Hubei Is Unveiling Its New Tourism Attractions

By Chen Xi, Cheng Furong Translation：Yu Lan

Hubei Is Unveiling Its New Tourism Attractions

By Chen Xi, Cheng Furong Translation：Yu Lan

In recent years, the number of overseas tourists visiting Hubei has increased by over 40 percent and the average staying time has increased by five times. Travel brands have become more and more influential both at home and abroad.

W alking down the streets of Wuhan,you can often see foreign tour groups. Tourists look around curiously with smiles on their faces and cameras on their shoulders.

Nowadays, more and more foreign tourists choose to go further into the heartland of China and explore the beauty of Jing-chu culture. However, five years ago, they might have never heard of “Hubei.”

What is it that has attracted more and more tourists to stay here and enjoy the beauty of Jingchu culture, making Hubei more and more famous over the past five years?

Converting from tourist origin to tourist destination, Hubei attracts tourists from all over the world

In the past few years, the most popular country for the people of Hubei Province to travel is Thailand.However, nowadays, Hubei attracts tourists from this famous tourist destination.

Since the establishment of the inbound tourism popularization with Thailand in 2016, the number of Thai tourists has increased tremendously and the figure is expected to increase by over 50 percent this year. Hubei Jiacheng International Travel Agency alone has received over 3,000 Thai tourists in 2017. “If it weren’t for the limited airplane seats,there would be more tourists.” Ma Cheng, the deputy general manager of the travel agency said with confidence.

境外游客增長40%以上，停留時間平均增加5倍，旅游品牌影響力增強

走在武漢漢街，時常看到“老外”旅行團，他們挎著相機，好奇地東看看西拍拍，笑意盈盈。

深入中國腹地，感受荊楚之美，已成為更多境外游客的選擇。而在五年前，他們甚至未必知道“湖北”這個地名。

五年來，是什么讓湖北越來越響亮，吸引越來越多的游客駐足品味荊楚之美？

歸元寺 The Guiyuan Temple攝影/石海 Photo by SHI HAI

全球“挖”客，客源地變目的地

近年來，湖北人最喜歡去旅游的國家是泰國。如今，湖北卻把這個全球著名旅游目的地的人“挖”來。

自我省2016年在泰國成立入境旅游推廣聯合體以來，來自泰國的游客顯著增長，預計今年全年同比增長50%以上。僅湖北嘉程國旅一家，今年已接待泰國游客3000人。“若不是航班機位不夠，客人還會更多。”該旅行社副總馬誠信心滿滿。

不僅在泰國，湖北省在馬來西亞、新加坡等國及港澳臺地區也建立入境旅游推廣聯合體，實現東南亞近程入境市場宣傳全覆蓋，湖北往返新加坡、曼谷等地直航上座率達85%以上，旅游貢獻率達90%。

湖北省旅游走出去的步伐越來越快。近年來，推介每到一地，就火一地，旅游品牌影響力、吸引力進一步擴大，成為湖北展示對外形象的重要名片。根據央視市場研究股份有限公司及中視金橋、文傳世紀等評估分析，湖北旅游品牌影響力躍居全中國前五位。

These campaigns don’t only go on in Thailand—Hubei Province has also set up inbound tourism popularization combination in Malaysia, Singapore,Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The promotion of short-haul inbound tourism has covered all of Southeast Asia. Direct round-trip flights between Hubei and Singapore and Hubei and Bangkok have achieved 85 percent seat occupancy. Tourism accounts for 90 percent.

Hubei is ‘Going Out’ faster than ever before.Promotions get popular whenever they go to a new place. The influence and attractiveness of Hubei’s tourism is getting stronger. It has become an important name card of Hubei’s image. According to the assessments of CVSC-TNS RESEARCH, CTV Golden Bridge and Century Media, Hubei’s tourism brand impact has jumped up to the top 5 in China.

Within the last five years, the number of overseas tourists visiting Hubei has increased by over 40 percent. The number of visitors from Singapore,Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong has increased by over 50 percent.

Foreign tourists are attending the Boat-Trackers Tourism Festival held in Shennongxi 外國游客在神農溪參加纖夫節

In “going through the city tours,” tourists stay here for as long as 22 days

At 8 a.m., American tourist Tom went to Hankou Riverside Park to do Tai Chi (shadow boxing) with local residents. Then, accompanied by his tour guide, he went to Jiangsan Market at Hanjiang Road to buy food like Wuhan citizens. After that,Tom went to Wuhan No. 1 Business School to learn how to cook Hubei cuisine from the chef. Then,he took the ferry across the Yangtze River to see the Yellow Crane Tower and taste authentic Hubei cuisine.

五年來，赴湖北旅游的境外游客增長40%以上；新加坡、泰國、馬來西亞、香港等地游客增長50%以上。

“走透透”，游客一待就是22天

早上8點，美國游客湯姆到漢口江灘公園，與晨練的人們一起學打太極。隨后，在導游的陪伴下，他到江漢路江三菜市場，學著像武漢人一樣買菜。買完菜，湯姆來到武漢市第一商業學校，跟著烹飪大師學做湖北菜。接著，他像個老武漢一樣坐輪渡過江、看黃鶴樓、吃地道湖北菜。

這是湖北大唐國旅今年接待的美國旅行團行程中的一天。這15批團隊共500多位美國游客，除了參觀景點以外，還會嘗試做一個“本地人”，深度體驗湖北。“游客的口味和以前不同了，他們既對湖北的山山水水、著名景點感興趣，也對湖北的風土人情、民俗民情充滿好奇，想體驗當地生活。我們推出的深度游產品，很吸引境外游客，他們愿意花更多時間在湖北旅行。”該旅行社余瀟琪介紹。

數據顯示，五年來，境外游客在我省平均停留時間增加5倍。湖北省海內外國旅接待的境外團隊一般在鄂停留8～22天不等，每年接待的超長境外團人數從二三百人，增加到1萬人左右。最受歡迎的是8天和15天的行程，包括武漢、宜昌、恩施、十堰、神農架等地。而深受臺灣游客喜愛的22天的行程，被游客稱之為“湖北走透透”。

跨界融合，開拓旅游新藍海

馬來西亞游學團來了，新西蘭游學團也來了，湖北成為不少境外青少年深入了解中國的首站。

新西蘭的孩子們將在武漢停留6天，3天時間逛景點、品美食、看演出，另外3天時間，他們將住進武漢神龍小學學生的家里，同吃同住同學習。

該系列游學團地接社湖北徐東國旅副總經理史波透露，下一步新西蘭還將把湖北省作為漢文化研學游的一個點，會有更多游學團到湖北，市場前景可觀。

背靠自然條件及教育優勢，湖北省研學游香飄海內外。湖北嘉誠國旅的“旅游+教育+企業實習”融合研學產品，深受港澳市場歡迎。不僅僅是研學游，民俗游、祭祖游、賞花觀葉游、鄉村游……供給側改革中各種跨界融合的升級旅游產品，引來大量海內外游客，打造出旅游市場藍海。

傳統優勢產品也在進行供給側改革。在海外紅極一時的三峽游，一度游客下滑，如今深挖荊楚特色“升級換代”，又變成“爆款”。

“我們的游客以北美、歐洲、澳洲等地為主，多年的品牌打造，讓他們非常熟悉三峽，但傳統產品已無法滿足他們的需求。現在，我們加入很多文化元素，在武漢看漢秀、游漢街，領略城市風情；在荊州，觸摸古城墻，放眼江漢平原的鄉村美景，豐富旅游體驗。”湖北華景國際旅行社負責人鄒公平說，升級版的旅游產品讓該旅行社業績斐然，接待境外游客量在省內名列前茅，每年接待量約3.5萬人，游客來自全球40多個國家和地區。◆

Foreign tourists are sightseeing the traditional villiage houses in Fengdu 外國游客在豐都參觀民居

It’s the one-day schedule designed by Hubei Datang International Travel Agency for an American group they received this year. More than 500 American tourists in 15 such groups get to experience “local life” instead of just sightseeing.“The tourists’ demands are different now. They are not only interested in scenic spots, but also eager to know more about local conditions and customs.Our in-depth travel projects are so appealing to overseas tourists that they would like to spend more time in Hubei.” Yu Xiaoqi from the agency said.

Data shows, over the past five years, the average time overseas tourists spent in Hubei has increased five-fold. Travel agencies in Hubei receive groups that stay from 8 days to 22 days.The number of foreign visitors that stay extra long has increased from 200-300 people to around 10 thousand. According to the manager of one agency, the most popular tour packages are the 8-day and 15-day journeys covering Wuhan, Yichang,Enshi, Shiyan, and Shenlongjia.Taiwanese tourists particularly favor the 22-day journey. They call it “traveling thoroughly around Hubei.”

古德寺 The Gnde Temple攝影/石海Photo by Shi Hai

Explore new blue ocean of tourism by cross-border integration

Here come the overseas study groups from Malaysia and New Zealand. Hubei has become a first stop for foreign teenagers to know more about China.

In such programs, teenagers from New Zealand, for example,will stay in Wuhan for 6 days. The first 3 days they go sightseeing,taste local food, and watch local shows. The other 3 days they stay in Wuhan Shenlong Primary School’s students’ homes-eating, living, and studying with them.

According to Shi Bo, the manager of Hubei Xudong International Travel Agency, New Zealand is going to take Hubei Province as a foothold of Chinese culture study tours. More and more overseas study groups are going to visit Hubei. The market prospect is promising.

Having excellent natural environmental and educational advantages, Hubei's study tour program is now internationally recognized.The “travel+education+internship”project from Hubei Jiangxin Travel Agency is well received by customers in Hong Kong and Macao. Not just study tours,but also custom tours, ancestry sacrifice tours, flower tours,village tours, and so on. Crossborder integration has upgraded the tourism industry, attracted more tourists, and are building up a blue ocean market.

Traditional attractions are also carrying on supply-side reform.The Three Gorges tour that was popular overseas for a time has faced the decline of the number of visitors while the upgraded Jingchu culture tour has now become a great new attraction.

“Our tourists are mainly from North America, Europe, and Australia. Years of branding makes them familiar with The Three Gorges, but traditional tourism products cannot satisfy their needs anymore. Nowadays, we add more cultural elements to our tourism activities. Tourists can watch shows, walk down the local streets and enjoy the cityscape in Wuhan.They also can touch the ancient city walls and see the beautiful landscape of Hanjiang River Valley Plain in Jinzhou. They can have various kinds of experience.” Zou Gongping, the manager of Hubei Huajing, said. The upgraded tourism products brought them a handsome income. It is estimated that the number of overseas tourists they received is at the top of the list in Hubei Province. They now accommodate 35 thousand tourists from 40 countries and regions around the world every year. ◆

中外游客在湖北放慢腳步

文/陳熹 程芙蓉 譯/于蘭