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source: ctdu china travel service

a dish, a drama, or a hot event can make a city famous overnight. from rongjiang and zibo to harbin and tianshui, internet celebrity cities are emerging one after another. however, becoming an "internet celebrity" is not the antidote to boosting urban economic growth.

01

cities that have become popular due to traffic

gdp growth rate ranks last

harbin is undoubtedly the biggest dark horse in the cultural tourism market in the first half of this year. not only has it been popular on social media, but offline passenger traffic has also been growing. tencent's location data shows that in the first seven months of this year, harbin received a total of 190 million foreign tourists, of which 130 million chose to stay overnight in harbin. unfortunately, the overwhelming traffic did not boost harbin's gdp.in the first half of 2024, harbin's gdp will be 249.26 billion yuan, with an increase of 4.097 billion yuan and a nominal growth rate of 1.67%.among the 15 sub-provincial cities in the country, harbin ranked last in gdp growth and second to last in nominal growth rate.

from last year's "go to zibo to roast" to this year's "go to zibo to roast again", zibo's popularity has lasted longer than other popular cities, butin the first half of the year, zibo's gdp was 238.15 billion yuan, with an increase of 8.614 billion yuan and a nominal growth rate of 3.75%., are all lower than the average for shandong province, and the increase ranks fourth from the bottom in the province.

tianshui, gansu, which became famous for its spicy hot pot, has also spared no effort to boost tourism. in the first half of the year, a total of 950 food festivals, trade fairs, and cultural performances were held. unfortunately,tianshui's gdp in the first half of the year was 39.622 billion, with a nominal growth rate of 3.95%, which is lower than the gansu provincial average of 6.56%, ranking third from the bottom in the province.

02

overwhelming traffic

why has it failed to “boost” the economy?

harbin, zibo and tianshui are all old industrial cities.although the tourism industry can bring certain economic vitality and visibility to a city, it often lacks sufficient depth and breadth to support a city's comprehensive economic development. the contribution of the cultural and tourism industry to the urban economy is icing on the cake. the diversification and sustainable development of the urban economy requires the coordinated development of multiple industries.

taking zibo as an example, by industry, the added value of the primary industry was 8.16 billion yuan, an increase of 3.8%; the added value of the secondary industry was 115.15 billion yuan, an increase of 7.0%; the added value of the tertiary industry was 114.84 billion yuan, an increase of 3.4%. industrial output value accounts for half of the country's total output value. the tourism industry alone has little impact on the total economic volume. in addition, zibo is not a tourist city, and there may be a problem of singleness in the tourism consumption structure. it relies too much on ticket revenue or specific consumption items, and lacks diversified consumption experience. this also limits the income growth potential of the tourism market.

the pursuit of “cost-effectiveness” is one of the factors that affect the growth of tourism revenue.many tourists, especially young tourists, who travel to popular cities, focus on cost-effectiveness and try to enjoy the fun of traveling with the least budget possible. reverse tourism, special forces tourism, and citywalk, which have emerged in the past one or two years, are examples of this. this consumption model leads to low overall consumption of tourists at the destination, thus affecting the growth of comprehensive tourism income.

the inability to form a "long tail effect" is also a common dilemma faced by many internet celebrity cities today.

the overwhelming traffic comes quickly and goes even faster. the internet celebrity economy often relies on the rapid spread of new media such as social media and short video platforms. although this method of communication can quickly attract a large amount of attention and traffic, the popularity is often short-lived. once a new hot spot appears, the original internet celebrity effect can easily be replaced or diluted, resulting in a rapid decline in tourist traffic and attention.

take heze as an example. due to the song "promise" sung by guo youcai, heze south railway station became the most popular check-in spot for internet celebrities on the entire network. in order to build a good reputation and drive passenger flow, the local cultural and tourism department of heze set up a volunteer service team, providing free drinking tea and mobile phone charging, and even hired guo youcai as a cultural tourism recommendation officer. unfortunately, he did not wait for "huge wealth". from becoming popular to being lonely, it took only a few dozen days.

03

internet celebrity city development

industry and scenarios are the core

the ultimate competition among internet celebrity cities is based on their comprehensive industrial strength and consumption scenarios.

the charm of long-lasting cities such as chengdu, chongqing, changsha and xi'an does not come from just one or two short-term popularity, but is deeply rooted in the comprehensive and in-depth integration of culture, tourism, food, performing arts, exhibition economy and sports activities. this multi-dimensional coordinated development has built their unique and lasting appeal.

in a way,the city’s economic foundation and the development of the cultural and tourism industry complement each other.

compared with foreign tourists, local customers are the foundation of urban cultural tourism developmentbecause the peak tourist season is only a few months a year, and consumption is usually driven by local people, so why do local tourists consume?first, they have the spending power, people have money in their pockets, so they are naturally willing to spend. where does the money come from? it needs to be supported by pillar industries.another is the consumption scenarioeven if tourists have money, they will only spend it on places they think are worthwhile, and consume in scenes that are unique, have personality, and provide experience.

changsha has both of these features. in 2023, the per capita disposable income of changsha residents will be 61,240, ranking first among cities in the central and western regions. changsha also has a variety of entertainment and consumption scenarios. for "eating", there are stinky tofu and crayfish. for "drinking", there are cha yan yue se and lemon season. for "shopping", there is the may day shopping district. it is home to popular check-in spots such as taiping old street, huangxing road pedestrian street, and pozi street. it is one of changsha's hottest night consumption places. for "entertainment", there is the "bar + performing arts" complex on jiefang west road...

internet celebrity cities should not focus only on the cultural and tourism industry itself, but should also use tourism as added value for other industries.in old industrial cities, there may not be many traditional tourist scenes, but we can make use of the remaining industrial sites.

for example, jingdezhen's taoxichuan was formerly the state-owned yuzhou porcelain factory established in 1958. in the mid-1990s, due to the development of the times, the yuzhou porcelain factory ceased production... in 2013, jingdezhen took the yuzhou porcelain factory as the core starting area, and after 5 years of renovation, the taoxichuan cultural and creative block was officially opened to the public.

based on the original industrial site, taoxichuan has been transformed into a modern urban art district. it is a large-scale new urban creative complex that integrates cultural creativity, shopping, leisure, catering, entertainment and other comprehensive functions. it has introduced a variety of business formats such as catering, accommodation, ceramics training, music education, etc., and regularly holds markets, exhibitions, concerts and other activities to attract tourists. it has now become one of the popular check-in spots in jingdezhen.

during the may day holiday this year, taoxichuan cultural and creative district ranked seventh in the province in terms of gate passenger flow, with 241,900 people, even exceeding the passenger flow of wugong mountain. not only industry, tourism can be integrated into the upgrading and transformation of many industries, empowering other industries.

when the tide of traffic recedes, the competition in industry, innovation, internal strength and deep cultivation has just begun.there is no shortcut to urban development. putting aside the halo of the internet celebrity effect, the ultimate focus still needs to return to the urban industry itself. only when the industry is booming can the city have the economic strength to enrich consumption scenarios and residents have spare money to actively consume. otherwise, no matter how much traffic there is, it will ultimately be short-lived.