Lack of innovation and serious homogeneity

In the era of the booming development of the cultural tourism industry, the integration of cultural creativity and IP is in the market introduction stage, a stage full of opportunities and challenges. The cultural and creative industry is regarded as a new engine for the development of the tourism industry. It can inject unique cultural connotations into scenic spots and, through the integration with IP (intellectual property rights), create attractive tourism products and experiences. However, the reality is not satisfactory.

Most scenic spots have failed to keep up with the pace of innovation in this wave. Few scenic spots can invest enough manpower, material resources, and time to thoroughly explore their own cultural characteristics and thus provide original IPs that effectively improve the tourist experience and service quality. There are many reasons behind this. On the one hand, innovation requires a professional team of talents who understand the needs of the tourism market and have a keen insight into cultural creativity, but such composite talents are relatively scarce. On the other hand, developing original IPs is often accompanied by high risks, requiring a large amount of upfront investment and an uncertain return period, which makes many scenic spots hesitant.

At the same time, the activity programs provided by scenic spots are often similar. Whether it is traditional folk cultural performances or modern amusement projects, there is a surprising similarity between different scenic spots. For example, in many ancient town scenic spots, tourists see the same traditional handicraft displays, such as sugar painting and paper-cutting, and the performance forms and content are almost identical. This homogeneity has led to fierce competition. In order to compete for limited tourist resources, various scenic spots can only focus on price, falling into a vicious cycle of low-price competition, while ignoring attracting tourists from the perspective of improving product and service quality.

Low professional quality and skills of the operation team

With the development of the tourism industry, traditional tourist attractions face many challenges in terms of operation and management. Among them, the status of the operation team has a crucial impact on the development of the scenic spot.

Some traditional tourist attractions have an operation team with an older average age. This phenomenon has historical reasons. In the past, the development of the tourism industry was relatively slow, and the professional requirements for personnel in scenic spot operation and management were not as high as they are now. Many employees were recruited locally, and they entered the scenic spot work based on their familiarity with the local area and their simple enthusiasm for tourism work. Over time, these employees have gradually increased in age, but due to the lack of opportunities to update their knowledge and skills systematically, they feel overwhelmed when dealing with the complex needs of the modern tourism market.

These operation teams not only have an older average age but also have low professional quality, and problems such as deviations in professional skills are also prominent. Professional quality includes professional ethics, service awareness, and many other aspects. In some scenic spots, employees lack basic respect and service enthusiasm for tourists and deal with tourist problems perfunctorily. In terms of professional skills, with the development of technology, the tourism industry's demand for digital operations, intelligent management, and other skills is increasing, but many scenic spot employees have almost zero knowledge reserves in this area.

At the same time, the managers of scenic spots are often non-professionals. In the early development of scenic spots, the selection of personnel for management positions was more based on work experience or local connections rather than professional abilities. This has led to uneven levels in their management awareness, concepts, and skills. For example, when formulating scenic spot development strategies, there is a lack of long-term vision and scientific planning, and they blindly follow market hotspots; in terms of marketing, they do not know how to use modern marketing methods to enhance the scenic spot's reputation; in terms of human resource management, they cannot effectively motivate employees to improve work efficiency and service quality.

Low operational efficiency, weak control, and poor service

1. In terms of operations, scenic spots generally have low operational efficiency.

The seasonal characteristics of the tourism industry are particularly evident in scenic spot operations, especially during holidays and peak seasons such as Golden Week. During this period, the number of tourists will experience explosive growth. However, many scenic spots have not made sufficient preparations.

From the perspective of transportation facilities, the parking lot planning of scenic spots is unreasonable, and the number of parking spaces is limited, resulting in tourists' vehicles lining up outside the scenic spot and being unable to enter the scenic spot in time. The traffic guidance within the scenic spot also has problems, such as insufficient sightseeing vehicles, unreasonable route settings, and inconvenient transfers for tourists within the scenic spot. Tourists often encounter situations where they cannot enter, cannot go up, or cannot leave the scenic spot.

In terms of ticketing systems, traditional manual ticket windows are often overcrowded during peak periods, while electronic ticketing systems may experience technical failures or network congestion, resulting in a significant extension of the time tourists spend purchasing tickets and entering the park. In addition, catering and accommodation facilities within the scenic spot will also face enormous pressure during peak periods, with insufficient service personnel and an inability to meet the needs of tourists, further reducing operational efficiency.

2. At the same time, the scenic spot's control capabilities are weak, and the awareness of service and collaboration is not strong.

The control capabilities of scenic spots involve many aspects, including controlling tourist traffic, managing commercial activities within the scenic spot, and preventing safety risks. However, many scenic spots are deficient in these aspects.

In terms of tourist traffic control, there is a lack of effective early warning mechanisms and diversion measures. When the number of tourists approaches the scenic spot's carrying capacity, tourists cannot be notified in time and guided to other scenic spots or to adjust their visit times.

In terms of managing commercial activities within the scenic spot, the supervision of merchants' business practices is weak, and there are cases of overcharging tourists. For example, the prices of catering businesses within some scenic spots are excessively high, and the quality of goods is uneven.

Weak service and collaboration awareness is also a prominent problem. There is a lack of effective communication and cooperation between various departments within the scenic spot. For example, the ticketing department and the tour guide department do not share information, resulting in tour guides being unable to obtain ticket information for tourists in a timely manner; there is a lack of coordination between the catering department and the accommodation department, and they cannot provide tourists with one-stop service packages. This phenomenon of each department acting independently results in low overall operational efficiency, many safety hazards, and inadequate service quality.

Product aging, long iteration cycle, and single profit model

1. Many low-to-medium-grade tourist attractions have problems such as product aging, facility aging, and rigid thinking.

In today's increasingly competitive tourism market, mid-to-low quality tourist attractions face immense pressure to survive. These attractions were often established during the early stages of tourism development, when tourism products and facility designs were relatively simple. Taking some mountain tourist attractions as an example, for many years, natural scenery tours have been their main product, with only simple hiking trails and observation decks set up, lacking in-depth development. The aging of facilities is also very serious. Hiking trails, due to years of weathering and wear from tourists, may have uneven surfaces and damaged railings, but have not been repaired or upgraded in time.

At the same time, rigid thinking is also an important factor restricting the development of these attractions. The management of these attractions often lacks innovative awareness, is content with the status quo, and is unwilling to try new tourism products and operating models. This conservative mindset leads to long product iteration cycles, and the renovation and upgrading of supporting service facilities cannot keep pace with the changes in the tourism market and the growing demands of tourists.

2. At the same time, the attractions have a single profit model, with very low average transaction value and customer lifetime value.

Traditional tourist attractions primarily rely on ticket revenue for profit, which is a very singular profit model. For most attractions, ticket prices are relatively fixed and are difficult to increase significantly due to market competition and consumer psychology.

The gradual rise of emerging attractions nearby has further diverted a significant portion of traffic from older attractions, causing the operations of some older attractions to decline. Emerging attractions are often able to attract tourists with novel tourism products, advanced facilities and equipment, and flexible marketing strategies. In contrast, older attractions, due to outdated products and a single profit model, are gradually at a disadvantage in market competition. A low average transaction value means that each tourist's spending within the attraction is limited, while a low customer lifetime value indicates that the overall profit the attraction gains from each tourist is meager. For example, some older attractions, besides ticket revenue, only have limited income from catering and souvenir sales, lacking high-end tourism experience projects like those in emerging attractions, such as characteristic guesthouses and themed performances, thus unable to raise the consumption level and amount of tourists.

Poor self-sustaining and external funding capabilities

Funding is a crucial factor in the development of tourist attractions. However, many attractions face severe financial difficulties, lacking both self-sustaining profitability and external funding capabilities.

From the perspective of self-sustaining capability, an attraction's profitability depends on multiple factors, such as product attractiveness, number of visitors, and spending power. Many attractions, due to outdated products and lack of innovation, cannot attract enough visitors, or visitors spend less within the attraction, leading to limited revenue. For example, some historical and cultural themed attractions rely solely on simple artifact exhibitions and explanations to attract visitors, lacking interactive experience projects, resulting in short visitor stays and fewer consumption opportunities within the attraction.

The desire to transform, upgrade, and innovate products but lacking sufficient funds is a realistic problem faced by many attractions. Developing new tourism products and upgrading existing facilities require substantial capital investment, including various stages such as market research, product design, and engineering construction. However, due to the limited profitability of the attractions themselves, they cannot accumulate enough funds to develop these projects.

From the perspective of external funding capabilities, attractions find it difficult to obtain loans because the unique nature of their products and projects prevents them from forming effective assets, thus lacking the conditions for loans. An attraction's assets primarily consist of land, buildings, and natural landscapes. These assets, within the evaluation systems of banks and other financial institutions, may not be considered effective collateral or assets with stable returns. For example, although natural landscapes possess extremely high tourism value, they cannot undergo clear value assessment and mortgage registration like industrial plants or commercial real estate, which makes it difficult for attractions to seek bank loans. This results in some attraction projects being in a stagnant, "chicken rib" situation, where they lack sufficient funds for development and struggle to maintain existing operational levels, finding themselves in an awkward predicament.

Multi-departmental coordination issues

1. The regulatory system for tourist attractions may exhibit complexity and lack of transparency, leading to disarray in attraction development, management, and operation.

Tourist attractions often involve multiple layers of stakeholders, including government departments, enterprises, and local communities. Different stakeholders have their own demands and goals, which makes the management of attractions complex and diverse.

For example, in the development of attractions within some national nature reserves, it is necessary to comply with national natural protection laws and regulations, consider the economic development needs of local governments, and also take into account the interests of local community residents. National laws and regulations may impose strict restrictions on the development and construction of attractions, such as regulations on land use and environmental protection; local governments, on the other hand, hope to boost local economic development and increase fiscal revenue through attraction development, and may tend to relax some restrictions; while local community residents are concerned about whether attraction development can bring them employment opportunities and improved living standards. This multi-faceted interplay of interests leads to the complexity of the system.

At the same time, due to a lack of public information or poor information flow, the opacity of the system is also very prominent. There may be behind-the-scenes operations in the planning, construction, and operation stages of attractions, which not only harms public interests but also leaves the development, management, and operation of attractions without effective supervision and regulation, easily leading to chaos.

2. Conflicts of interest, lack of coordination, and communication among different departments and agencies may hinder the development of attractions.

In the management and operation of attractions, multiple departments and agencies are involved, such as the Culture and Tourism Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau, Forestry Bureau, etc. Each department has its own functions and authorities, playing a role in different aspects of the attraction.

For example, the Tourism Bureau might want the attraction to add more tourism facilities and projects to attract more visitors; the Environmental Protection Bureau focuses on environmental protection within the attraction and may impose stricter environmental requirements on construction projects within the attraction; the Forestry Bureau, from the perspective of forest resource protection, might restrict some development activities within the attraction. If these different functional objectives lack coordination and communication, conflicts of interest can easily arise.

When an attraction wants to develop a new tourism project, it may be unable to proceed due to not obtaining environmental assessment permits from the Environmental Protection Bureau or resource use permits from the Forestry Bureau. Such contradictions and lack of coordination between departments will hinder the development of the attraction, preventing it from making timely decisions and actions when facing development opportunities.

Ownership and operating rights issues

1. The ownership and operating rights of some tourist attractions may belong to different departments or agencies, which could lead to disjointed development and chaos for the attraction.

In China's tourist attraction management system, the separation of ownership and operating rights is relatively common. For example, for some large natural attractions, land ownership belongs to the state or collectives, while operating rights may be transferred to enterprises or other organizations through bidding, leasing, or other means.

This separation model may lead to a series of problems in actual operation. Due to the different entities of ownership and operation, there may be differences between the two parties in terms of scenic area development goals and operating strategies. The department or institution that owns the property may be more concerned with the protection of scenic area resources and long-term sustainable development, while the enterprise that obtains the operating rights is more concerned with economic benefits and short-term returns.

For example, in order to pursue short-term increases in tourist numbers and revenue, enterprises may over-develop scenic area resources, adding a large number of commercial facilities while neglecting the protection of the scenic area's ecological environment and cultural heritage. The ownership department, due to a lack of direct intervention in operating rights, may be unable to stop this destructive behavior in a timely manner, leading to incoordination and chaos in the development of the scenic area.

2. In addition, the interests of scenic area operators may be inconsistent with the long-term development goals of the scenic area, thus affecting the sustainable development of the scenic area

The business decisions of scenic area operators are often driven by economic interests. In order to maximize profits, they may adopt measures that are not conducive to the long-term development of the scenic area.

For example, some scenic area operators, in order to save costs, reduce investment in the maintenance and updating of scenic area facilities, leading to aging facilities and declining service quality. In terms of tourism product development, they may only focus on the short-term benefits of popular projects, while neglecting the excavation of the overall cultural connotation of the scenic area and the in-depth development of products. This short-sighted behavior may bring certain economic benefits in the short term, but in the long run, it will damage the image and attractiveness of the scenic area and affect its sustainable development.

Over-commercialization Issues

With the development of the tourism industry, some scenic area investors have seen the huge commercial potential it contains and have flocked to the scenic area investment and development field. However, in the pursuit of commercial interests, some investors may over-pursue commercialization, ignoring the cultural, environmental, and ecological value of the scenic area.

In some scenic areas of historical and cultural cities, investors have over-developed commercial projects in order to obtain more commercial benefits. The originally quiet and simple ancient streets are occupied by a large number of modern commercial shops, traditional handicraft shops are replaced by chain souvenir shops, and the historical and cultural atmosphere of the ancient streets is overshadowed by a strong commercial atmosphere. These commercial shops often lack deep integration with local culture and simply sell the same tourist souvenirs.

This over-commercialization not only destroys the cultural value of the scenic area but also has a negative impact on the environment and ecology of the scenic area. The influx of a large number of tourists and the increase in commercial activities have led to a deterioration in the environmental sanitation conditions in the scenic area, and an increase in noise and air pollution. At the same time, excessive commercial development may disrupt the ecological balance of the scenic area, such as the construction of too many artificial buildings in some natural scenic areas, destroying the habitats of plants and animals. The emergence of these problems ultimately leads to a decline in tourist satisfaction and even threatens the social reputation of the scenic area. Tourists come to the scenic area expecting to experience a unique cultural atmosphere and beautiful natural environment. If these are destroyed by commercial activities, they will naturally have a negative evaluation of the scenic area, which will in turn affect the reputation and future development of the scenic area.

Facilities and Service Issues

1. Some tourist attractions may have inadequate or insufficient facilities, such as poor sanitary conditions, insufficient safety facilities, and unclear tourist routes, which may affect the tourists' experience and satisfaction.

Tourism facilities are the basic guarantee for scenic areas to provide services to tourists. However, some scenic areas have many problems in terms of facility construction and maintenance.

Poor sanitary conditions are a common problem in many scenic areas. Public toilets in scenic areas may lack timely cleaning and maintenance, with lingering odors and insufficient supply of basic necessities such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Garbage is not cleaned up in a timely manner, and garbage often accumulates on both sides of roads and in rest areas in scenic areas. This not only affects the appearance of the scenic area but may also breed bacteria and endanger the health of tourists.

Insufficient safety facilities are also a problem that cannot be ignored. In some mountainous scenic areas, the guardrails on hiking trails may be damaged or not high enough, easily leading to falls. In water scenic areas, there is a lack of sufficient life-saving equipment and professional lifeguards. Once a tourist drowning incident occurs, it is difficult to rescue them in time. Unclear tourist routes are also a common problem. There may be a lack of clear signposts in the scenic area, and tourists can easily get lost. Especially for some large scenic areas, due to the relatively scattered distribution of attractions, if there is no clear guidance on tourist routes, tourists may miss some important attractions or waste a lot of time looking for routes in the scenic area, which will undoubtedly affect the tourists' experience and satisfaction.

2. At the same time, there may also be quality problems in scenic area services, such as poor service attitude and non-standard service standards, which may reduce tourist satisfaction and loyalty.

Scenic area service personnel are the group that directly contacts tourists, and their service attitude and service quality directly affect the tourists' feelings. However, in some scenic areas, the situation of poor service attitude of service personnel occurs from time to time. Service personnel may lack basic service awareness and enthusiasm, treating tourists coldly and impatiently. For example, when tourists inquire about scenic area information, service personnel may only simply answer a few words and are unwilling to answer tourists' questions in detail. When handling tourist complaints, they may also adopt a shirking attitude and are unwilling to take responsibility.

Non-standard service standards are also a problem. Different service personnel may have significant differences in providing services, and there are no uniform service standards. For example, in catering services in scenic areas, some waiters can provide enthusiastic and thoughtful service, while others may be indifferent to tourists; in accommodation services, the cleanliness standards and equipment of rooms may vary depending on different staff members. This lack of standardization of service standards will confuse and dissatisfy tourists, reducing tourist satisfaction and loyalty.

Marketing and Promotion Issues

In today's competitive tourism market, marketing and promotion are crucial to the development of scenic areas. However, some tourist attractions may lack effective marketing strategies and promotional methods, resulting in insufficient brand awareness and influence, making it difficult to attract more tourists to visit.

Many scenic areas still rely on traditional marketing methods, such as placing advertisements in local newspapers and magazines, or setting up billboards around the scenic area. This marketing method has a limited audience and lacks targeting. In the Internet age, the main channels for tourists to obtain tourism information have changed to online platforms, but these scenic areas have failed to keep up with this trend.

For example, some scenic areas have not established their own official websites or social media accounts, and even if they do, they lack effective operation. Website content may simply be a brief introduction to the scenic area and ticket price information, lacking interactive elements that attract tourists, such as sharing tourist travelogues and previews of scenic area activities. On social media, they do not actively participate in topic interactions, post attractive pictures and videos, and are unable to attract the attention and dissemination of netizens. At the same time, the scenic area may lack characteristics and highlights in its publicity content. It simply promotes the natural scenery or historical and cultural relics of the scenic area without delving into the unique aspects of the scenic area. For example, a scenic area with a unique folk culture only briefly mentions the existence of folk culture in its publicity, without detailed display of folk culture performances, traditional handicraft production, and other characteristic activities. This makes the scenic area lack competitiveness among many similar scenic areas and makes it difficult to attract more tourists' attention.

Environmental Issues

1. Ecological damage. Under the booming tide of modern tourism, many scenic areas have carried out large-scale tourism development to meet the growing needs of tourists. This large-scale development often comes at the cost of the natural environment. Take some mountainous tourist areas, for example. Originally, these places were densely vegetated and were habitats for numerous wild animals and plants, and the ecosystem maintained a delicate balance. However, with the advancement of tourism development, a large number of tourists poured in. When tourist traffic exceeds the carrying capacity of the scenic area, a series of problems will arise.

For example, tourists may trample on lawns and pick flowers and plants during their visits, which directly leads to vegetation damage. The soil in some mountainous areas is originally relatively loose, and the root systems of vegetation play a role in fixing the soil. Once the vegetation is damaged, soil erosion becomes inevitable. When it rains, the soil without vegetation protection will be lost with the rainwater, not only affecting the appearance of the scenic area, but also potentially causing geological hazards such as landslides.

In addition, too many tourists will also pollute water resources. Many tourists discard garbage indiscriminately in the scenic area. Some non-degradable garbage may enter the water body, and together with some chemicals used by tourists, such as sunscreen and detergents, they flow into rivers and lakes through surface runoff, leading to eutrophication of the water body, affecting the survival environment of aquatic organisms, and thus damaging the entire ecological environment of the scenic area.

2. Environmental pollution. Tourist scenic areas produce a large amount of garbage every day, such as food packaging and beverage bottles. If the garbage disposal system is not perfect, this garbage will pile up, emitting unpleasant odors, breeding bacteria and pests, and causing air pollution. At the same time, sewage treatment in scenic areas is also a major problem.

For example, some scenic areas have accommodation facilities. If the domestic sewage produced by tourists is discharged directly without professional treatment, it will make the water in the scenic area turbid and black, emitting a foul odor, and seriously polluting the water environment. Moreover, there are many tourists in the scenic area, the voices are noisy, and vehicles come and go, which will also produce noise pollution. Especially in some ancient architectural complexes or natural ecological protection areas, noise will destroy the original quiet atmosphere, affecting the tourist experience and the image of the scenic area.

3. Lack of environmental protection measures. In some scenic areas, due to the insufficient attention or lack of environmental awareness of managers, effective environmental protection measures have not been adopted. Some scenic areas do not have enough trash cans, nor do they arrange personnel to clean up garbage in time, resulting in garbage everywhere. In terms of water resource protection, there are no perfect sewage treatment facilities, and sewage is allowed to flow into natural water bodies.

In the long run, the lack of environmental protection measures will inevitably further exacerbate environmental damage. Once the ecological environment of a scenic area deteriorates, it will lose its attractiveness to tourists, thus affecting the sustainable development of the scenic area. For example, a scenic area that uses a clear lake as its selling point, if the lake water is polluted and becomes murky, then tourists will inevitably decrease, and the scenic area's economic income will also decrease, eventually falling into a vicious cycle.

Safety Issues

Tourist scenic areas are densely populated places, and safety is paramount. It is related to the vital interests of tourists and the long-term development of the scenic area.

1. Tourist safety. Tourists visiting scenic areas come from different regions, age groups, and social backgrounds. Their safety is a basic requirement for the operation of scenic areas. However, there are many factors in the scenic area that threaten the safety of tourists. First, there is the problem of aging facilities. Some scenic areas have been in operation for a long time, and their facilities lack timely updates and maintenance. For example, some old wooden walkways, after years of wind and rain and frequent trampling by tourists, the wooden boards may have rotted, and the supporting structure may have become fragile. When tourists walk, it is easy for the walkway to break or collapse, resulting in tourists falling and injuring themselves or even falling off a cliff.

Poor management is also an important factor in causing safety accidents. Scenic area management involves many aspects, including personnel management and order maintenance. If scenic area staff have not received professional training and do not promptly check for safety hazards in the scenic area, it may lead to dangerous situations. For example, in some water entertainment projects, if the staff do not carefully check the tourists' life-saving equipment, when tourists encounter danger, the life-saving equipment may not be able to be used normally, thus endangering the lives of tourists.

In addition, natural disasters also pose a threat to tourist safety. Many scenic areas are located in mountainous or coastal areas and are susceptible to natural disasters. For example, in mountainous areas, heavy rain may cause floods and mudslides; in coastal areas, typhoons may damage buildings and facilities in the scenic area, putting tourists in danger.

2. Scenic area reputation. Once a safety problem occurs in a scenic area, its impact is not limited to the personal safety and property safety of tourists, but will also seriously damage the reputation and image of the scenic area.

When tourists encounter safety accidents in a scenic area, they will spread their experiences through various channels, such as social media and tourism forums. This negative information will spread rapidly, letting more people know about the safety hazards in the scenic area. After learning this news, other potential tourists will be discouraged from visiting the scenic area.

For example, there was once a popular mountain scenic area where, due to poor management during the peak tourist season, a tourist fell off a cliff and died while hiking. This news spread rapidly online, and many tourists who had originally planned to visit the scenic area changed their plans. After that, the number of tourists in the scenic area dropped sharply, not only reducing income, but also plummeting its reputation in the tourism market. The scenic area had to invest a lot of money in rectification and publicity to restore its reputation, but regaining the trust of tourists is not easy.

Balancing Tourism Resource Protection and Development

The relationship between the development and protection of tourist scenic areas has always been a difficult problem in the development of the tourism industry. Finding a balance between the two is the key to the sustainable development of scenic areas.

1. Over-development. As the tourism industry has become an important pillar industry of economic development, many local governments and enterprises have seen the huge economic benefits brought by the development of tourist scenic areas. Driven by this interest, some scenic areas have experienced over-development.

Excessive tourism can severely damage the ecological environment and cultural heritage of scenic areas. For example, some ancient architectural sites, in order to accommodate more tourists, arbitrarily build modern buildings around the ancient buildings, destroying the original appearance and overall layout of the ancient architectural complex. These modern buildings may clash with the style of the ancient buildings, affecting tourists' experience of the cultural connotations of the ancient buildings.

In terms of natural scenic areas, over-development can lead to ecological deterioration. For example, in some forest scenic areas, in order to develop new tourist routes, excessive deforestation and road construction not only destroy the integrity of the forest, but also affect the survival environment of plants and animals in the forest. With the destruction of the ecological environment, the sustainability and attractiveness of the scenic area will gradually decrease. Tourists come to travel largely to appreciate the natural scenery and experience the original ecological environment. If the ecological environment of the scenic area is damaged, it will lose its attractiveness to tourists, eventually leading to a decrease in the number of tourists and affecting the long-term development of the scenic area.

2. Unreasonable development. Unreasonable tourism activities are also an important factor affecting the development of scenic areas. In the development process, if the resource characteristics and market demand of the scenic area are not fully considered, it may lead to resource waste and environmental damage.

For example, some scenic areas blindly invest in the construction of large-scale amusement facilities without conducting sufficient market research. However, these amusement facilities do not match the theme and positioning of the scenic area and cannot attract tourists' interest, ultimately leading to idleness and great waste of resources. At the same time, the construction of these amusement facilities may also damage the original natural landscape or cultural atmosphere of the scenic area.

In addition, unreasonable development may also be reflected in the planning of tourist routes. If the tourist route design is unreasonable, tourists may retrace their steps or miss some important scenic spots, which will not only affect the tourists' travel experience, but also lead to excessive concentration of tourists in certain areas, causing damage to the environment and resources of that area.

Tourism Market Fluctuation Issues

The tourism market is a complex system that is affected by a variety of factors, covering economic, social, and cultural aspects, making the tourism market volatile and uncertain, which also poses great challenges to scenic area operations.

From an economic perspective, changes in the global economic situation have a direct impact on the tourism market. During periods of economic prosperity, people's income levels are relatively high, their consumption capacity is strong, and tourism demand will also increase accordingly. At this time, the number of tourists in scenic areas will often show an upward trend, and the income of scenic areas will also increase. However, when the global economy falls into recession, people may cut back on tourism spending and prioritize basic living needs. For example, during the 2008 global financial crisis, many people's jobs were affected, their incomes decreased, and the tourism market was severely hit. The number of tourists in many scenic areas plummeted, and some small scenic areas even went bankrupt because they could not maintain operations. Social factors also have a significant impact on the tourism market. Social stability is an important prerequisite for the development of the tourism market. If a region experiences social unrest, security problems, or sudden public health events, it will have a negative impact on the tourism market.

Cultural factors are equally important. Different cultural backgrounds affect people's tourism preferences. Some areas with unique cultural charm may attract a large number of tourists, but if the cultural connotation is not effectively protected and inherited, it will also affect tourists' interest. For example, some ethnic minority areas attract tourists with their unique folk culture, but if the development process is overly commercialized, making the folk culture vulgar and distorted, it will cause tourists to feel disgusted, thus affecting the tourism market in that area.

Scenic areas need to keenly perceive market changes and adjust their business strategies in a timely manner to enhance market competitiveness and cope with market risks. This requires scenic area managers to closely monitor the dynamic information in economic, social, and cultural aspects and formulate reasonable pricing strategies, marketing plans, and product innovation plans based on this information. For example, during economic downturns, cost-effective tourism packages can be launched to attract more tourists; when the social environment is stable but the demand for cultural tourism is growing, the excavation and promotion of the cultural connotation of scenic areas can be strengthened to create tourism products with cultural characteristics.

Tourism Resource Integration and Utilization Issues

The resources and facilities of tourist scenic areas are like the various pieces in a game of chess. Only by effectively integrating and utilizing them can the maximum benefits be achieved and the sustainable development of the scenic area be realized.

1. Resource integration. The resources of a scenic area are diverse, including natural landscape resources, cultural heritage resources, human resources, and material resources. Formulating a scientific development plan to organically combine these resources is not easy.

Taking a comprehensive tourist scenic area as an example, it may have both magnificent mountain and water landscapes, as well as ancient historical buildings and rich folk culture. When integrating resources, it is necessary to consider how to integrate these different types of resources to create distinctive tourism products. For example, a tour route can be designed that allows tourists to appreciate the beautiful scenery while visiting ancient buildings and experiencing the local folk culture, thus increasing tourists' travel experience and stay time.

However, in practice, many scenic areas have problems with inadequate resource integration. Some scenic areas may focus too much on the development of natural landscapes while neglecting the excavation and utilization of cultural heritage resources. Or there may be defects in human resource management, with a lack of effective cooperation among employees, leading to low service efficiency. For example, tour guides in the scenic area may only be familiar with the explanation of natural landscapes and have little knowledge of cultural heritage, unable to provide tourists with comprehensive tourism services.

2. Resource utilization. Making full use of existing resources is the key to improving the efficiency of scenic areas. In terms of resource utilization, the multi-functionality and sustainability of resources need to be considered.

3. For natural landscape resources, in addition to allowing tourists to directly appreciate them, some related experiential activities can also be carried out. For example, in forest scenic areas, forest exploration and outdoor development activities can be carried out, which can not only increase tourists' participation but also improve resource utilization efficiency.

4. In terms of cultural heritage resources, cultural festivals and folk performances can be held to allow tourists to gain a deeper understanding of the local cultural connotation. However, many scenic areas have the phenomenon of resource waste. Some scenic areas, although possessing rich cultural heritage resources, simply use them as exhibits without fully exploring their commercial and cultural value. For example, some ancient traditional handicrafts are not effectively inherited and developed in the scenic area, but are only sold as souvenirs in shops, without allowing tourists to participate in the production process, which greatly reduces the efficiency of resource utilization.