Culture-Oriented Tourism of Fangchenggang Winning an Initial Success

Chen Libing　Zhang Haiyan

During the March 3rd Festival and the Tomb-Sweeping Day， a large crowd of tourists flocked to Fangchenggang， a city along the Beibu Gulf， Guangxi. Data showed Fangchenggang totally received 785，600 person-time domestic tourists on April 4-8， 2019， with tourism consumption of RMB 656 million yuan. Its tourist attractions and festive activities were popular among tourists.

In recent two years， Fangchenggang has followed the development idea of all-for-one tourism and taken the opportunity of border tourism pilot zone to actively explore border tourism， cultural tourism and folk festival tourism to attract large number of tourists.

Seaside scenery and folk festival being popular

“The Bailang Beach of Fangchenggang is just like the beach in Dalian because all the people around are from North China，” said Ms. Liu from Hunan Province. Ms. Liu and her family traveled to Fangchenggang during the Tomb-Sweeping Day to enjoy beautiful seaside scenery and experience local festival. However， what surprised her was that most people on the crowded beach were non-local tourists like her.

The higher popularity and more tourists have showed great effect of Fangchenggangs working on “Eastward Integration”， “Northward Connection” and the publicity of folk festival tourism products in recent years.

As the only portal city of China connecting to ASEAN by sea and land， Fangchenggang possesses not only thousands of miles of coastal resources but also characteristic folk custom and gorgeous culture heritage. As the era of “all-for-one tourism” arrives， Fangchenggang has offered new travel experience through folk festival tourism activities such as “Zhuang's March 3rd Festival” and “Beibu Gulf Open Sea Festival”， following after leisure coastal vacation tours.

Meanwhile， in order to make a good start of “Zhuang's March 3rd Festival · Guangxi Carnival” culture-oriented tourism brand， and make complementation between Fangchenggang and non-local tourism resources， Fangchenggang has particularly conducted a tourism promotion conference in Nanjing and Guiyang to propagandize and popularize series of activities and combined promotion preferential policies about “Zhuang's March 3rd Festival · Meeting in Guangxi”.

“The tourism resources in Guiyang and Fangchenggang are greatly different， complementary， and prosperous in cooperation. Driven by government and relevant departments in these two cities and under joint efforts of journalism and tourism industry， both cities have gained substantial progress in tourism cooperation. Guizhou has become one important tourist destination of Fangchenggang and even the entire Guangxi， while Fangchenggang also accepts more tourists from Guizhou，” said Lan Jingwen， Deputy Director General of Fangchenggang Culture， Radio， Film and Tourism Bureau.

It is known that multiple joint promotion preference activities were launched during the 2019 “Zhuang's March 3rd Festival” except “Zhuang's March 3rd Festival · Zhuangs Festive Customs” in forms of variety show， folk song competition， folk show， minority sports and competitive sports. For instance， from March 25 to April 30， 2019， tourists from 9 provinces including Guangdong， Guangxi， Fujian， Jiangxi， Hainan， Hunan， Sichuan， Yunnan and Guizhou who hold ID cards， tourists from Hong Kong and Macao who hold Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macau Residents， and residents from Taiwan who hold Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents will enjoy 50% off discount on tickets in all Grade A tourist attractions （excluding Hot Spring， Amusement Park and other franchised items such as cableway， sightseeing vehicle and sightseeing boat in scenic spots） in Guangxi. And relevant airlines newly opened flights or increased air chartered airplanes from Guangdong， Fujian， Jiangxi， Hainan， Hunan， Sichuan， Yunnan and Guizhou， as well as Hong Kong， Macao and Taiwan to Guangxi. Airports in Guangxi do not charge flight-related fees.

Driven by such series of activities and preferential policies， large numbers of tourists traveled in Fangchenggang. During the “March 3rd Festival” and the holidays of Tomb-Sweeping Day， vehicles from Chongqing， Guihzou， Guangdong and Yunnan were increased obviously， and various minority festival activities， sports activities and cultural activities were popular among tourists.

Taking the pilot zone as a chance to win initial success of culture-oriented tourism

The unique features of a local environment always give special characteristics to its inhabitants， and people in one place create their own cultures. People from totally 21 nationalities such as Han， Zhuang， Yao and Jing are rooted in Fangchenggang. The city is the only settlement of Jing nationality and one of the important sources of origin of ocean culture in Beibu Gulf. For long， it has created unique culture featured in “sea， border and mountain” and left abundant intangible culture heritage. Except the “March 3rd Song Fair” of Zhuang nationality， there are traditional holidays such as Ha Festival of Jing nationality， the Open Sea Festival of Beibu Gulf， and Zhuangs Tianqin show （a kind of instrument）， Jings costume show， antiphonal singing of fishing song， and other activities with national characteristics.

Meanwhile， the city has taken the opportunity of border tourism pilot zone construction to develop border culture-oriented tourism industry. Since 2018， Fangchenggang has aimed at exploring culture-oriented festivals and performance products as a breakthrough， and elaborately created culture-oriented tourism performance programs such as “Fairland · Southeast Asia” 3D Dancing and Singing Show， “12 Sounds of Nature · Jing Island Fishing Son”， “Jing Island Music”， a concert of Jings style， and “Impression of Jing Island”， the first Jings Symphonic Suite. At the same time， the city has developed emerging tourism projects such as “March 3rd Song Fair” culture-oriented resort， Bailang Beach navigation complex， Jinhua Tea Town， Sports Town， and Customers All over the World · Fangchenggang ASEAN Characteristic Town to attract tourists by improving tourism resource utilization and industrial added value.

“Currently， Fangchenggang is fully pushing the construction of border tourism pilot zone with the development idea of ‘all-for-one tourism. With the exploration of five major aspects as the main task， it highlights its characteristics of sea， border and mountain， and is actively creating and arranging three functional zones including China-Vietnam Border Tourism Zone， Beibu Gulf Coastal Leisure Resort Zone， and Shiwan Mountain Forest Tourism Zone to create the pilot zone into China-Vietnam cross-border tourism destination， China-Vietnam Tourism Industry Integrated Development Practice Zone， China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Pioneer Zone and Beibu Gulf coastal ecological tourism new city，” said Lan Jingwen.