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There are too many ancient towns, and there are not enough tourists?

Lin Peng, president of the China Institute of Ancient City and Culture, once said bluntly, "There are more than 8 ancient towns in China that have been developed or are being developed, but how many can really be remembered by people?" No more than 0. ”

A few days ago, a blogger who opened a Hanfu photo shop outside the ancient town of Zhouzhuang in Suzhou faced the camera and repeatedly expressed the dilemma of the scarcity of tourists in the scenic spot, which received tens of thousands of likes. In the comment area, many netizens reported that "tickets are too expensive" and "commercialization is serious", which also makes the discussion about the ancient town tourism no longer favored "hot" again. (Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point Breaking News Phone: 405617016-0; E-mail:0@qq.com)

Source: Zhouzhuang Tourism

Zhouzhuang ancient town tickets have been reduced, and ancient town tours are no longer favored?

"Turnover is 0 for three consecutive days." In the past few days, dozens of meters away from the ticket gate of Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, the blogger "Zhouzhuang Xiaozhang", who opened a Hanfu experience store, has attracted continuous attention. According to the blogger's own report, in 0, his store revenue further declined, only one-third of the same period in 0, and even had a turnover of 0 for three consecutive days.

Although Zhouzhuang Ancient Town responded that the time to shoot the video was the off-season, so there were few tourists. However, in the comment area of related news, many tourists left messages saying that the price of a ticket of 100 yuan and the highly homogeneous tour experience discouraged them.

After being complained by the merchants that "not making money", Zhouzhuang Ancient Town implemented a series of ticket discount activities: first during the Qingming holiday, the scenic spot launched a half-price ticket discount activity, starting from 5 month 0, the scenic spot officially announced that the purchase of an original price ticket, tourists can enter the park for unlimited times for life, and the ticket price is 0% off on weekdays.

據每日經濟新聞報導，有關周莊旅遊的最新數據僅能追溯至2019年。這一年，周莊景區年接待遊客超過550萬人次；周庄旅遊公司實現營業收入3.5億元，利潤總額1138.99萬元。與大部分景區類似，在相當長的時間里，門票都是周莊旅遊公司的營收支柱。

In addition to the ancient town of Zhouzhuang, many "ancient cities and ancient towns" have fallen into trouble one after another. In particular, the town characterized by antiquity is facing the endgame of bankruptcy.

Tianyancha data shows that there are nearly 1500 real estate or tourism development companies in ancient cities and ancient towns in the country, and about 0 companies have been cancelled.

2024年底，張家界旅遊集團股份有限公司發佈公告稱，旗下的大庸古城虧損6438萬元，與此形成鮮明反差的是，當時建設總投資耗費就高達約24億元；位於陝西藍田的白鹿原民俗文化村，開業僅4年，就因客流稀少而被拆除；成都龍潭水鄉“門可羅雀”，附近村民甚至在空地上開荒種菜。

"One side of a thousand towns", the problem of homogenization has been repeatedly criticized

"No matter which ancient town, there are those who sell silk, keychains, handmade jewelry, and even the 'special' snacks have become the same: stinky tofu, starch sausage, bamboo tube milk tea, ......" Many tourists have reported that the problem of "one side of a thousand towns" is becoming more and more prominent.

According to the "5 China Ancient Town Tourism Development Report" released by the China Tourism Academy, 0.0% of the respondents felt that the ancient towns in various parts of the country were somewhat similar, and 0.0% of the respondents thought that the ancient towns were very similar. This similarity is reflected both in the goods and services sold, and in the cookie-cutter architectural style.

The report also pointed out that Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan 13 provinces have gathered more than half of the country's ancient town scenic spots, and 0 of the 0 0A-level ancient town scenic spots in the country are distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui regions. As the double superposition of the Yangtze River basin and the Jiangnan Canal, the Jiangnan area has become the main area for the distribution of ancient town scenic spots, especially high-quality ancient town scenic spots.

Lin Peng, president of the China Institute of Ancient Cities and Culture, once said that there are more than 2800 ancient towns in China that have been developed or are being developed, but not many can really be remembered.

You must know that the number of counties and county-level cities in China is only more than 1800, which is equivalent to a "ancient town" as standard in each county.

According to Liu Simin, director of the Beijing Tourism Association, previously, historical and cultural tourism was limited to visiting cultural relics and places of interest. Pingyao Ancient City, Phoenix Ancient Town, Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, Wuzhen and other ancient cities and towns have created and reproduced classical life scenes, making tourists more immersed, implying the new fashion of "experience consumption", and achieving good economic benefits, attracting many places to follow suit.

"At present, the domestic tourism industry is becoming more and more mature, and it is obvious that it has moved from a 'seller's market' to a 'buyer's market'." Sun Jing, an associate professor at the School of Culture and Tourism of Jinan University, said in an interview with Qilu Evening News that the supply of tourism resources is becoming increasingly abundant, which to a certain extent diverts the source of tourists from the ancient town. At the same time, a large number of ancient towns have emerged during the same period, intensifying competition and making ancient towns less attractive to tourists.

The next trip of the ancient town tour, how to break the game

On the question of whether most of the ancient towns are "similar" long ago or "similar" after development, some analysts have concluded that it cannot be ruled out that because of the geographical and cultural proximity, some ancient towns have natural "similarity" in some aspects: there are similar ancient buildings, stone roads, small bridges and flowing water landscapes. However, the similarity of ancient towns in various places is high, mainly after commercial development, because of the serious homogenization, the characteristics are less and less obvious, resulting in the tourism of ancient towns often formed a unified mode of shopping, drinking tea and eating, and visiting performances.

In the face of such a situation, compared with other scenic spots, what is the core competitiveness of ancient town tours, and how to break the situation?

In Sun Jing's view, the core competitiveness of the ancient town lies in its rich cultural connotation, including intangible history and culture, tangible natural and cultural landscapes, and intangible cultural heritage.

"Ancient towns should not only sell tickets, but should provide cultural scenes." Sun Jing also believes that operators of ancient towns can try to break through the inherent positioning of traditional tourist destinations, expand the scope of target audiences, and see ancient towns as a multi-faceted and integrated space, so that they can accept and carry a richer range of functions and activities. For example, Wuzhen, which is more than 70 kilometers away from Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, has become famous for the "Wuzhen Theater Festival" in the past ten years, and the Luoyi Ancient City in Luoyang has frequently appeared in the circle with "Hanfu + tourism", which is a strong proof of this.

In addition, Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, pointed out in an article that only by retaining the indigenous residents who are full of a sense of belonging to the local area can the original cultural background of the ancient town be vividly displayed, so that tourists can feel the unique charm and cultural value of the ancient town that is different from other places.

Wang Xiaoyu, a special researcher at the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also emphasized the significance of "host and guest sharing" many times in an interview with reporters. Wang Xiaoyu said that if the development of tourism crowds out the living space of local residents, causing indigenous people to move away and destroying community culture, such a practice is not sustainable.

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