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At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chinese athletes, mainly those born after 2000, performed brilliantly. While demonstrating their strong strength, the confidence, openness, relaxation and courage to express themselves of the young generation of Chinese athletes were impressive, and they were frequently searched, triggering strong resonance among the public and also stimulating the popularity of related cultural tourism.

Check-in fever in the hometown of champions

On the evening of August 6th, Beijing time, Quan Hongchan defended her Olympic title with a high score of 425.60 points in the women's 10-meter platform diving final, breaking the previous record and becoming the youngest triple gold medalist in Chinese Olympic history at the age of 17 years and 131 days.

Subsequently, Quan Hongchan's hometown, Maihe Village in Mazhang District, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, has become popular again! At the entrance of the village, a white village sign stands with the Olympic rings on the top and a poster of Quan Hongchan winning the championship next to it. At the door of Quan Hongchan's grandfather's house, a sign with the words "Friends, Maihe Village welcomes you!" is particularly eye-catching, and tourists who come in droves happily take photos and check in with it.

Many tourists come with their families: "Our whole family likes 'Chanbao', and we come here to share in the good luck", "The children like 'Chanbao' very much, and coming here they can feel the atmosphere of winning the Olympic championship, which is also educational for the children"... From becoming famous with one jump at the Tokyo Olympics, to continuing to perform the "water splash disappearing technique" at the Paris Olympics, Quan Hongchan has attracted countless fans and has become the "Chanbao" in everyone's mind.

"After the Tokyo Olympics, our village had a wave of popularity that lasted for a month or two. This wave of popularity is expected to last longer." A villager from Maihe Village said that Quan Hongchan won glory for the country, and the villagers were very proud. It also led to Maihe Village becoming an Internet celebrity village, and more and more snack stalls were set up in the village. Interestingly, many villagers in Maihe Village have begun to pay attention to diving competitions and have learned diving terms such as 407C and 6234D.

"We are honored and excited that Quan Hongchan won the championship. Her fame has also brought fame to our village, which is a rare opportunity for the village's development. We have made full preparations for this and sent additional staff to maintain traffic order and do a good job of environmental sanitation and cleaning, so that citizens and tourists can come and go happily." said a village official in Maihe Village.

Due to the huge traffic and social influence of Olympic champions, they can instantly attract the public's attention and bring economic and social benefits to their hometowns. The hometown of the new generation of "Flying Fish" Pan Zhanle is Qianshantou Village, Qiaoxia Town, Yongjia County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Recently, the village was full of banners celebrating Pan Zhanle's Olympic gold medal. One of the banners read: "Thank you for lighting up our hometown with the honor of a champion." Many citizens and tourists came to check in. On July 27, Huang Yuting won the first Olympic gold medal in the Paris Olympics. Many tourists came to Xianshi Village, Shangzheng Township, Huangyan District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, touched the two large stones in Huang Yuting's hometown, and took photos with the stones. Everyone said "This is a lucky stone."

Following the new connotation of the Olympics

There are many successful athletes, why do people love some athletes in particular? Xiaolu, a post-00s girl who likes "Chan Bao", said: "Quan Hongchan has a very cute personality and is very down-to-earth. When she was interviewed, she didn't have so many grand narratives or clichés, but showed her most sincere side to everyone. This sincerity makes me feel close." For example, others say that Quan Hongchan is a genius girl, but she said, "I am not a genius, and I rely on practicing over and over again." When asked if she would change her style after she becomes an adult? She said: "Why should I change? I just stay true to myself and won't change myself because of my age."

During the interview, Quan Hongchan often mentioned interesting things in life, such as her love for spicy noodles and her desire to go to the amusement park. Her favorite cute ugly turtle pendants and "ugly fish slippers" have become hot-selling products on major e-commerce platforms. At this moment, Quan Hongchan is not an Olympic champion, but a cute sister next door, and is therefore loved by many people.

There are many young athletes who are loved and remembered by many people at the Paris Olympics, such as Pan Zhanle. When a reporter asked him if he was satisfied with the game, he calmly replied: "The championship is ours. The ones who are dissatisfied should be others, not us."

It can be said that the sunny self-confidence and refusal to fight internal friction displayed by the Chinese athletes, who were mainly born in the 2000s, at the Paris Olympics embodied the Olympic spirit of the new era. They were frank and direct, showing a sincere charm and bringing full emotional value to people.

"The Olympic spirit is not limited to 'faster, higher, stronger'. In the younger generation of athletes, it is also reflected in greater passion, authenticity and self-confidence. Their growth process is the process of the country's continuous strengthening, and they have the confidence to show their own personality." Wu Geng'an, associate professor of the School of Tourism at Huaqiao University, said that nowadays, people check in at the hometowns of champions because those strong, confident, straightforward and flesh-and-blood Olympic champions have inspired people's positive emotions and created emotional resonance.

Leverage marketing to emphasize experience

The men's badminton "Liang Wang" combination, which cooperated well and had a sense of humor on the field for the first time in the Olympics, became one of the most popular athlete combinations among netizens. In the post-match interview, Wang Chang was asked where he wanted to travel, and Wang Chang said he wanted to go to Dali, Yunnan. Soon, the video account of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism launched a customized MV for Wang Chang. Dali Culture and Tourism quickly released the video song and invited Wang Chang: "Airplanes, high-speed railways, and highways are up to you to choose, raw hides, milk fans, bait blocks, fried lake shrimps", "Cangshan, Three Pagodas, Erhai Lake, Shuanglang, the wind, flowers, snow and moon by the Butterfly Spring are so beautiful..." Dali Culture and Tourism invited him mischievously, "Chang, can you let me arrange it?" The video also mentioned that all A-level tourist attractions in Dali Prefecture are free of charge for 2024 Olympic athletes.

What is quite interesting is that cultural and tourism authorities in various places seem to have smelled the scent of "traffic" and have joined the army of "grabbing Wang Chang".

Riding on the momentum of the Olympics, Wenzhou's cultural tourism has made great efforts. It has specially invited four Olympic athletes from Wenzhou, Zheng Siwei, Pan Zhanle, Xu Jiayu and Liu Yaxin, as special ambassadors for their hometown's cultural tourism, and has extended a sincere invitation to the world.

Pan Zhanle said in the promotional video: "Wenzhou is a city full of vitality and charm. In Wenzhou, I often go to Jiangxin Island, Wumajie, and Nanxi River. I love glutinous rice, Jiushan ice cream, etc. There. I am proud of my hometown, and I hope everyone can come to Wenzhou for a walk and a look. Wenzhou people travel around the world, and we also look forward to people from the world visiting Wenzhou." Many netizens mentioned that they should include glutinous rice and Jiushan ice cream in their Wenzhou travel list.

Zhanjiang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports recently launched an English version of the Zhanjiang tourism promotional video. "We have noticed the popularity of tourists visiting Maihe Village. For us, we must first provide good services and combine Zhanjiang's cultural tourism, agriculture, seafood and other resources to receive traffic." A staff member of the Promotion Section of Zhanjiang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports introduced that Zhanjiang is rich in island resources, and "the sea is in the city, the city is in the sea, there are islands in the city, and the islands stand in the city" is a unique urban pattern. Zhanjiang is currently building a coastal holiday destination. It is reported that starting from Donghai Island, you can see groups of Chinese white dolphins playing soon after sailing. In addition, Zhanjiang Xuwen is the largest pineapple production base in China, and the colorful "sea of ​​pineapples" is spectacular.

"In recent years, the sports tourism market has clearly transformed towards popularization and entertainment. With the rise of social media, athletes with strength and personality will continue to be popular. The enthusiasm for checking in at the champion's hometown may be short-lived, but cultural tourism products with distinctive personality and strong experience will be sought after by the market." Liu Jiewu, a researcher at the Tourism Development Research Center of Shenzhen University, said that just like the Olympic spirit of keeping pace with the times, in an era of increasingly personalized tourism, cultural tourism products should bring tourists a good experience through content, scenes, atmosphere, formats, services, etc. He also mentioned that tourists should visit the champion's hometown in a civilized manner, especially some Internet celebrities, and should not do whatever it takes to gain traffic and affect the local production and living order. (Author: China Tourism NewsReporter: Cao Yan; Editor: Song Yuqiu）