Chinese officials increasingly creative in promoting tourism

Du Bo, director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Tahe, northeast China’s Heilongjiang, promotes local scenery in traditional costumes. (Screenshot Photo)

(ECNS) -- Du Bo, director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Tahe, northeast China’s Heilongjiang, has become popular on the internet for a short video in which she wears traditional costume of the Oroqen ethnic group to promote local scenery in a snow-capped forest.

It took her about two hours in minus 20 degree to shoot the short video that lasts less than half a minute. Du had to drink two pots of ginger tea to warm herself up after the shooting.

As short video platforms become increasingly popular in China in recent years, many tourism officials choose to introduce local sceneries to the public by themselves.

As early as 2020, He Jiaolong, then deputy head of Zhaosu County in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, northwestern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, went viral online after appearing in a video riding a horse in the snow to advertise local tourism.

In 2021, Liu Hong, director of the Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Administration in Ganzi, dressed as a swordsman from Louis Cha's novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a spokesman for the tourism resources of his hometown.

His videos have drawn some compliments. "He's exactly what I imagined a swordsman would be like in the old times," one online comment said.

In 2022, Xie Wei, director of the Suizhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism in Hubei Province, won overnight fame for his “ugly” portrayal of an ancient knight in a series of self-made films promoting local tourism.

New media marketing has been proven effective to attract tourists and inject dynamism into rural revitalization.

Data shows that as of the beginning of 2023, He Jiaolong has helped local farm sell products and side products worth 210 million yuan (about $30.37 million) through livestreaming marketing and created more than 2,300 jobs for local people.

More tourists have been attracted to Ganzi. According to data from the Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Administration in Ganzi, the place received a total of 4.566 million tourists during the 2023 Spring Festival holiday, achieving a comprehensive tourism income of 502.24 million yuan, up by 106.33 percent and 107.42 percent respectively over the same period last year.

Several scenic spots in Suizhou which is not rich in tourism resources still recorded the most tourists during the 2023 Spring Festival holiday.

Fan Zhou, President of Beijing Jinghe Institute of Culture and Tourism Development, said it is good to see that tourism officials shoot short videos and speak for local tourism, which proves that officials can do something themselves to promote cultural projects of local scenic spots.