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.

境外游客增长40%以上，停留时间平均增加5倍，旅游品牌影响力增强

走在武汉汉街，时常看到“老外”旅行团，他们挎着相机，好奇地东看看西拍拍，笑意盈盈。

深入中国腹地，感受荆楚之美，已成为更多境外游客的选择。而在五年前，他们甚至未必知道“湖北”这个地名。

五年来，是什么让湖北越来越响亮，吸引越来越多的游客驻足品味荆楚之美？

归元寺 The Guiyuan Temple摄影/石海 Photo by SHI HAI

全球“挖”客，客源地变目的地

近年来，湖北人最喜欢去旅游的国家是泰国。如今，湖北却把这个全球著名旅游目的地的人“挖”来。

自我省2016年在泰国成立入境旅游推广联合体以来，来自泰国的游客显著增长，预计今年全年同比增长50%以上。仅湖北嘉程国旅一家，今年已接待泰国游客3000人。“若不是航班机位不够，客人还会更多。”该旅行社副总马诚信心满满。

不仅在泰国，湖北省在马来西亚、新加坡等国及港澳台地区也建立入境旅游推广联合体，实现东南亚近程入境市场宣传全覆盖，湖北往返新加坡、曼谷等地直航上座率达85%以上，旅游贡献率达90%。

湖北省旅游走出去的步伐越来越快。近年来，推介每到一地，就火一地，旅游品牌影响力、吸引力进一步扩大，成为湖北展示对外形象的重要名片。根据央视市场研究股份有限公司及中视金桥、文传世纪等评估分析，湖北旅游品牌影响力跃居全中国前五位。

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 外国游客在神农溪参加纤夫节

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.

五年来，赴湖北旅游的境外游客增长40%以上；新加坡、泰国、马来西亚、香港等地游客增长50%以上。

“走透透”，游客一待就是22天

早上8点，美国游客汤姆到汉口江滩公园，与晨练的人们一起学打太极。随后，在导游的陪伴下，他到江汉路江三菜市场，学着像武汉人一样买菜。买完菜，汤姆来到武汉市第一商业学校，跟着烹饪大师学做湖北菜。接着，他像个老武汉一样坐轮渡过江、看黄鹤楼、吃地道湖北菜。

这是湖北大唐国旅今年接待的美国旅行团行程中的一天。这15批团队共500多位美国游客，除了参观景点以外，还会尝试做一个“本地人”，深度体验湖北。“游客的口味和以前不同了，他们既对湖北的山山水水、著名景点感兴趣，也对湖北的风土人情、民俗民情充满好奇，想体验当地生活。我们推出的深度游产品，很吸引境外游客，他们愿意花更多时间在湖北旅行。”该旅行社余潇琪介绍。

数据显示，五年来，境外游客在我省平均停留时间增加5倍。湖北省海内外国旅接待的境外团队一般在鄂停留8～22天不等，每年接待的超长境外团人数从二三百人，增加到1万人左右。最受欢迎的是8天和15天的行程，包括武汉、宜昌、恩施、十堰、神农架等地。而深受台湾游客喜爱的22天的行程，被游客称之为“湖北走透透”。

跨界融合，开拓旅游新蓝海

马来西亚游学团来了，新西兰游学团也来了，湖北成为不少境外青少年深入了解中国的首站。

新西兰的孩子们将在武汉停留6天，3天时间逛景点、品美食、看演出，另外3天时间，他们将住进武汉神龙小学学生的家里，同吃同住同学习。

该系列游学团地接社湖北徐东国旅副总经理史波透露，下一步新西兰还将把湖北省作为汉文化研学游的一个点，会有更多游学团到湖北，市场前景可观。

背靠自然条件及教育优势，湖北省研学游香飘海内外。湖北嘉诚国旅的“旅游+教育+企业实习”融合研学产品，深受港澳市场欢迎。不仅仅是研学游，民俗游、祭祖游、赏花观叶游、乡村游……供给侧改革中各种跨界融合的升级旅游产品，引来大量海内外游客，打造出旅游市场蓝海。

传统优势产品也在进行供给侧改革。在海外红极一时的三峡游，一度游客下滑，如今深挖荆楚特色“升级换代”，又变成“爆款”。

“我们的游客以北美、欧洲、澳洲等地为主，多年的品牌打造，让他们非常熟悉三峡，但传统产品已无法满足他们的需求。现在，我们加入很多文化元素，在武汉看汉秀、游汉街，领略城市风情；在荆州，触摸古城墙，放眼江汉平原的乡村美景，丰富旅游体验。”湖北华景国际旅行社负责人邹公平说，升级版的旅游产品让该旅行社业绩斐然，接待境外游客量在省内名列前茅，每年接待量约3.5万人，游客来自全球40多个国家和地区。◆

Foreign tourists are sightseeing the traditional villiage houses in Fengdu 外国游客在丰都参观民居

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摄影/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脚步

文/陈熹 程芙蓉 译/于兰