an outdoor event that has lasted for 21 years promotes the integration of sports and tourism
2024-09-15
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xinhua news agency, chongqing, september 14 title: how an outdoor event that has lasted for 21 years helps integrate sports and tourism
xinhua news agency reporters gu xun and lu xingji
cross-country running, mountain biking, caving, abseiling, rafting, kayaking... from september 7 to 10, the world's top outdoor sports athletes once again gathered in wulong, chongqing, to compete in the 19th china international mountain outdoor sports open in the deep mountains and valleys and under the forests.
over the past 21 years, this small southwestern city has not only created branded outdoor events with global influence, but has also used the events as a basis to gradually develop the outdoor sports industry, bringing economic growth to the local area through the integration of sports and tourism.
a high-level outdoor competition that you want to compete in again
wulong, which is rich in natural resources such as canyons, cemeteries, fissures, caves, vertical shafts, underground streams, and alpine meadows, provides abundant scenes for outdoor sports, making many contestants linger.
alex hunter from australia won the championship in both last year and this year. in fact, this is his fifth time to compete in wulong.
"i was invited to participate in this competition 12 years ago and have come back often since then... the scenery here is very charming and the track is very cool." he said that outdoor sports events are very popular in his hometown as well as in europe and the united states. after he learned by chance that china also has such great outdoor competitions, he has since developed a special liking for wulong's natural environment, which is very different from australia.
liang yan, a chinese athlete who won the runner-up with her team, participated in the event for the 11th time. she has witnessed the improvement of china's outdoor activities in wulong since 2013. "in the first few years when i participated in the event, the best result of chinese athletes was only eighth or ninth place, but this year there are three chinese teams in the top five," said liang yan.
this year's competition has teams from more than ten countries and regions, including new zealand, france, australia, germany, the netherlands, brazil, etc. in the long history of this brand event, more than 70 countries and regions and more than 450 teams have participated.
create highly recognizable special events
"wuling's unique natural conditions are tailor-made for outdoor competitions!" at the end of 2002, several experts from the china mountaineering association expressed their admiration for the unique geological landscape of wulong while visiting the area.
this made the wulong county committee at the time smell an opportunity to promote tourism by hosting the games.
in 2003, the chongqing wulong international mountain cross-country challenge was launched. in 2005, the event was upgraded to an international open event. with the continuous improvement of the level of competition and influence, the event ranked among the top international levels in 2010 and became an important part of the world outdoor event map.
according to the mountaineering sports management center of the general administration of sport of china, this event is now known as one of the world's three major outdoor sports events along with the utmb (ultra-trail mont blanc) and the fuji tour.
in 2022, wulong proposed the "third entrepreneurship" of tourism led by internationalization, and creating an internationally renowned mountain outdoor sports resort is one of the key points.
regarding the understanding of "internationalization", liu zhuang, deputy district head of wulong district, said that in the past, efforts were made to get closer to international standards, which was a follower internationalization, but in recent years, wulong has been doing local internationalization, that is, the quality has reached the same level as international standards, and the form has become highly recognizable.
to this end, the international open not only incorporates caving, which represents the world natural heritage of china's southern karst landscape, but also incorporates elements of the agricultural culture of southeastern chongqing into traditional orienteering, by carrying corn, overhead cranes, and sedan chairs, bringing local farm tools and agricultural products to this international stage.
sports and tourism integration turns event traffic into economic growth
"in the past, our goal was to pursue higher and higher levels of competitions, but now our goal is to turn competition traffic into economic growth," said liu zhuang.
the commercial development of this open tournament has gone through three stages: the first stage was the public welfare competition stage, which was to promote tourism; the second stage was the semi-marketization stage, with some sponsors who shared the government's costs, but at that time only focused on the economic development of the event itself; the current stage is the pure market-oriented operation of the event, while driving the development of the local outdoor sports industry.
the china international mountain outdoor sports open was selected as one of the "top ten national sports tourism events in 2024" jointly selected by the state general administration of sports and the ministry of culture and tourism in july 2024. the stages are linked together to form a rich sports tourism scene.
in canggou township, where the muzong river rafting section is located, a professional mountain hiking route called the "yehan trail" has been built. this trail is a section of the 500-kilometer mountain trail network around wulong, which is modeled after the trail system of chamonix, the french sports tourism mecca.
after the "wild cold mountain trail" was officially opened to the public this year, it quickly became popular in the outdoor circle. every day, many tourists come here to explore the caves, cemeteries, stone forests, streams, and ancient road stations along the way.
the cave exploration section "erlong cave" was established based on the cave tourism project developed by the local commercial adventure company "chongqing adventure camp". after the company opened up the cave tourism project last year, it immediately hit it off with the event organizer.
“many contestants this year said they signed up specifically for the caving section,” said lin haibo, head of a caving company.
through the dissemination of pictures and videos of the competition, erlong cave is expected to attract more tourists to experience it. the brand event and the tourist destination have achieved a good effect of mutual promotion.
"we have been developing cave tourism for many years and found that tourists are no longer satisfied with general sightseeing. they need richer experiences. caving incorporates sports such as cross-country running, rock climbing, and rope techniques. the experience is very strong and challenging. you can experience the route of the athletes in the competition, but they may only need less than an hour, while ordinary people may need 5 or 6 hours to complete." lin haibo introduced.
these phenomena indicate that wulong, a small southwestern city with magnificent scenery, is writing a new identity on its tourism business card - "karst mountain outdoor sports city".
