Culture and new media: the new trends of China's tourism market

Editor's note: Chen Jiahe, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is the chief investment officer at Novem Arcae Technologies. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. 

As consumption is now leading the growth of China's economy, the tourism market is becoming an increasingly important cornerstone for China's economic growth. Amid this growing market, what are the latest industrial trends that we should follow? Here are two tips: Chinese culture, and new media.

According to data from China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the seven days of the National Day Holiday that has just passed, 765 million people took a trip in China. This number is 5.9 percent more than one year ago and 10.2 percent more than 2019, which is the year before the pandemic. The total money spent on tourism reached 701 billion yuan ($99.2 billion), or 6.3 percent more than 2019.

Amid this rising market, Chinese culture is starting to attract more people. As a country with thousands of years of history, cities and towns in China possess countless local and historical cultures. What might sound new to people outside China is that, because of the country's vast territory, even for Chinese people, the cultures in different cities that are thousands of kilometers away can be unique. This leads to a thriving domestic tourism market that features a variety of tourist attractions.

For example, the historical buildings and heritages of Beijing can be very interesting to tourists that come from China's southern provinces such as Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan. Meanwhile, tulou, or Fujian earth building, which is a type of Chinese rural dwelling unique to the Hakka in Fujian, can bring a lot of cultural shock to people from other provinces.

For companies and local governments that are trying to boost their respective local tourism markets, discovering local culture has become a very useful way. By highlighting the local culture in its various aspects, such as historical heritage, local buildings, cultural dressing, traditional foods and dishes, there are more and more elements that can be incorporated into a tourism product. As a result, more tourists are attracted by these types of elements.

Alongside the domestic tourists, we are now seeing that an increasing number of foreign tourists are also coming to China and many of them are very curious about Chinese culture. According to the data published by the National Immigration Administration, in the first half of 2024, 14.6 million foreigners visited China, or 152.7 percent more than one year ago.

This sharp increase of foreign tourists in China is partly thanks to the visa-free policy that China has rolled out for many countries in the world, which makes it easier to travel to China. According to the data from the National Immigration Administration, 8.5 million foreigners came into China via the visa-free policy in the first half of 2024, 190.1 percent more than a year ago.

For foreign tourists, Chinese culture is certainly one of the most important reasons for their travel. China has not only many of the world's most sophisticated and delicious cuisines, but its vast historical heritage is also an advantage in the global tourism market.

In order to attract more foreign tourists, China's local tourism market has done a large amount of work. The local culture can be easily understandable to a Chinese person, but for foreigners it can be hard to appreciate without proper explanation. Therefore, translating and interpreting the local culture to foreigners has become a super important task for local tourism markets. The cities that have done better in these areas are attracting more tourists from the global market.

The traditional Chinese culture is becoming a hot trend party because of the rise of new media. As new media is taking up a larger share of our daily lives today, China's tourism industry is utilizing it as a very efficient platform to attract tourists from both the domestic and global markets. Short videos, live streaming, as well as podcasts, are created to spread China's traditional culture to more potential travelers both in and outside of China.

At the same time, computer games are also playing an important role in introducing Chinese culture to the world. The latest game, Black Myth: Wukong, showcases Chinese culture to gamers in a perfect way. Many tourists have been amazed by this game and as a result traveled to visit the historical sites featured in it.

In such a rapidly developing tourism market of China, traditional culture and new media are becoming trends that no one can miss. Businesses and local governments that successfully capture these trends will gain tremendously from the tourism market.

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