Zhangjiajie, Hunan
Great efforts have been made to attract foreign tourists
Zhangjiajie City in Hunan Province has a unique natural environment and is a popular tourist destination favored by overseas tourists. In the first half of this year, the number of inbound tourists in Zhangjiajie reached 910,000, an increase of 569% year-on-year in 2023.
Before coming to Zhangjiajie, mainly to enjoy the scenery, now Zhangjiajie, in attracting foreign tourists on more efforts, more diverse play, travel more convenient. Tian Hongman, deputy director of the Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Television and Sports of Zhangjiajie City, introduced that in view of the characteristics of foreign tourists like landscapes, the local government will further improve the infrastructure of scenic spots such as Wulingyuan and Tianmen Mountain, launch international tourism products such as Fenglin Canyon and Zhangjiajie landform, and continue to innovate and develop cultural tourism products. A number of national and provincial night cultural and tourism consumption gathering areas such as cultural and tourism creative industry Park and Dayong Ancient City have been created, and new business format cultural and tourism products such as the New Kaiyuan Universe immersive night cultural tourism scenic spot and the performing arts show “Meet Dayong” have attracted international tourists of different ages.
International tourists are coming, how to improve the reception capacity? Tian Hongman said that the first is to optimize port services, through optimizing the process, smart port construction and other measures, the customs clearance time of entry-exit passengers at ports is reduced to less than half an hour per flight; Second, optimize payment services and take the lead in piloting the “remittance wallet” service for inbound tourism in China; The third is to optimize the multi-language service and issue multi-language tour guide certificates to thousands of international tourism talents; The fourth is to improve the sense of experience of scenic spots, the construction of barrier-free access, charging stations and other supporting service facilities with high standards, and the popularization of headphones in scenic spots above 4A level in steps to improve the experience of tourists in an all-round way.
The increasing popularity of inbound tourism has also promoted the improvement of local tourism services and the overall level of business. Tian Jianbing, executive deputy general manager of Zhangjiajie Qixing Mountain, has a deep feeling about this: “International tourists to experience Zhangjiajie’s natural scenery, cultural history, help form a word-of mouth effect, and enhance Zhangjiajie’s visibility in the world.”
“My friends all say that Zhangjiajie is very good, and this time we come here because of its fame.” In Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Kim Su, a tourist from South Korea, held up her mobile phone to take a photo. “I like the scenery here. The green mountains and rivers, the clouds and the sea make people feel relaxed and happy.” Jack from Illinois, USA, loves the Tujia clothing in Zhangjiajie’s 72nd Qilou scenic spot: “The clothing style here is unique, with ethnic customs, which is refreshing.”
Enjoy the city
Experience the charm of mountain city up close
With a light boarding bell, Chongqing Yangtze River Ferry Co., Ltd. cruise ship “long voyage Starry River” opened the night tour. “Good evening, welcome to Chongqing Two Rivers Tour.” Lu Wei, a smiling, uniformed crew member, is standing at the entrance to the cabin to greet the boarding guests.
Four tourists from the United States looked puzzled: “We haven’t had time to change RMB.”
“The cruise ship is equipped with a POS machine, you can pay by credit card, don’t panic.” Lu Wei said. The reporter saw that in addition to the wild card swiping service provided on the cruise ship, it is also equipped with employees proficient in foreign languages and multilingual translators, making payment more convenient.
As a popular tourist city in western China, Chongqing is constantly improving its convenient services for international tourists. In the past, it was a big pain point for foreign tourists to buy tickets at the scenic spot because they had no ID card and could only queue up to buy tickets after arriving at the scenic spot. This year, many scenic spots in Chongqing have introduced online ticketing options for passports, saving foreign tourists time in line. Take the Three Gorges Museum as an example, “Foreign tourists can make an appointment to enter the museum through the public number of their passport.” “International visitors can also apply for audio tour rental services with their passports in order to learn more about museum artifacts.” Yuzhong District cultural tourism committee responsible person said.
“In the past, American tourists liked to go to the Stilwell Museum in Chongqing by the Jialing River, European tourists liked Dazu stone carvings, Ciqikou and other cultural landscapes, and the Three Gorges tour was the main route for all international tourists…” Working for more than 20 years, Yang Shunhua has a template for the preferences of international tourists, but he found that the template is somewhat dysfunctional, “In the past, I asked everyone about the impression of Chongqing, no one can answer, and now many international tourists will blurt out ‘mountain city’ and ‘hot pot’.”
During this time, Yang Shunhua received tour groups from Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and other countries, and he found that the guests asked to clock in the landmark buildings with Chongqing characteristics such as Danzi Stone, Changjiahui, Hongya Cave, and go to Nanshan in the evening to eat hot pot and enjoy the night view, and feel the charm of the mountain city at close range. “This shows that international friends have an increasingly rich and comprehensive understanding of China.”
Data show that from January to August this year, more than 100,000 foreigners entered and exited from Chongqing port, three times more than in 2023.
