Editor-in-Chief | Yang Ming
Responsible Editor | Jing Xiangyuan
After decades of rapid development, China's cultural tourism industry has entered a brand new stage. At this stage, cultural tourism investment is no longer just a simple accumulation of resources; instead, it requires deep exploration of cultural connotations, innovative tourism experiences, and the realization of sustainable project development. Based on current trends in the cultural tourism market, this article will outline cultural tourism project directions worth investing in for 2025, providing valuable references for developers.
Quality Upgrade Projects for County-Level Tourism
In the past development of cultural tourism, county-level tourism faced numerous difficulties. Despite continuous new projects and ongoing upgrades to old scenic spots, county-level tourism has always remained lukewarm, presenting a dilemma of
Cultural Theme Innovation Experience Projects for Urban Tourism
Tourist cities represented by Xi'an, Chengdu, and Chongqing have their tourism focus within the urban areas, offering abundant and diverse investment opportunities. As the tourism market evolves, tourists' consumption demands are shifting from superficial sightseeing to in-depth experiences, leading to a growing demand for cultural theme innovation experience projects.
Such cities should fully leverage their rich cultural heritage to develop amusement products with inherent IPs or innovative designs. For instance, Xi'an could combine the
Projects combining lightweight cultural tourism performances with cuisine also hold significant potential. These projects typically have smaller investment scales, are less difficult to implement, and exhibit high network effects, attracting more tourist participation. Furthermore, LBE immersive large-space projects (regional entertainment venues), with their unique immersive experiences, allow tourists to deeply feel the charm of urban culture, making them a type of cultural experience resource that easily attracts investment. Through the development of these projects, urban tourism can better satisfy tourists' pursuit of in-depth experiences, further enhancing the city's tourism appeal and competitiveness.
Ecological Resources and Health & Wellness, Sports, and Pet Entertainment Projects
The protective development of ecological resources combined with the integration of various industries has opened new directions for cultural tourism investment. Diverse ecological resources such as mountains, forests, grasslands, oceans, lakes, and wetlands, when combined with health & wellness and outdoor sports tourism and leisure projects, can create a series of distinctive tourism offerings.
In the health & wellness sector, forest health & wellness bases, Chinese medicine health tourism projects, and similar initiatives have emerged. Forest health & wellness bases utilize the natural forest environment to provide wellness, vacation, and rehabilitation services; traditional Chinese medicine origin areas can fully leverage their resources, combining them with traditional martial arts, therapies, medicated diets, etc., to develop short-term and long-term tourism projects that meet people's pursuit of health and wellness.
For outdoor sports, mountain scenic areas can construct facilities like climbing walls, mountain bike trails, and off-road tracks, introduce high-altitude adventure projects such as ziplines, sky bridges, and jungle descents, and develop low-altitude economy projects like mountain helicopter tours to attract outdoor sports enthusiasts and increase secondary consumption at scenic spots. Meanwhile, water sports clubs can also allow tourists to enjoy water activities in lakes, oceans, and other bodies of water.
The rise of the pet economy in the cultural tourism industry also cannot be overlooked. Projects such as pet parks and pet-themed hotels are gradually gaining popularity among tourists. In pet parks, visitors can interact closely with adorable animals, experiencing unique joy, which brings new hotspots for cultural tourism investment. When considering such projects, investors should focus on protecting ecological resources, ensuring sustainable project development, and continuously innovating to create distinctive and appealing tourism products that meet the needs of different tourist groups.
Ice and Snow Tourism + New Product, New Scene Integration Projects
China's ice and snow tourism possesses unique development opportunities. Although some northern regions are economically underdeveloped, leading to relatively lagging development and operation levels for ice and snow tourism, the ice and snow sports consumption market is gradually forming, and the door to ice and snow tourism is accelerating its opening.
In addition to traditional skiing and ice skating projects, emerging projects like ice and snow viewing experiences and land-based ice and snow sports are increasingly popular. The deep integration of the
When engaging in ice and snow tourism projects, investors should focus on product and scene innovation to continuously enhance the tourist experience. By tapping into the potential of ice and snow tourism, developing diverse ice and snow tourism products, and promoting the vigorous development of the ice and snow tourism industry, the desire of tourists to explore the world of ice and snow can be satisfied.
Tourism Projects Boosted by the Popularity of Film, Television, and Games
The driving role of culture in tourism is becoming increasingly significant, with the popularity of cultural works like film, television, and games bringing new development opportunities for tourism projects. For example, the success of
Investors can learn from these successful cases, delve deeper into local culture, and closely integrate it with tourism projects. By integrating elements such as intangible cultural heritage, performing arts, technology, and food, unique and attractive cultural and tourism integration projects can be created. For example, developing tourism routes in film and television shooting locations allows tourists to experience the scenes in the works firsthand; using game IPs to create theme parks or immersive experience projects attracts game enthusiasts.
At the same time, cross-border innovation in scenic areas is also an effective way to enhance attractiveness. For example, transforming traditional rail trains into sci-fi themed research and study experience products or DIY products provides tourists with a new experience; combining AI technology to create winter landscapes for scenic areas achieves differentiated development of scenic areas. When grasping these types of projects, investors should pay attention to the deep integration of culture and tourism, make full use of popular cultural elements, create sustainable tourism projects, and achieve innovative upgrades in the cultural and tourism industry.
The cultural and tourism investment field in 2025 is full of opportunities and challenges. Investors need to keep up with market trends, accurately grasp the investment points of various projects, pay attention to product innovation, quality improvement, and resource integration to meet the increasingly diversified and personalized needs of tourists. Only in this way can success be achieved in the wave of cultural and tourism investment, injecting new vitality into the development of the cultural and tourism industry.
Special Research on Investment in the Tourism Industry
To gain a deeper understanding of the development of investment in the tourism industry, the China Tourism Academy, in conjunction with the China Amusement Machine and Amusement Park Association and other units, is conducting a special research activity on investment in the tourism industry, and sincerely invites all member units and tourism enterprises to participate in the research.
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