How to Avoid Pitfalls in Cultural Tourism Project Development? This One Article Is Enough

Greenview Guide: Cultural tourism projects involve large investments, long construction periods, and extremely high requirements for content operation integration. How to avoid investment risks, how to proactively introduce operations in planning, and how to achieve innovation for differentiation are the challenges faced in developing cultural tourism complex projects. Greenview Cultural Tourism believes that the key to the success of cultural tourism projects lies in the coordination and synergy of the entire process and chain of development and operation. The development and operation of cultural tourism projects is a complex system involving multiple stakeholders, contents, and processes, with corresponding task points in the early development stage, mid-term construction stage, and later operation stage.

Full process diagram of cultural tourism project development and operation, created by Greenview Cultural Tourism

Source: "Tourism Development and Operation Tutorial" by Lin Feng

This article has been abridged from the original.

Greenview Cultural Tourism divides the development and operation of cultural tourism projects into three stages: early development stage, mid-term construction stage, and later operation stage.

Early Development Stage

The complete development process of a tourism project from initial investment intention to project completion and delivery must go through. The main tasks in this stage include top-level design, strategic planning, project approval, planning and construction reporting, land acquisition and resettlement, investment and financing, investment attraction, and backend integration.

1. Top-Level Design is the Prerequisite

In the top-level design phase, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the stakeholders, resources, land, funds, and other related elements involved in the development process from the perspective of regional comprehensive development, providing overall strategic guidance for the development of the tourism industry and destination construction.

2. Strategic Planning is the Core

Planning should precede strategic planning to form a complete framework, i.e., based on resource analysis and tourist source market analysis, clarify project positioning, factor allocation, business format layout, product form, business model, and development plan. Operations-first planning fully considers later-stage implementation and operations, not innovation for innovation's sake or aesthetics for aesthetics' sake.

3. Project Approval is the Foundation

Project approval is an important step in transitioning a tourism project from concept design to implementation. The project developer must submit an application to relevant government agencies such as the People's Government, Development and Reform Commission, and Cultural Tourism Department. Relevant authorities conduct feasibility studies, filing, approval, and review of submitted materials (texts, drawings, tables, data) based on national and regional conditions. Only after government approval can the right to plan and use land be obtained, laying the foundation for later subsidy applications, financial institutions, and social capital financing.

4. Planning and Construction Reporting is the Process

Planning and construction reporting refers to the process where the developer, after project approval, submits the tourism project plan to the planning and construction authorities for review. Relevant authorities examine the site selection, project scale, investment phasing, funding sources, construction schedule, and contracting methods. The developer must obtain construction project planning permits and construction permits to proceed with project implementation.

5. Land Acquisition and Resettlement Ensures Land Use

If the tourism project involves land acquisition and demolition, the developer must properly coordinate government relationships with the compensation and resettlement rights of original residents, ensuring social benefits from regional development driven by the project and avoiding negative impacts from forced demolition and construction.

6. Investment and Financing Ensures Funding

The promising prospects of the tourism industry attract governments, financial institutions, and private enterprises. Tourism development entities should, based on scientific investment decisions, lead the establishment of professional investment and financing platforms and promote innovative applications of PPP and other tourism investment models, thereby leveraging the advantages of various investors, grasping tourism development trends, promoting effective alignment of resources and capital, and driving comprehensive tourism development.

7. Investment Attraction Ensures Operations

Phased investment attraction is an ongoing task in tourism project development. In this stage, the developer should base its efforts on the tourism development phase, market demand, and self-positioning, package projects to highlight advantages, coordinate relationships among government, financial institutions, and enterprises, build open investment attraction platforms, and engage in long-term promotion and negotiation.

8. Backend Integration Ensures Implementation

Backend integration refers to the developer introducing professional consulting organizations during project development, applying their expertise, creativity, knowledge systems, and social resources to the project development structure, thereby obtaining integrated professional guidance and service systems for the entire process of tourism development and operation.

Mid-term Construction Stage

The mid-term construction stage is the implementation phase where tourism creative concepts and development ideas are transformed into actual projects. This stage includes five basic tasks: engineering design, engineering bidding, engineering construction, business format attraction, and pre-opening preparations.

1. Engineering Design Provides Guidelines for Construction

Tourism engineering design, based on relevant national standards and codes, follows the core project development concept and actual site conditions to produce professional design documents and drawings for building structures, landscape design, professional engineering (water supply and drainage, HVAC, electrical, etc.), construction techniques, material application, engineering inspection, and quality acceptance, ensuring that tourism project construction has standards to follow.

2. Engineering Bidding Introduces Quality Construction Resources

Engineering bidding refers to the developer or its agent attracting construction entities to competitively undertake construction tasks through legal procedures. It is an effective means to introduce quality construction resources and ensure project construction meets design requirements. In this stage, the project manager must file and obtain approval from the tendering administrative authority, organize a professional evaluation team, and comprehensively consider all factors to select the optimal contractor.

3. Engineering Construction is Key to Implementation

Engineering construction is the execution stage where tourism projects move from concept to reality. The special nature of tourism projects imposes higher requirements on construction entities, who must not only execute standardized construction according to design documents but also reflect concepts of refinement, service orientation, technological intelligence, and green ecology. Adopting an integrated engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) model is an effective way to avoid disconnection between design and execution, shorten construction periods, and improve quality.

4. Business Format Attraction is the Soul of Operations

The successful implementation of a tourism project requires diversified business formats to revitalize the economy. Therefore, the developer should attract business formats covering food, lodging, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment based on the project development blueprint and factor allocation needs. During this process, entry barriers for various formats should be lowered, and necessary service support provided, paving the way for future crowd and consumption aggregation.

5. Pre-Opening Preparations Mark the Start of Operations

When project construction is nearing completion, pre-opening preparations must begin, including training management teams and service staff, and ensuring normal operation of systems such as tourism signage, hygiene, safety, tour guide services, and visitor reception. Additionally, a feasible marketing plan must be formulated before opening to promote the brand through various channels and create social influence.

Later Operation Stage

After the development and construction processes of a tourism project are completed, its later operation is not limited to managing a single project, but rather aims to form a comprehensive destination operation structure including pan-tourism urbanization operation, scenic area operation, leisure project operation, leisure commercial operation, hotel operation, tourism real estate operation, and land development operation, from the perspective of region-wide tourism-guided development.

1. Pan-Tourism Urbanization Operation

Pan-tourism urbanization operation refers to operations under the structure of tourism-guided new urbanization. New urbanization includes not only creating new cities but also expanding and upgrading old cities. Urbanization operation covers three aspects: industrial operation, tourism operation, and lifestyle service operation, mainly involving market-oriented operation, lifestyle upgrading, comprehensive industrial appreciation, and brand building. The core of pan-tourism urbanization operation is to build a regional comprehensive development pattern with integrated industrial development, complete residential support systems, and urban tourism upgrading.

2. Scenic Area Operation

Scenic areas are core carriers of regional tourism development. Their operation involves standardized upgrades for A-grade assessment, institutional and mechanism reforms, comprehensive transformation of revenue models, smart enhancement of service systems, innovative creation of recreation methods, and six core management systems: human resources, marketing, safety, visitor experience, crisis management, and finance. Natural scenic areas, cultural scenic areas, and man-made scenic areas have different operating entities, management systems, and operation models depending on type and nature.

3. Leisure Project Operation

Leisure projects include hot springs, amusement parks, farms, performances, ski resorts, and other artificially developed experiential projects. They are important engines for gathering crowd and driving consumption in tourism destinations. Based on the project's actual conditions and destination development needs, IP should be introduced promptly, science and technology applied, marketing channels expanded, consumption content enriched, and capital operation models transformed, creating a healthy business ecosystem centered on service upgrade and experience innovation.

4. Leisure Commercial Operation

Changes in mass consumer demand and behavior have driven traditional commerce to break away from a single shopping function, shifting toward leisure commerce that integrates dining, leisure, accommodation, entertainment, wellness, and other functions. The core tasks of leisure commercial operation include business attraction management, tenant management, tourism system operation, and real estate operation. Professional and refined operation management is needed to highlight high-quality service experiences and commercial leisure and entertainment.

5. Hotel Operation

Hotel operation is a key factor in extending tourist stays and shaping a good brand image for a tourism destination. It includes clarifying development strategies, reforming institutions and mechanisms, improving service quality, managing comprehensive revenue, innovating marketing channels, and fine management of front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, and facilities within the hotel.

6. Tourism Real Estate Operation

Tourism real estate refers to real estate projects that rely on rich tourism resources and integrate leisure, tourism, vacation, and residential functions, including leisure commercial real estate, vacation residential real estate, senior living real estate, cultural creative real estate, and manor real estate. The operation of tourism real estate projects requires organic integration of the quick returns from real estate sales and the ongoing income from tourism operations. Depending on the development type, appropriate operation models such as development and holding, development and holding with self-operation or third-party operation, development and sale of vacation rights, and development and sale of property rights should be chosen.

7. Land Development Operation

Tourism development is a form of regional comprehensive development based on land use and development. Therefore, operation management of land development is the guarantee for the implementation and sustained operation of tourism projects. In this stage, it is necessary to clarify the applicable project types for various land categories, and based on actual needs, innovate the investment and financing operation models in land development, consolidation, and reclamation, laying the foundation for long-term asset appreciation in tourism development.

Greenview Cultural Tourism believes that from design to implementation and operation, a successful project faces countless traps. Avoiding these traps requires professional institutions with experience in the entire chain and full-process operation.