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Author | Gongsun Yao, Zhou Yi Shui

Editor-in-chief | Yang Ming

Editor | Jing Xiangyuan

Source | Yishui Cultural Tourism

Recently, the bottled water advertisements launched by Wahaha in collaboration with Guangxi's cultural tourism industry have sparked considerable discussion on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin.

Wahaha Group has joined hands with the Guangxi Tourism Association for brand collaboration. Wahaha prints photos of Guangxi's famous scenic spots on its bottled water, using the bottles as a medium to promote Guangxi tourism. Previously, this "customized water" exclusively for Guangxi users was recently distributed across provinces, entering supermarkets in Guangdong, Hainan, Hunan, and other provinces and cities. With netizens from various places "showing off" the pictures, some tourist attractions in Guangxi have "gone viral" and gained popularity.

In fact, in recent years, Zong Qinghou, at the helm of Wahaha, has been actively exploring diversified operations, particularly showcasing its ambition in the cultural tourism sector.

Back in 2012, Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha, stated in a media interview that Wahaha's next expansion target might be the tourism industry, with many opportunities to explore. For example, many scenic spots in some areas are still in their original state, with great development potential and relatively low costs, making them suitable for development as high-end holiday destinations. During his tenure as a national people's congress representative, Zong Qinghou also submitted numerous proposals related to tourism.

Zong Fuli, taking over the reins, continues to write the tourism chapter.

Returning to the "bottle marketing" approach, providing brand and channel value to tourism

On May 28, 2024, 600 million bottles of mineral water featuring 60 scenic spots in Guangxi were sold across provinces for the first time. Many netizens from Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Hunan, and other regions showcased this batch of drinking water on various platforms, sparking online discussions once again.

It is understood that on April 10, 2024, the Guangxi Tourism Association and Hangzhou Wahaha Group renewed their cooperation agreement on bottle-based public service advertisements, increasing the publicity efforts for Guangxi's tourism resources. The number of scenic spots promoted has expanded from the original 16 to 60, continuing to help Guangxi's cultural tourism industry "break through the screen and gain popularity." For Wahaha, its successful entry into over 350 4A-level and above tourist attractions in Guangxi has further broadened its sales channels.

A veteran industry insider revealed that Wahaha's layout in Guangxi tourism goes far beyond this. Wahaha will also participate in more events organized by the Guangxi Tourism Association, providing services while showcasing its brand; it will print a "One-Click Tour of Guangxi" QR code on Wahaha bottles, allowing consumers to scan for discounts on scenic spots and tourism performances; it will transform the Guilin Wahaha production base into a research and study tourism base, organizing local students to participate in research and study activities; and both parties will jointly organize various cultural and tourism events to strengthen brand marketing, and so on.

With this combination of strategies, Wahaha will further penetrate the Guangxi cultural tourism industry, and the situation of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between the two parties will further unfold.

In fact, based on Wahaha's national popularity and deeply ingrained IP image, as well as the admiration many Chinese people have for the legendary entrepreneur Zong Qinghou, Wahaha's efforts in tourism marketing scenarios often achieve twice the result with half the effort.

This February, Zong Qinghou passed away due to ineffective medical treatment. In March, Qinglongxia Scenic Area in Xiuwu County, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, issued an announcement stating that visitors carrying Wahaha products can enjoy free admission throughout the year. People in the tourism industry are very sensitive to the dynamics of public opinion, especially to things with widespread reputation, and are willing to make emotional connections.

"Independent Operation": Leveraging its own strengths

In recent years, Wahaha has been exploring how to leverage its own strengths to enter the tourism sector.

It can be traced back to 20 years ago. In 2004, Wahaha's industrial tourism project was launched at its Hangzhou Xiasha base, with the initial aim of bridging the gap with consumers and enhancing the company's reputation. Later, it was discovered that tourist flow was a good thing, and the project was later rated as a "National Industrial Tourism Demonstration Point".

Currently, Wahaha's newly added smart factory park is open to tourists, and has developed a range of industrial tourism, research and study tourism, and family tourism products, with positive market feedback.

As Zong Qinghou said in an interview during the National "Two Sessions"—"The tourism concept of the Chinese people has changed. In the past, people traveled to see more of the world, but now they want to find a place to rest and relax. The future development of tourism is a very promising industry."

With this strategic understanding, Wahaha resolutely ventured into the leisure and resort field. In December 2017, Wahaha registered and established Wahaha Hotel Management Co., Ltd.

A year later, in November 2018, Hangzhou Wahaha Resort Hotel officially opened. Located in Hangzhou Xiang Lake Scenic Area, it is the first resort hotel under Wahaha Hotel Management Co., Ltd., integrating catering, accommodation, and conferencing functions. It boasts a serene environment and a strong leisure atmosphere. After its opening, the hotel's sales and reputation were excellent, with many young tourists actively sharing their fun experiences of staying at the hotel and drinking Wahaha beverages on social media platforms, and it remained fully booked for a long time.

At that time, the relevant person in charge of Wahaha Resort Hotel also outlined a blueprint for the hotel's development: positioning itself as a tourist resort, cooperating with multiple 5A-level scenic areas nationwide and well-known domestic and foreign cultural tourism groups, highlighting the Wahaha cultural theme, using a franchise model to build a chain brand, accelerating its layout in urban areas and areas with high passenger traffic, radiating to the surrounding areas of Hangzhou, starting from Xiang Lake, and strengthening the cultural tourism sector.

Later, the promotion of franchising did not yield good results, but it provided Wahaha with valuable experience.

"Joint Efforts": Collaborating with industry leaders

Unable to realize its chain dream by operating hotels independently, Wahaha decided to join forces with industry leaders.

So, in December 2020, Wahaha Hotel Management Company and New Century Hotels Group held a cooperation signing ceremony by Xianghu Lake in Hangzhou. At that time, Wahaha Xianghu Resort Hotel was officially renamed Wahaha New Century Xianghu Resort Hotel, seemingly ready to make great strides in the resort industry. According to the agreement, New Century Hotels Group "will fully integrate its resource advantages, brand advantages, and service advantages into Wahaha New Century Xianghu Resort Hotel, creating a hotel benchmark in the Xianghu National Tourist Resort." However, due to various reasons, this cooperation with the hotel "big shot" was not smooth, and the hotel quietly changed its name back to "Wahaha Xianghu Resort Hotel".

In contrast, Wahaha's cooperation with Trip.com has yielded good results. In October 2023, Wahaha Group teamed up with Trip.com's Rezen Group and Lvyue Group to jointly create "Coffee Niche Themed Rooms," setting up photo walls, pillows, and other items strongly associated with Wahaha's beverage brand "Coffee Niche" in partner hotels, and at the same time, giving each consumer a free "Coffee Niche" latte. This activity covered 13 cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Hefei, totaling 100 hotels. This cooperation is an innovative attempt by Wahaha to partner with the OTA "giant" Trip.com. Both parties have a high degree of matching in terms of brand fit and target audience, and the market response has been positive.

An insider from Wahaha revealed that during Zong Qinghou's time, there was even a discussion about developing tourism real estate projects in overseas tourist destinations like Madagascar. Zong even personally visited for inspection, not only because the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Madagascar had strong capabilities and resources, but also because he himself was very optimistic about the tourism industry. Currently, Wahaha is re-evaluating its diversified layout, and might cut what needs to be cut, retain what needs to be retained, and expand what needs to be expanded. "Some marketing managers under the group still follow the old man's judgment, believing that the tourism sector is worth pushing forward deeply, following the path of large-scale leisure. As far as I know, they have also expressed their opinions, and it depends on the ultimate determination of the decision-makers."