Integration of Local Culture is Becoming Increasingly Prominent
Whether it's the renovation and upgrading of commercial pedestrian streets, the development of street stall economies, or the creation of night economies, efforts are being made to incorporate more excellent local culture into scene creation and business expansion, enhancing the sense of scene, experience, and time travel in the districts. Scenes of ordinary people's lives from various eras, such as the 1970s and 80s in Changsha's Wenheyou, the ancient Tang Dynasty in Chang'an Twelve Hours, the Republic of China style in Kunming's Tea Horse Flower Street, and the Guan Dong culture in Meihekou's Northeast Everbright City, create a sense of novelty and curiosity for tourists, allowing them to travel through time and immerse themselves in the past and present. For example, Kaifeng's Song Dynasty Imperial Street recreates the appearance of the Song Dynasty imperial street, bringing together local Kaifeng delicacies such as stewed soup buns, stir-fried cold noodles, and sweet potato noodles, while folk art works such as Bian embroidery and wheat straw paintings showcase Kaifeng's rich cultural heritage.
2.4 The Downward Trend Towards Tier-3 and Tier-4 Cities is Continuously Strengthening
In 2023, the heat of the urban leisure market continued to spread, with passenger flow in large urban tourism and leisure districts showing steady growth, and passenger flow in medium and small urban districts recovering faster. The trend of leisure districts moving towards tier-3 and tier-4 cities is becoming increasingly apparent, and these cities are rapidly becoming new areas for development. Driven by consumption upgrades, the purchasing power of tier-3 and tier-4 cities is also rapidly increasing. Tourism and leisure districts are becoming a new consumption hotspot in these cities, bringing renewed vitality. For example, Zhoukou's Guan Di Old Street, jointly developed by the Zhoukou Municipal Government and Jianye Group, is a leisure tourism district with a Ming and Qing Dynasty retro style, inheriting Zhoukou's rich cultural heritage and showcasing the vitality of modern commerce. It became instantly popular upon opening, attracting 10,000 visitors and generating 5 million yuan in revenue on its first day of operation. At the same time, based on the development planning needs of the urban tourism industry, further improvements have been made to the tourism supply of tourism and leisure districts, which can become a new core attraction. Many cities are developing and renovating tourism districts. For most tier-2, tier-3, and tier-4 cities, seizing the development opportunity of tourism and leisure districts can open a new door for the local tourism market.
Challenges in the Development of Tourism Districts
3.1 Large Initial Investment, Slow Return on Investment
The construction of tourism and leisure districts brings significant social and economic benefits to urban development. However, creating such districts presents challenges such as high upfront capital investment, high operational risks, long return periods, and low short-term returns. The integration of tourism districts with the night-time economy, aiming for a vibrant "city that never sleeps," is not simply about night markets, street vendors, low-end commercial snack streets, or food truck plazas. It requires substantial investment in ancient-style building construction and landscape lighting, making it a large-scale investment. Key questions for these districts include how to transform heavy asset investment into light asset operation, how to address the shortage of professional talent, and how to overcome technological barriers. For example, the total investment in Daming Palace Daning Night Market is approximately 5 billion RMB, covering an area of approximately 240 mu (approximately 16 hectares), with a construction area of approximately 1 million square meters. The investment can be divided into three phases: Phase 1: Infrastructure construction (land acquisition, road construction, water and electricity facilities), approximately 1 billion RMB; Phase 2: Theme design, construction, and decoration (scenic spot design, architectural design, sculpture design, landscape design, lighting design), approximately 2 billion RMB; Phase 3: Operation and management (human resource management, marketing, financial management), approximately 2 billion RMB. From planning to operation, the time span is considerable, requiring continuous innovation. Daming Palace Daning Night Market's sustained appeal comes from its continuous output of creative IPs, from the "Weeping Lady" to "Li Bai's Poetry" and "Tang Dynasty Secret Box." However, over 70% of visitors are locals, with high repeat visitation but low per-capita spending, resulting in slow capital turnover and low profit margins. For such a visitor base, the project needs to lower revenue expectations and prepare for long-term operation.
3.2 Severe Product Homogenization
Provincial capital cities see greater tourist traffic and higher levels of nighttime consumption in leisure districts. Less developed cities often imitate the experiences and models of first- and second-tier cities, leading to short-term commercial success. However, they lack mature district operation models and teams. Bars, fried chicken, and craft items become standard features, resulting in homogenized operations similar to Jinli in Chengdu, Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, Tianzifang in Shanghai, and Yangshuo West Street in Guilin, lacking long-term appeal. Inconsistent commercial formats are common, leading to outdated formats, uncharacteristic goods, and similar, low-end souvenirs, failing to showcase local cultural heritage. Take Kaifeng's districts as an example: Songdu Imperial Street, Shuanglong Lane, Zhuji Lane, Qishengjiao, Bookstore Street, and Wanbo Square all use Song Dynasty-style architecture, but the small handicrafts wholesale from Yiwu Commodity City lead to homogenization. The lack of local handicrafts or folk art affects the distinctive development of tourism districts. Overall, goods and services in many districts have not yet formed mature, regionally distinctive formats, mainly relying on chain operations and traditional department stores. Dining, cinemas, and amusement facilities are standard features. Pizza Hut and KFC are ubiquitous, with little brand differentiation and almost no creative branding activities. The lack of a clear theme makes them increasingly unappealing to residents for leisure shopping.
3.3 Cultural Integration and Visitor Needs Matching Needs Improvement
In the booming transformation and upgrading of tourism districts, de-real-estatization has become a trend, and cultural integration is a key area of competition for businesses and a crucial aspect of district construction and operation. While relevant departments attach importance to the construction of folk customs and historical and cultural characteristics, they often overlook the matching of cultural integration with visitor needs. As a new carrier of cultural and tourism integration and a new landmark of urban public space, the government emphasizes the integration of local culture in the construction and operation process. However, the methods are outdated, and the content is too simplistic, failing to meet visitors' needs for new scenes and formats. Historical and cultural districts, in particular, still have a long way to go in product display and the creation of internet celebrity spots. For example, the core competitiveness of a district's dining area lies in the taste of the dishes, the unique environment, cultural experience, technological interaction, and excellent service, all emphasizing the visitor experience. Dining is no longer simply about filling one's stomach but an important scene where visitors can immerse themselves in the joy of the experience. To improve the matching of cultural integration and visitor needs, tourism and leisure districts should focus on scene creation, enriching the types of formats, strengthening innovation, expanding the number of business units, and driving tourism consumption growth.
Tourism District Development Trends
4.1 Deepening Culture as the Main Theme of District Development
Tourism motivation is a key factor in attracting visitors to tourist destinations. Tourism districts should be culturally oriented, based on their own characteristics. By creating distinctive IPs and using diverse methods, they can cultivate cultural and tourism integration, using "5D" scene design concepts to provide visitors with sufficient novelty, satisfying both material and spiritual needs and increasing visitor loyalty. This means that culture is the core element in attracting visitors and encouraging repeat visits. Shanghai Trend, a Chinese creator of new commercial scenes, leverages local cultural characteristics and combines over 200 scene combinations to create nearly 100 districts, including Hefei Zhongshi Street, Shenzhen Vanke Cloud Street, Hangzhou R&F InS Park, Shanghai Jing'an Joy City, Huangshi Xingyun Market, Yichang Yiling Fireworks YEAH Lane, etc. Micro-transformation and micro-upgrading of historical and cultural districts are also key to future development, serving as a major tool for urban renewal and revitalizing old districts, empowering urban cultural and tourism development. For example, Tangshan's Hetou Old Street Cultural District uses Hetou culture as its core and Tang Dynasty elements as its main theme, repackaging and upgrading modern trendy culture with local folk culture and temple fair culture. Through technological empowerment, it creates a space for dialogue between ancient and modern times, enriches the layout of formats, and injects new vitality and humanistic charm into Tangshan, establishing the "Night Economy - The Best of Tangshan" brand.
4.2 Nighttime Consumption as the Main Focus of District Development
Nighttime is a golden period and key link for cultural and tourism consumption, with approximately 60% of consumption occurring at night. According to the "2023 First Half-Year Tourist Leisure District Passenger Flow Monitoring Report," nighttime consumption is more active in districts. The peak hours for nighttime passenger flow in typical national leisure districts are 18:00-22:00, with peak hours at 19:00-20:00, secondary peak hours at 20:00-21:00, and tertiary peak hours at 18:00-19:00. The increasing nighttime heat in districts indicates the recovery of cultural and tourism consumption capacity. Big data analysis of nighttime visitor check-in rates shows that Guilin Yangshuo West Street, Huizhou Shuidong Street, Chongqing Dajiu Street Tourism and Leisure District, Tongren Zhongnanmen Historical and Cultural Tourism and Leisure District, Xinjiang Xintianyun Food Street, Kashgar Ancient City Scenic Area Impression Street - Jiulongquan Characteristic Commercial Street, Yinchuan Huaiyuan Tourism and Leisure District, Yining Liuxing Street Historical and Cultural Street, Hefei Leijie, and Xi'an Daming Palace Daning Night Market Pedestrian Street were among the top ten most lively nighttime districts in the spring of 2023. Yinchuan Huaiyuan Tourism and Leisure District, Tongren Zhongnanmen area, Huizhou Shuidong Street, Yining Liuxing Street Historical and Cultural Street, and Hefei Leijie are also selected by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as "National Nighttime Cultural and Tourism Consumption Gathering Areas."
4.3 Third- and Fourth-Tier Cities as the Main Venue for Rapid District Development
While first- and second-tier cities boast mature economic development, strong consumer power, and high tourist traffic, making them prime locations for tourism districts, some popular cities are experiencing saturation, declining appeal, and thematic confusion. Since the revival of the tourism industry in 2023, the sector has seen renewed growth, and against this backdrop of resurgence, consumer upgrades are occurring, with consumption levels in sinking markets also rapidly increasing. In other words, the consumer demand in third- and fourth-tier cities and sinking county-level markets is in urgent need of being met, and tourism districts, as new consumption points, will flourish in these sinking markets. The tourism popularity of relatively less-known third- and fourth-tier cities is also steadily rising, with many cities such as Quanzhou, Liuzhou, Jiangmen, Chaozhou, Taizhou, and Zhanjiang experiencing booming tourism, with streets and alleys teeming with visitors. Liuzhou, having become internet-famous for its snail noodles, has created a district brimming with "snail flavor," developing Guangxi's first indoor-outdoor combined "living heritage museum," the Yaopu Ancient Town Snail Noodle Street, and China's first "snail-themed" "5G+XR" themed district park—Liuzhou Luole Garden—to provide tourists with a comprehensive "snail" experience. The tourism development momentum in third- and fourth-tier cities is rapid, and tourism districts, as new city landmarks, are presented with new development opportunities, accelerating their development.
4.4 Immersive Experiential Scenes Become a Main Focus of District Development
In recent years, in addition to online digital means, tourists have placed greater emphasis on offline tourism experiences. More and more tourism and leisure districts have incorporated interactive experiential scenes for tourists, focusing on "cultural tourism and cultural creativity as pillars," seizing the new opportunities in the cultural tourism industry, vigorously developing new cultural tourism formats such as "disruptive creativity, immersive experiences, youth-oriented consumption, and mobile-end dissemination," and striving to create national immersive cultural tourism destinations. In particular, historical and cultural districts leverage their cultural characteristics, utilizing media operations and internet celebrity check-in points to allow tourists to learn about the destination's cultural characteristics and experiential activities in advance, enhancing the city's functional quality and its appeal to young people. During the Peony Festival in Luoyang, Henan Province, innovative efforts were directed towards young people, planning characteristic cultural tourism activities such as "city-wide script killing" and "museum magical nights," attracting countless young people to embark on a time-travel journey to Luoyang. Luoyi Ancient City launched a "free entry in Hanfu" initiative, which not only objectively promoted traditional culture but also attracted an average daily tourist flow of 25,000 people to the district, with visitors in Hanfu becoming a unique sight. The ancient city also introduced VR experience projects and launched events such as the "Sui and Tang Luoyang City National Style Time Travel Festival," recreating national style market scenes, allowing young tourists to immerse themselves in a "time travel to the ancient capital, returning to the prosperous era of the Sui and Tang dynasties." This immersive Hanfu experience has brought Luoyang increased "traffic."
4.5 Joint Creation of Characteristic Cultural IPs Becomes a Main Trend in District Development
Lack of appeal is the reason for the decline of many current districts. Faced with rapidly changing market demands, how can tourism and leisure districts grasp consumption trends, meet the ever-changing needs of tourists, increase tourists' emotional attachment to the district, enhance attraction and expansion leadership, drive the improvement of the comprehensive benefits of the district and even the city it is located in, and promote the innovative development of the integration of culture, tourism, and commerce? More and more tourism districts are adopting collaborative branding methods, materializing virtual characters and scenes through full-industry chain extension and marketing, realizing the monetization of virtual IPs and fan traffic. The goal is to deeply mine the value of IPs and maximize their benefits, creating new customers and demands and attracting more traffic. Similar to Luckin Coffee's collaboration with Moutai to launch the soy sauce-flavored latte, Chongqing Hongyadong Commercial Pedestrian Street collaborated with world-class bartender Jimmy to launch the hot pot punch and passion fruit fizz cocktails. Henan Jianye and renowned director Wang Chaoge joined hands to create "Only Henan - Drama Fantasy City," creating a groundbreaking phenomenal new cultural tourism project. The commercial masterpiece "Zhangzhou Tefang T ONE," a collaborative effort between Xiamen Rail Transit Group and Jianfa Commercial Management, blurs the boundaries of the district, holding events with different themes and scenes to provide emotional value for tourists, creating a new model for urban district commerce.
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