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Editor-in-Chief  |  Yang Ming

Editor  |  Liu Kaiye

Author  |  Eric

Source | Maidian

According to the author's incomplete statistics, a total of more than 405 major project lists involving cultural and tourism have been released by 31 provinces and cities.

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From the number of issuances and distribution regions, The East China region has been particularly prominent in the construction of cultural and tourism projects, continuously leading with more than 123 projects. The South China region and the Southwest region follow closely with more than 81 and more than 72 projects respectively. The Northwest region, North China region, and Central China region have constructed more than 45, more than 43, and more than 25 projects respectively. The Northeast region is last with more than 16 projects.

From the perspective of tourism formats, 405 Cultural and tourism projects not only cover traditional tourism scenic area development and cultural heritage protection, but also involve the deep integration of culture, sports, tourism, and business, cultural tourism health preservation, green and low-carbon, and new formats and scenes such as digital cultural tourism. The types of projects are more diversified, demonstrating the development trend of great culture, great tourism, and great integration.

From the perspective of the construction types of cultural and tourism projects: There are a total of 48 cultural and tourism projects involving improvement and transformation; 43 projects involving the construction of supporting infrastructure; the rest are new or continued projects.

From the above data, it can be seen that cultural and tourism projects have become one of the major focuses of infrastructure investment in various places. Overall analysis shows that this is mainly the result of the combined effects of three aspects.

First, in terms of policy: In recent years, governments at all levels from the central to local levels have issued policies to support infrastructure investment, such as increasing the issuance of government bonds, increasing the deficit ratio, and arranging special local government bonds. These measures have provided financial guarantees and policy support for the construction of cultural and tourism projects.

Secondly, in terms of market: With the accelerated recovery of the tourism industry, the role of tourism as an engine for economic growth has become increasingly prominent. Various places have reached a consensus on releasing the vitality of tourism service consumption and driving consumption economic growth. Against this background, investment in cultural and tourism projects has become a new market hotspot, attracting a large influx of capital and resources.

Finally, in terms of industry: Local governments want to create more competitive cultural and tourism products and services. They need to transform and upgrade existing cultural and tourism projects to improve the quality and attractiveness of the projects. At the same time, they also need to actively expand their business and market share through new formats and new projects.

What are the goals that various provinces and cities want to achieve through the above-mentioned cultural and tourism project lists? Perhaps we can get a glimpse of this from the government work reports of various places in 2024.

First, achieving a new high in the number of tourist visits

For example, Inner Mongolia proposed to strive to exceed 250 million tourist visits in 2024; Xinjiang promotes the deep integration of culture and tourism, promoting the brand of “Xinjiang is a good place,” striving to receive 300 million tourists, and promoting Xinjiang's transformation from a major area of tourism resources to a strong area of tourism economy; Guizhou proposed a 10% increase in tourist visits and a gradual increase in per capita spending by tourists. Hainan plans to increase the number of tourists by 10% and total tourism revenue by 14%. Shaanxi proposed to vigorously develop the event economy and exhibition economy, creating 15 commercial and tourism streets, striving to achieve an 8% increase in the number of tourists.

Second, tourism revenue exceeding one trillion

For example, Henan accelerates the integration of culture, tourism, and culture and creativity, building “Walking Henan, Understanding China” into an internationally renowned cultural and tourism brand with high recognition, high dissemination, and high reputation, striving to exceed 10 billion tourist visits and a comprehensive income exceeding 1 trillion yuan; Jilin mentioned that it will deeply implement the trillion-level tourism industry offensive action, striving to create a world-class ice and snow brand, ice and snow tourism destination, and summer resort, with total tourism revenue exceeding 600 billion yuan.

Yunnan plans to launch more than 200 high-level cultural tourism and sports investment promotion projects, add 120 new format enterprises, 10 travel agencies with an annual revenue exceeding 100 million yuan, and total tourism revenue exceeding 1.5 trillion yuan; Shaanxi proposed to polish the “Three Qin Four Seasons” cultural tourism brand, vigorously develop the event economy and exhibition economy, create 15 commercial and tourism streets, and increase the number of tourists and tourism revenue by 8% and 8.5% respectively, with an annual comprehensive income of key cultural and tourism industry chains reaching 850 billion yuan.

Third, developing new cultural and tourism formats and Promoting the integration of culture and tourism with multiple industries

The former requires being closer, closer, and closer to the source of tourists, and creating more, more, and more content. For example, ice and snow tourism, Heilongjiang promotes the development of the entire industrial chain of ice and snow sports, ice and snow culture, ice and snow equipment, and ice and snow tourism, accelerating the construction of the China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Ice and Snow Sports Demonstration Zone, and holding the 9th Asian Winter Games to a high standard and high quality, with the number of tourists exceeding 100 million and tourism revenue exceeding 150 billion yuan, using cold resources to leverage the hot economy.

For example, coastal tourism, Liaoning plans to develop and expand industries such as shipbuilding and ocean engineering equipment, marine biomedicine, marine new materials, marine information, and shipping services, developing marine ranching and coastal tourism, building the Northeast fulcrum of the strategy of building a strong maritime country, and creating a blue engine for revitalization and development. Another example is rural tourism, Yunnan proposed to create an upgraded version of rural tourism, build the most beautiful homesickness tourism belt, and cultivate a number of agricultural, cultural, and tourism integration demonstration points.

The latter is to find the connection points between tourism and other industries, promoting deep integration of tourism+. For example, Hainan integrates medical, pharmaceutical, research, production, and city construction in Happy City, striving for 400,000 medical tourists; Guangdong Province strengthens the construction of national cultural industry demonstration parks and national sports industry bases, attracting major tourism and sports projects and major international and domestic events, and promoting the integrated development of tourism, sports, and culture; Anhui accelerates the construction of the Huangshan World-Class Leisure Resort and Health Tourism Destination, carries out industry integration innovation, and accelerates the development of high-end service industry clusters such as leisure and vacation, creative economy, sports events, medical health, exhibitions, and cultural services; Beijing proposes to increase the strength of the "performing arts capital" construction, strives to create cultural masterpieces, builds a performing arts space pattern with multiple clusters working together, and cultivates more new performing arts spaces.

With large-scale construction of tourism projects and development goals for 2024 clarified by various provinces and cities, how can we avoid blindly expanding and ensure profitable investments?

From a macro perspective

Yu Yongding, academic advisor of the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) and member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that to ensure the high efficiency of infrastructure investment, the government must comprehensively consider all aspects, from project approval, financing, supervision, and acceptance, before launching new infrastructure investment plans.

Zheng Shanjie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress that further improving investment efficiency focuses on "three more": investment direction should be more precise, increasing support for addressing shortcomings, strengthening weaknesses, and cultivating new growth drivers; factor allocation should be more efficient, allowing land and energy resources to follow good projects; and the investment environment should be more convenient, deepening the rectification of prominent problems in key areas of the national unified market construction, deepening reform of the investment and financing system, optimizing the business environment, and supporting more efficient investment with greater market space and lower investment costs.

Du Yue, deputy director of the Comprehensive Office of the Investment Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, believes that expanding effective investment requires actively expanding the space for effective investment. For example, strengthening investment in consumer infrastructure, logistics facilities, new consumption models, and new consumption scenarios to promote the formation of a virtuous cycle of mutual promotion between consumption and investment.

From the enterprise perspective

Zhao Chenxin, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that various methods should be used to create conditions, regulate and order, and increase efforts to revitalize existing assets. Develop real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the infrastructure sector, orderly promote public-private partnerships (PPPs), treat all participating market entities equally, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of private investment participation.

"The key to playing a good role in investment lies in closely following the national development strategy, basing it on the requirements of promoting high-quality development, selecting investment fields and projects, and spending limited funds effectively." said Tang Sisi, director of the Academic Office of the State Information Center.

Zhu Dingjian, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group, suggested that real-scene performance projects require huge investment and have a long return period, requiring government support and guidance. By establishing special industrial support funds, more enterprises and individuals can be encouraged to invest in the innovation and development of the cultural tourism industry, promoting the transformation and upgrading of China's tourism industry.

The above cases reflect the unlimited possibilities and wide penetration of the tourism industry, which can be described as "everything can be tourism".

Today, with the gradually clear development context of the tourism industry, continuous policy support, and strong financial support, we have sufficient reason to believe that the tourism industry will become a new engine driving economic and social development, bringing more development opportunities and economic benefits to various regions.

China Tourism Association Activity Cooperation: 18810272514