Culture is the soul of tourism and tourism is the carrier of culture. As culture-tourism integration continues, more and more cultural tourism destinations are building their brands to reach more people. After a three-day agenda from June 8-10, the China (Changchun) Travelers’ Forum 2023 themed “Enjoy Cool Summer Days in Changchun” was rounded off. The government-business collaboration targeting Changchun’s cultural tourism has been a thought-provoking reference for the entire industry.
From Trip.com Summer Travel Trends Awards to “Meeting in Changchun” National Impact Program, from Trip.com Gourmet’s Haute Dining Club to the closed-door meeting on investment promotion and to the Cultural Tourism Session of the China Travelers’ Forum… All these activities have been an all-round, multi-level display of Changchun’s unique charm. Moreover, they have proved with real results that the future of the cultural tourism industry involves not only content presentation, but also in-depth exploration into new industry, new consumption, and new life.
Broad Marketing with Brand Building, Explore the Charm of Changchun with “Iconic IP”
The China Travelers’ Forum, a major IP of Trip.com Group, has been held for eight consecutive years as the most influential event in the industry. The integration with the Changchun Summer Art Festival marks the first major marketing cooperation between Trip.com Group and the Changchun Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, and the efforts of Trip.com to implement its Super Destination Seed Program.
At the event, 12 experts, scholars, and business elites from the cultural tourism sector were appointed as consultants who will share advice and input to fuel the high-quality development of the local cultural tourism industry. The Changchun–Trip.com Cultural Tourism Investment Promotion Hall was officially established to provide Changchun with a customized investment plan based on the existing business forms. The plan will help improve investment efficiency and provide more companies willing to invest in Changchun with available information and channels, thus realizing resource sharing and win-win cooperation.
To better bring in new projects, businesses from the Trip.com Cultural Tourism Industry Alliance held a closed-door meeting on investment promotion with representatives from the Changchun Municipal People’s Government and local districts and counties. In the future, the alliance will work to improve the cultural tourism industry chain in Changchun from various aspects like consulting, industry promotion, and project execution.
All stakeholders will work together to pursue industrial cooperation with a focus on cultural tourism. The forum will bring new opportunities for the cultural tourism industry in Changchun. With new business forms and industries, Changchun can promote its new brand of urban cultural tourism to more people and enjoy a broader tourist market.
Broad Marketing with Content Creation, Create Popular Attractions in the Traffic Era
The cultural tourism industry is developing at a high speed, with increasingly fierce competition between destinations. How to attract users with high-quality content is a common consideration for the entire industry. Content is most important in the traffic era. Trip.com has customized the “Meeting in Changchun” National Impact Program for Changchun to explore more cultural tourism elements that can attract tourists and make Changchun’s new brand of urban cultural tourism more visible and influential.
In the 2023 Trip.com Summer Travel Trends list, Changchun claims a place in the category of summer vacation and culinary specialties for its unique natural landscape and humanistic flair. Trip.com Gourmet’s Haute Dining Club also released two dining lists for well-established stores and internet celebrity restaurants in Changchun to highlight its flavor and propel it into a hot destination in China.
As part of the China (Changchun) Travelers’ Forum 2023, travel experts also had a food and sight-seeing tour which combines field visits, live streaming, and image-text and video content generation for tourists to experience diverse summer tourism resources in Changchun, including automobile production, film shooting bases, landscaping and parks, sculptures, and science and technology education.
In addition, Trip.com has leveraged its strengths to deliver targeted content regarding Changchun’s cultural tourism to such platforms as Xiaohongshu, Baidu, WeChat Moment, and Kuaishou so that Changchun can present telling brand stories and accumulate private traffic. Diverse forms of interactive marketing are adopted through cooperation with travel experts, online/offline media placement, and network-wide publicity to register hundreds of millions of impressions for Changchun’s new brand of urban cultural tourism.
Enhance Industry Development, Promote New Brand of Urban Cultural Tourism
Trip.com and Changchun have been partners for a long time, and Changchun was included in the first batch of cities marked as “Super Destinations” selected by Trip.com Group. Trip.com has been focusing on Changchun’s mature winter and summer tourism resources and relevant tourism products throughout the year. By improving products, empowering branding and marketing, and attracting targeted tourists, Trip.com has highlighted and amplified Changchun’s strengths, with innovative cultural content presented to travelers through travel products and content. A whole package is in place to brand the urban cultural tourism brand of Changchun.
The successful China Travelers’ Forum 2023 marks win-win cooperation. Changchun introduces its cultural tourism to more and innovates in both theories and practices.
Dubbed Spring City of Northland, Changchun is home to premium cultural tourism resources—the Museum of the Imperial Palace of Manchukuo with a long history, Changchun Film Studio that witnessed the birth and development of China’s film industry, Jingyuetan National Forest Park which boasts the largest man-made forest in Asia, Nanhu Park, a leisure and scenic spot located in the center of Changchun, Changchun Tram 54 as seen in the hit drama “A Lifelong Journey”, Changchun World Sculpture Park, to name just a few. In the past several years, Changchun has created a series of cultural tourism products and routes for a satisfactory experience that retains tourists. Aside from its edges in being both a summer and winter paradise, Changchun is exploring more forms and carriers to shape an all-for-one tourism pattern with highlights in four seasons and expanding quality products and service carriers across the chain. By presenting quality cultural tourism options in all four seasons and offering more medium and high-end options, Changchun ensures that popular tourism products are available throughout the year, which fuels a leap in the tourism economy. On top of ten ice and snow parks and four ski resorts with the theme of “Happy Changchun with Ice and Snow”, Changchun has shaped choice urban snow tours and organized over 100 ice and snow activities. A comprehensive snow package has been in place, involving skiing, playing with snow, appreciating snow, and enjoying snow. Changchun also becomes a hot spring destination with such activities as sketching by famous oil painters in Changchun, jazz music festival, Changchun Film Group Corporation weekend concert, citizens chorus festival, citizens reading festival, and other branded cultural tourism activities. It is also establishing a name as a summer resort themed by “Refreshing summer and urban life”, with quality cultural tourism products and services through a series of thematic activities and summer routes. The Changchun Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism also makes the best of Changchun’s guiding role to enhance cooperation and fuel economy together with other cultural tourism destinations in the province. While optimizing the marketing of “micro vacation” and “trips nearby”, Changchun has launched a number of premium routes in different seasons of the year, including camping, summer vacation, ice and snow, parent-child, leisure, study, culture, and business travel. By working with enterprises, Changchun has shaped itself into a must-visit for all online. The China Travelers’ Forum in Changchun will help showcase these excellent products, activities, and routes to more. Local cultural tourism brands will be boosted with massive brand exposure and word-of-mouth communication in the short term. The urban cultural tourism brand shaped by Changchun will usher in a breakthrough in both content and industry.
Next, Changchun will remain committed to preserving natural scenes and shaping cultural tourism products in all seasons. As the cultural tourism market keeps evolving, Changchun will work to discover its core competitiveness and establish its market and brand positioning to deeply integrate culture with tourism. Seizing upon such trends as trips nearby and micro vacations, Trip.com Group will empower the transformation of the urban cultural tourism brand by upgrading products and improving forms in Changchun.
