'CYBERSTAR' CITIES PULLING IN THE CROWDS

Short videos showcase scenic spots, cultural attractions

Having visited most large cities in China, including Chongqing and Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, Shen Jiaqi, a fitness trainer in Beijing, is always looking for somewhere new to go. However, in March, he revisited both of these destinations.

"I had been to them before, but without knowing that they had some scenic spots or cultural experiences that have been recognized as 'cyberstars', such as a subway passing through a residential building in Chongqing, or people smashing their bowls after drinking wine from them in Xi'an," he said.

Zhongcao, a hot phrase among young internet users in China, refers to people attracted by such sightseeing spots and cultural experiences. Shen, 29, is one of them.

"I watched some of the videos and became so curious that I wanted to see for myself, so I 'signed in'," he said.

"Signing in" refers to a practice in which people post their locations on social media platforms to show they have arrived at a popular spot.

Posts lasting 15 to 60 seconds about a wide range of topics are uploaded on short-video platforms, including less-visited scenic spots or little-known cultural experiences. The platforms have resulted in new business opportunities for traditional tourism destinations such as Xi'an and Chongqing.

Short videos tagged "Xi'an" and "Chongqing" launched on Douyin, a major platform, in 2016. They have been seen by more than 200 million daily users, and by early last month had been clicked on nearly 6 billion and 5.8 billion times, respectively.

One of the videos that features night views and light shows at the Great Tang All Day Mall, a sightseeing and leisure area covering 650,000 square meters south of the Big Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, has received 1.15 million "likes". Another, showing how roujiamo - a type of street food in Xi'an - is made, has received 140,000.

In Chongqing, a video showing a subway line passing through the eighth floor of a building at Liziba Station has received 500,000 "likes", while another, showing night views of Hongyadong, a national scenic spot, has earned more than 270,000.

A man responsible for marketing at Douyin, who requested anonymity, said short videos about some cities, especially those featuring culture, travel and food, started to appear on the platform last year.

"Such content is particularly suitable for transmission in the form of short videos," he said.

"Compared with very formal, official tourism videos released by local tourism authorities, many of these videos are shot spontaneously by individual users from unique, personal perspectives. They are usually delicately designed or structured and appear more down-to-earth. That's why they can attract more viewers and have a wider impact."

After watching a series of popular videos about Xi'an, Xie Hui, a 43-year-old woman in Tianjin, said they had changed her view of the city that hosts the Terracotta Warriors, and encouraged her to visit it for the third time. One of the videos, showing a light show projecting a golden dragon in the air, has received more than 2 million "likes".

"In the past, people like me only thought of the Terracotta Warriors or Big Goose Pagoda when Xi'an was mentioned," Xie said. "Thanks to these videos, Xi'an is now not only an ancient city in my view, but a lively one that combines historic sites and modern cultural experiences."

A report by Douyin showed that Chongqing and Xi'an were the two most "signed-in" cities on the platform during the Spring Festival vacation in February, indicating that large numbers of visits were made to both during the holiday.

Another report, by the China Tourism Academy, showed that 415 million trips were made by Chinese during Spring Festival this year. Of these, the number made to Chongqing ranked eighth nationwide, according to the report, which did not provide specific figures.

Covering 80,000 square kilometers, one-third the land area of the United Kingdom, Chongqing was the only municipality in China to make the top 10 on the list. All the other top 10 destinations were large provinces such as Guangdong (180,000 sq km), Sichuan (480,000 sq km), Hunan (210,000 sq km) and Guangxi (240,000 sq km).

Statistics from the Xi'an culture and tourism bureau show that domestic and international travelers made some 2.5 billion trips to the city last year, a rise of 36.7 percent year-on-year. The city's tourism revenue last year reached 255 billion yuan ($38 billion), a year-on-year rise of 56.4 percent.

Jia Linlin, director of the tour guide management department at major online travel agency Ctrip, said its bookings for trips to Xi'an reached 30,000 last year, double the number in 2017, when the city had yet to become an "internet celebrity".

The number of visits made to scenic spots such as Yongxingfang, a street in the city known for its tasty food, and where the short video of travelers smashing their bowls after drinking wine was shot, has risen quickly, she said.

A similar trend has been reported in Chongqing, Jia said. Last year, nearly 20,000 bookings for trips to the municipality were made through Ctrip, almost twice the number for 2017. A considerable proportion were for scenic spots that have risen in popularity on short-video platforms, such as Hongyadong and the Yangtze River Cableway, a river crossing known by many as the city's "airbus".

Jia feels that cities such as Xi'an and Chongqing are well placed to become "web celebrities".

"Compared with other destinations that are rich sources for tourists, Xi'an and Chongqing are cities with real character," she said.

Xi'an stands apart from other destinations as an ancient city that represents the "soul" of China's history and culture, while Chongqing is outstanding with its numerous hills, slopes and diverse, stunning architecture. It also has excellent transportation facilities, Jia said.

Wu Xuefeng, general manager of the domestic tourism department at online travel agency Lyumama, said short travel videos appearing on social media platforms last year had resulted in bookings related to destinations rising by 30 to 40 percent. These included Yongxingfang in Xi'an and Hongyadong in Chongqing.

"Most of the bookings were from people born in the 1990s and early this century who use shortvideo platforms frequently and tend to spend more on travel," he said.

With their great sightseeing opportunities and cultural experiences, Xi'an and Chongqing have been hot domestic destinations, Wu said. This has provided a good foundation for the cities to go viral in the era of short-form videos.

"Among the large number of tour groups that arrive every year, some, particularly those with younger people, shoot videos of unique scenery or experiences during their trips and post them on social media platforms, attracting increased attention and luring more tourists to the destinations," he added.

As a result, new tourists arrive and shoot their own videos, and the process is repeated, forming positive feedback, Wu said.

Jia, at Ctrip, said convenient transportation and reasonable prices have also contributed to the popularity of Xi'an and Chongqing.

"Easy access to the two cities - whether by air or rail - and relatively low costs for tourists make them destinations for many people to 'sign in'," she said.

In a written reply to China Daily, the Xi'an bureau of culture and tourism said that as more high-speed railways between the city and those in neighboring provinces came into service in the past two years, Xi'an had attracted visitors from places about three hours away by rail, such as those in Gansu province and Sichuan.

A survey by the China Tourism Academy last year found that with each tourist spending 3,133 yuan on average, Chongqing was the cheapest tourism destination in Southwest China. The figure for the Tibet autonomous region was 9,222 yuan, for Yunnan 5,109 yuan and for Sichuan 4,440 yuan.

The survey also found 35 percent of tourists to Chongqing spent no more than 2,000 yuan during their stay, 57 percent spent 2,000 to 5,000 yuan, and only 8 percent spent more than 5,000 yuan.

zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Global 05/28/2019 page1)