In recent years, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have actively promoted the tourism revitalization and utilization of industrial sites, showcasing tourism scenarios of industrial production and providing immersive experiences of industrial technology. To this end, the two ministries jointly held the "Tian Gong Kai Wu" 2024 Industrial Tourism Promotion event, aiming to build a platform for communication and display for industrial enterprises and tourist attractions, and to promote the innovative development of industrial tourism.

At the event, representatives shared their successful experiences on how to transform factory areas into scenic areas, sites into landmarks, and industrial production lines into tourist attractions. Liu Yu, deputy director of the Resource Development Department of the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, mentioned that Hunan has a long history of industry, and how to transform "old factories" into "new landmarks" and convert "hard power" into "cultural soft power" has become an important issue. Hunan Province has successfully attracted a large number of tourists by combining factory areas with scenic areas and launching an "industrial manufacturing" scenic line. Xianggang Cultural Park, taking visitor experience as its starting point, has established popular attractions such as the Water Art Museum and the Youth Forest Park, enabling the traditional steel plant to successfully transform into a "digitally empowered" smart factory scenic area. This innovative transformation has not only attracted tourists but also enhanced the city's cultural image. In Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Yili Modern Wisdom Health Valley provides tourists with an immersive dairy production experience. Tourists can witness the dairy production process from field to factory and experience the profound cultural heritage of dairy culture through AR and VR technologies. Huang Cheng, the operations manager, said that Yili has formed a new tourism development system of factories, parks, and living museums, attracting nearly 300 million tourists, with more than 60% of them being local tourists.

(Picture: Aerial view of Yili Modern Wisdom Health Valley | Source: China News Network)

Industrial Tourism Case Sharing

(Picture: Yuanqi Forest Factory | Source: Public Network)

Therefore, the Anhui factory became the first factory of Yuanqi Forest to receive the national-level tourist attraction title, marking a breakthrough for Yuanqi Forest Group's industrial tourism from 0 to 1. It is estimated that after commissioning, the Yuanqi Forest Anhui factory will be able to receive tens of thousands of visitors annually. With the development of industrial tourism, Yuanqi Forest Group and its products will also usher in new forms and channels for brand communication.

The Yuanqi Forest Chuzhou Industrial Tourism Scenic Area is a comprehensive scenic area integrating visits and exchanges, knowledge popularization, research and study education, parent-child experiences, and interactive experiences. It consists of sections such as the "Yuanqi Super Energy Production Tunnel," "Central Laboratory Experience Area," "Carbonated Drink History Experience Hall," "Yuanqi Culture Experience Hall," and "Interactive Experience Area."

According to the route design, tourists can see Yuanqi Forest's high-speed production lines and high-tech central laboratories in the factory, listen to the history of the carbonated drink industry, feel the diverse and integrated Yuanqi culture and stories, understand the characteristics of the Yuanqi product family, and have the opportunity to personally experience the fun of mixing a drink. After the Yuanqi tour, tourists can also purchase cultural souvenirs and purchase the full range of Yuanqi products at discounted prices.

(Picture: Homemade drinks | Source: Public Network)

It is understood that since 2019, Yuanqi Forest has been continuously investing heavily in product research and development and the first line of defense for product quality, creating a "super-large-scale factory & super-city cluster" model, and has successively established six self-built factories in Chuzhou, Anhui; Xiqing, Tianjin; Zhaoqing, Guangdong; Xianning, Hubei; Dujiangyan, Sichuan; and Taicang, Jiangsu. Among them, the Dujiangyan factory, designed by Peak Wisdom Landscape Institute, is the first "ecological tourism factory" built by Yuanqi Forest.

The entire museum is built by expanding and renovating the old factory buildings and equipment of Tsingtao Beer from a century ago, and is divided into three exhibition areas: the century-old history and culture, the development of brewing technology, and the experience of beer charm. In the century-old history and culture area, people can learn about the development history of Tsingtao Beer and the general situation of beer customs in Qingdao.

(Picture: Tsingtao Beer Museum | Source: Public Network)

Among the exhibits are looping advertisements for Tsingtao Beer from 1947, representing some of China's earliest film advertisements. The brewing process development area mainly introduces the beer production process, showcasing the main raw materials, early factory equipment, and modern assembly lines. Exhibits include various malts, auxiliary materials such as hops, the mashing workshop, fermentation tanks and large wooden barrels used for fermentation, and packaging lines for bottling or canning beer, etc.

In the "Experience the Charm of Beer" exhibition area, people can ride exercise bikes to "travel" back to the old Tsingtao of a hundred years ago; enter the magical "Drunkard's Hut" to experience the feeling of mild intoxication... According to museum staff, this year the museum has also created Tsingtao's first museum-based immersive drama tour, "Awakening Brewer," innovatively integrating the popular script kill + escape room + sightseeing check-in experience among young people. Using the real history of the late Republic of China as a backdrop, the museum is transformed into an espionage decryption scene, opening up a new immersive cultural experience.

（图片：青岛啤酒博物馆文创冰淇淋|图源：网络公开）

Today, the Tsingtao Beer Museum's brand extension has further integrated with industries such as Xianju Laoshan themed homestays and Time Coast craft beer gardens, forming a cultural tourism team with a distinct Tsingtao atmosphere, active in various areas of the city. "Exploring new directions, new models, and new solutions," the Tsingtao Beer Museum is constantly updating consumers' experience of a better life and expanding the new boundaries of China's industrial tourism.

（图片：螺蛳粉文化馆｜来源：柳州市文化广电和旅游局）

Visitors walk along a 200-meter-long viewing passage, and through the glass, they can see the entire Luosifen production process. Inside the workshop, automated, intelligent, and data-driven machines operate in an orderly manner, witnessing the "Liuzhou surprise" brought about by the collision of tradition and modernity. After visiting the production line, visitors can also enter the Luosifen themed self-service experience restaurant and experience the unique fun of cooking a bowl of Luosifen themselves.

Every day, a large number of research and study groups come here to explore the "secrets" behind Luosifen. This is just a glimpse of Liuzhou's vigorous development of "Luosifen characteristic tourism".

In recent years, Liuzhou has sought innovation and change, creating Luosifen sightseeing areas, building Luosifen cultural venues, developing Luosifen themed routes, and promoting the deep integration and development of Luosifen and the cultural tourism industry.

Creating "snail-flavored" scenic areas. Currently, Liuzhou has several 4A-level tourist attractions, including the Luowei Luosifen Industrial Park and Luosifen Town. It has also developed Guangxi's first indoor and outdoor combined "intangible cultural heritage living museum," Yaopu Ancient Town Luosi Street, and China's first "5G+XR" themed park with snails as its element—Liuzhou Luoleyuan, creating a comprehensive "snail" experience for tourists.

Constructing Luosifen cultural venues. Supporting qualified Luosifen production enterprises in building Luosifen themed museums and cultural exhibition halls, opening up Luosifen production lines for visits, and enriching the food and shopping experience. Today, the Liuzhou Luosifen Food Culture Museum and the Luobawang Luowei Industrial Park Experience Hall have become the preferred destinations for research and study tourism in Liuzhou.

Launching Luosifen themed routes. Tourists can visit the Luosifen Culture Museum, tour the Luosifen production line, and enjoy Luosifen snacks along carefully planned themed routes, having a great time.

（图片：游客自助体验螺蛳粉美味｜来源：柳州市文化广电和旅游局）

Rich tourism scenarios and novel tourism projects allow tourists to deeply experience the cultural charm of Luosifen and the style of Liuzhou city, thus achieving a transformation from "traffic" to "retention," from food consumption to whole-region consumption, and opening up new economic growth points. In 2022, Liuzhou received a total of 2.6308 million domestic tourists for Luosifen cultural tourism, achieving tourism revenue of 2.474 billion yuan.

Challenges and Future Opportunities

The Opinions clarify key tasks such as improving the protection level of industrial tourism resources, scientifically formulating industrial tourism development plans, creating industrial tourism demonstration models, developing high-quality industrial tourism products, enriching industrial tourism consumption formats, designing high-quality industrial tourism routes, and promoting the integrated development of industrial tourism and other industries, as well as support measures such as establishing a multi-departmental collaborative cooperation mechanism, increasing support for industrial tourism, creating industrial tourism brand activities, improving the standardized system for industrial tourism, strengthening the construction of industrial tourism talent teams, and expanding the publicity channels for industrial tourism, totaling 13 development implementation opinions. Relying on intangible cultural heritage and cultural creativity, it encourages industrial tourism sites and enterprises to strengthen the creative design and marketing of characteristic tourism products, combining activities such as the Hunan Cultural Creative Design Competition to develop a batch of cultural and creative products and souvenirs with distinct Hunan industrial tourism characteristics; it encourages the holding of industrial tourism-related themed series exhibitions, focusing on high-end manufacturing series brands, and using industrial exhibitions such as the World Computer Conference and the Changsha International Construction Machinery Exhibition to integrate industrial tourism elements and enhance the influence and reputation of Hunan manufacturing.

Although industrial tourism is booming, it still faces challenges such as the updating of technical equipment, the iteration of the digital industry, and the imbalance between supply and demand. Gong Xian, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, believes that the industrial field contains unique resources that can become a "rich mine" for future tourism development. At the same time, the tourism industry can also bring innovation and growth points to industrial development. During the event, participants engaged in in-depth exchanges on how to improve the viewing, participation, and educational aspects of industrial tourism, and discussed how to enhance the new impetus of the tourism industry.