Eight examples of pursuing high-quality tourism development in Jilin--Changbai Mountain

China.org.cn, 05 23, 2018
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Editor’s note:

Jilin province has been pursuing high-quality tourism development in recent years, aiming to make tourism a new pillar and driving force for its economic growth. The segments it is particularly ambitious in are eco tour and ice and snow tour with a goal to become a world-class destination for such tours. Meanwhile, it is also vigorously developing summer tour and border tour. Against this background, the province called a conference in Changchun on May 22 where eight case studies offered fresh, inspiring insight into how high-quality tourism growth could be achieved in the province. We will introduce the eight cases one by one starting today with Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone.

Wang Ku, director of the Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone

Since its establishment, Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone has seen tremendous changes, especially remarkable tourism growth as a result of its pursuit to become a national demonstration for developing all-for-one tourism and to become a world-class destination for eco tour, said Wang Ku, director of the zone’s administrative committee, at the meeting.

To boost its tourism industry, the zone has introduced a number of initiatives one after another to manage tourist arrivals, transform public toilets and improve infrastructure. It has invested altogether 57 billion yuan in 213 tourism projects since its inception.

With its boom, tourism has in turn driven the development of related sectors. The numbers of star-rated hotels, restaurants, specialty shops and travel agencies have expanded by 275, 885, 841 and 828 percent respectively. The share of the tertiary industry in the total value added of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries has increased by 33.5 percentage points. Tourist arrivals and revenues are now 5.4 and 9.3 times more than the figures recorded in the initial operation of the zone.

The zone has also made noticeable progress in developing all-for-one tourism and a number of distinctive tourist towns have been built. It has spent 120 million yuan on formulating over 300 well-thought plans and pumped over 8 billion yuan into the construction of over 350 towns. The urbanization rate in the zone has achieved 83 percent. A 121-kilometer-long, two-way boulevard has been put into use. Per-capital green space is eight times more than the standard for national garden cities. Star-rated public toilets numbers 75, each with a distinctive feature. Hundreds of cultural sights such as the 32 attractions in Er Dao Bai He village have been developed.

Meanwhile, the zone has actively sought cooperation to achieve win-win results. It is a member of the Changbai Mountain winter tourism alliance and the alliance for eco tour development among cities located in the eastern part of Northeast China. It has also hosted three sessions of the Changbai Mountain International Eco Forum as well as one session of the World Top Tourist Towns Alliance Changbai Mountain Summit.

Going forward, the zone will further focus on the launch of major tourism projects, the integration of culture and tourism, the promotion of tourism image, the improvement of tourism services and the pursuit of wider cooperation.

To better match resources with capital and link product with market demand, the zone will wrap up fifty tourism projects which have an investment of at least 100 million yuan each and a total investment of 40 billion yuan by 2021. The zone will push forward with the negotiations which are underway to attract capital for twenty-three projects, each with a planned investment of one million yuan. The zone intended to introduce one 10-billion-yuan project and two or three 1-billion-yuan projects within this year.

To increase the cultural element of its tourism, the zone is working to integrate its history, folk customs, revolutionary past, forest industry culture with eco tour.

Well aware of the importance of brand building in tourism development, the zone is now primarily enhancing two brands: winter tourism featuring ice and snow and summer tourism feature cool weather. What it has in mind is a network of three AAAAA scenic areas, in Chixi, Chibei and the main area respectively. It is also working to boost its image as a world-famous mountain and tourist town.

To encourage tourist arrivals, the zone has adopted a slew of measures including free admission and unlimited entrance number within a specified period of time with a single ticket. It is also undertaking reforms in order to provide one-stop services to tourism businesses.

To facilitate cooperation between the zone and its neighboring areas, the concept--A Community of Shared Development for the Greater Changbai Mountain Area—was put forward. Administrative units within the area are encouraged to share resources and jointly launch projects in order to achieve win-win results.