Since the beginning of this year, thanks to the significant recovery of the tourism market, the investment and financing environment in the cultural and tourism sector has improved, and the activity level has shown an upward trend.

According to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in the first half of this year, the number of domestic tourist trips reached 2.725 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%; the total expenditure on domestic tourist trips reached 2.73 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.0%. With the tourism market becoming increasingly hot and residents' tourism consumption increasing significantly, the industry has re-established a virtuous cycle of investment and consumption.

In the first half of the year, the capital market's enthusiasm for investment in the cultural and tourism sector soared, with leading cultural and tourism groups and investment platforms continuing to increase their investment, injecting a strong stimulant to further improve market expectations and promote industry development.

According to publicly available information and reports from the Mydian Research Institute, in the first half of this year, projects with major state-owned enterprises and private cultural and tourism groups as the main investors exceeded 150, among which 105 projects had publicly disclosed investment amounts, with a total investment exceeding 132 billion yuan, and 57 projects with investments exceeding 10 billion yuan.

According to incomplete statistics from AgeTravel, among the projects signed by cultural and tourism groups in the first half of the year, nearly 50% are cultural and tourism projects closely related to the elderly population and the silver hair tourism industry. Among them, health care projects, cultural tourism projects, age-friendly smart tourism projects, and other characteristic cultural and tourism projects represented by hot spring hotels and fishing towns are particularly favored by capital, leading in the number of projects and investment amount.

Among the major projects invested by cultural and tourism groups in the first half of the year, health tourism/tourism residence projects accounted for about 7%, including three major projects with investment amounts exceeding 10 billion yuan: Hengshan County Huanduoqi Cultural Tourism Health Care Industrial Park (total investment 70 billion yuan), Island Tourism Residence Health Care Project (total investment 27.8 billion yuan), and Mile City Pengyang Health Care Project (total investment 10 billion yuan).

From a geographical perspective, Yunnan, Hunan, and Zhejiang, traditional tourism-strong provinces, have signed a relatively concentrated number of health tourism projects, while Guangdong and Heilongjiang have signed a series of health tourism projects with regional characteristics based on their own climate and location advantages, such as hot spring therapy projects and island tourism residence health care projects.

In May this year, Beijing Qiangyou Group invested in an island tourism residence health care project in the Wanshan Archipelago, with a total investment of 2.78 billion yuan, integrating diversified services such as medical care, health preservation, and tourism, and expanding new consumption scenarios of "health care + tourism residence".

AgeTravel understands that relying on unique geographical location and natural resource advantages, island tourism residence health care bases across the country are showing a hot trend, continuously attracting elderly people from all over the country. Public information shows that in 2023, the number of tourists and comprehensive tourism revenue in Wanshan Islands have both doubled. After the completion of the island tourism residence health care project in the future, various folk cultural tourism activities and fishing competitions will be provided, further attracting elderly tourists.

Image source: Zhuhai Network

In recent years, the degree of integration between culture and tourism has continuously deepened. Among them, retired elderly people with money and leisure have a higher interest in humanities and history and traditional culture, and they are willing to pay higher fees for in-depth cultural tourism experiences, becoming one of the main target groups for cultural tourism.

Against this background, many regions have integrated performing arts and intangible cultural heritage elements with tourism. During several holidays this year, the Forbidden City, the Sanxingdui Museum, and the Yin Ruins Museum and other popular museums have maintained high visitor traffic. In the sinking market, "village evenings," square dancing, singing, and other cultural activities are also popular among elderly tourists.

At the same time, cross-border cooperation is becoming a new trend in silver-haired cultural tourism, and the degree of integration between the tourism industry and the cultural and entertainment fields such as education, film and television, and performing arts is continuously deepening, and cultural tourism is ushering in a new round of growth.

In the capital market, various cultural/small town tourism projects are also favored by cultural and tourism groups.

According to incomplete statistics, there are a total of 9 major cultural/small town tourism projects with cultural tourism groups as the main investors in the first half of this year, concentrated in Anhui, Fujian and other places. Among them, there are a total of 4 projects with a total investment exceeding 10 billion, including 3 leading projects with an investment exceeding 50 billion.

In January this year, Hubei Three Kingdoms Famous City Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd. and Xi'an Tourism Group Cultural Industry Investment Co., Ltd. held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony for the "Guan Gong Culture Town", using the Guan Gong Culture Town as a starting point to deeply explore the local history, culture and folk customs.

At the same time, in May this year, Nanzheng District of Hanzhong City and Qingdao Qicai Huanying Industry signed a project investment agreement for the Hannanli Historical and Cultural Street District, with a total investment of approximately 1 billion yuan. In the future, it will build related cultural tourism service facilities such as a Han culture display and dissemination experience area, a Han culture performance area, and an intangible cultural heritage display area.

Among all cultural categories, humanities and traditional history are undoubtedly one of the most popular categories among elderly users. Using this as a starting point to create cultural tourism projects can effectively stimulate the potential of tourist destinations and enhance the immersive experience of tourists.

From the investment map of cultural tourism groups in the first half of the year, provinces such as Shaanxi, Hubei, and Anhui, which have rich humanistic and historical resources, have become hot investment areas, and have significant advantages in transportation location and tourism policy support, consistent with the current popularity of cultural tourism among the elderly. Destinations.

Source: Ctrip

Red resources, as China's precious historical heritage, have rich spiritual and cultural connotations. Red tourism, which is developed based on local red resources, is particularly popular among the elderly.

In 2005, the "National Red Tourism Development Plan Outline (2004-2010)" was issued, which included red tourism in the planning and implementation for the first time. In 2021, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, relevant departments jointly launched "100 Excellent Red Tourism Routes for the Centenary of the Founding of the Party".

Since last year, with the accelerated recovery of the tourism market, red tourism has ushered in a new round of boom. According to the "China Red Tourism Development Report (2023)", the number of people receiving red tourism nationwide has exceeded 2 billion, and the market size of red tourism is close to 10 trillion yuan.

Against this background, various provinces and cities have developed red tourism resources in a way that suits their local conditions, expanding the connotation and extension of red tourism and deepening tourists' understanding of historical culture.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of this year, there were a total of 5 major red tourism projects with cultural tourism groups as the main investors, with a total investment of 77.2 billion yuan. In terms of region, revolutionary base areas such as Baise, Guangxi and Baiyin, Gansu have become hot investment areas for red tourism.

In January this year, Weiguang Huitong Cultural Tourism Investment Group invested 3 billion yuan and signed the "Zhuangxiang Red City" cultural tourism comprehensive development project. This project is based on the history of Baise and revolves around themes such as ethnic culture, border culture, and red culture. It will build a national cultural international resort town covering cultural and leisure experiences, new urban cultural consumption, and new winter vacation.

In addition, the iterative development of digital technology has also given red tourism innovative presentation methods. In May this year, the construction project of Huining County Red Digital Cultural Industry Park in Gansu Province was signed. In the future, it will build multiple sections including a red cultural experience area, a digital technology innovation area, and a cultural tourism integration development area, realizing the deep integration of culture, technology, and tourism, and further expanding the extension of red tourism.

Source: Huining County People's Government website

Nowadays, rural tourism is becoming increasingly popular among the elderly.

Maidian Research Institute's "Analysis Report on China's Tourism Market in the First Quarter of 2024" shows that most of the cities with the highest growth rates in tourist numbers and tourism revenue in the first quarter are county-level cities at the third-tier level and below. Ctrip's report also points out that more elderly people have joined the self-driving tour army, especially in county-level cities. With the popularization of private cars, about 26% of the elderly chose short-distance self-driving tours around their homes for their last trip.

From farmhouse gatherings and folk experiences to agricultural research and study, various fancy ways of playing not only meet the diversified needs of the elderly, but also promote the integrated development of rural culture and tourism, helping rural areas achieve increased economic benefits.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of this year, there were a total of 5 major rural culture and tourism integration projects with cultural tourism groups as the main investors, with a total investment exceeding 6.6 billion yuan, including the Baimagguan rural culture and tourism integration leisure resort project with an investment of 5 billion yuan.

Public information shows that in January this year, Fulong Holdings Group invested in the construction of the Baimagguan rural culture and tourism integration leisure resort project in Luojiang District, Deyang, Sichuan Province, which will be developed in three phases. This includes building a rural culture and tourism art area, a Baimagguan cultural heritage area, and a Zen meditation and health preservation area covering a cluster of hot spring hotels, a health and food center, and a medicinal herb planting base.

In addition, in June this year, the "Dongfeng Xiaoxue" rural culture and tourism integrated rural complex project with an investment of 110 million yuan was signed. In the future, it will build business formats such as cultural and creative shops, agricultural memory halls, leisure courtyards, and large stoves.

In April this year, Wang Xinxin, head of Ctrip's senior friends club project, once told AgeTravel that farmhouse tourism is one of the directions that the senior friends club is optimistic about: "Ctrip currently has 29 farmhouses, and will continue to update them in the future. Farmhouses are relatively matched with the characteristics and preferences of the elderly. On the one hand, they have a pleasant environment that can meet users' needs for taking photos, sharing, and recuperating. On the other hand, the farmhouse scene is also suitable for the elderly to hold various gatherings, with natural social attributes."

It is obvious that since this year, farmhouse + cultural tourism and agriculture + cultural tourism have become popular topics of concern in the industry, promoting rural culture and tourism integration projects to become popular areas of cultural tourism investment, which also reflects the personalized trend of the core elderly customer group's travel experience.

Source: Ctrip

In recent years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. Against this background, a new wave of AI has also swept the cultural tourism industry, driving capital elements to flow to emerging fields represented by cultural technology and smart tourism.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of this year, there were a total of 5 major smart/digital cultural tourism projects with cultural tourism groups as the main investors, with a total investment of 4 billion yuan in publicly disclosed projects:

Image source: XinhuaNet

• Metaverse Culture and Tourism Projects
  

In March this year, Jiemu Technology signed an agreement with Liangdaicun Ruiguo Site Museum and Dangjiacun Scenic Area for the development of a metaverse project. This project will leverage virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to deeply explore local historical and cultural customs, displaying ancient people's spiritual activities and grand historical sites through a combination of virtual and real elements, using digital technology means such as guided navigation, AR script-based role-playing games, and metaverse social interaction, allowing tourists to understand history and culture through smarter means.

The senior tourism market continues to grow and has exceeded a scale of hundreds of billions, while the speed of AI technology updates and iterations far exceeds industry expectations. Standing at a critical juncture in the development of the silver economy, the integration of these two is undoubtedly an inevitable trend. In AgeTravel's view, smart tourism will play an increasingly important role in the future, both in terms of market size and investment prospects.

In addition to popular sectors such as health and wellness tourism/cultural tourism/smart tourism, projects invested by culture and tourism groups in the first half of this year also included various distinctive culture and tourism projects that highly align with the needs of the senior population:

According to incomplete statistics from the China Angling Association, there are currently about 140 million anglers in China who participate in fishing activities at least 4 times a year, of which 32% are aged 45 and above. Data shows that the consumption growth rate of fishing supplies has surpassed that of outdoor activities such as ball games, swimming, and cycling.

From the above data, it can be seen that fishing has become a widely popular leisure activity among middle-aged and elderly people, with huge market demand. The development of fishing projects can not only attract relevant enthusiasts but also meet the needs of different tourists through the integration of various cultural and tourism formats, driving regional economic development.

Image source: Jingchu News Network

Commercial hunting first became popular in Europe and America, with many countries specially arranging "safari"-themed overseas tours for recreational hunting purposes. Public data shows that the number of commercial hunting grounds in China reached a peak of 25, while commercial hunting grounds of similar scale in the United States reached thousands. High-net-worth individuals aged 40-50 from all over the world are the mainstream users of commercial hunting, and 90% are male.

Compared to overseas regions where it developed earlier, commercial hunting has not yet formed a large scale in China. However, with economic development and the rise of the tourism industry, some regions are attempting to further regulate commercial hunting activities for leisure and sightseeing purposes by formulating strict guidelines and management measures.

Hunting camp projects, by combining recreational hunting with ecological tourism, agricultural experiences, and other formats, can effectively meet the personalized needs of mid-to-high-end tourists and drive the synergistic development of related industries.

The "2024 China Grape Industry Data Analysis Report" shows that in 2022, the size of China's wine market rebounded to 58.72 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of approximately 14.96%.

In the past, most domestic wine producers focused on millennials, but it has been proven that middle-aged and elderly consumers are also a core consumer group for wine. Liz Thach, Chair of the Wine Market Council of the United States, once revealed that among total wine consumption, consumers aged 60 and above account for 31%, while young consumers aged 20-30 account for approximately 25%.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

With the improvement of living standards and the popularization of healthy drinking concepts, the demand for wine in the market continues to grow steadily. Middle-aged and elderly consumers, in particular, pay more attention to health and quality of life, and are willing to pay higher prices for quality wines and high-end tourism experiences.

Based on grasping the overall recovery trend of the wine market, Zhangye, Gansu activates local tourism resources, planning diverse business formats with wineries as the core, enhancing the added value of projects, and is expected to further enrich tourist experiences and enhance tourism competitiveness in the future.

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