Greenwe Cultural Tourism Grand Lecture Hall: Opportunities for Cultural Tourism Industry under the National Cultural Digitalization Strategy

Greenwe Introduction: In May 2022, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of the National Cultural Digitalization Strategy," drawing a roadmap for the cultural digitalization strategy. On June 9, the Greenwe Cultural Tourism Business School invited Gao Kai, an expert in cultural digitalization and deputy director of the Cultural Big Data Industry Committee of the China Public Relations Association, to be a guest at the 34th session of the Greenwe "Scenic Area Grand Lecture Hall." He shared the opportunities for the cultural tourism industry under the national cultural digitalization strategy from the perspectives of the background of the cultural digitalization strategic deployment, policy promotion, strategic objectives, and the architecture and standards of the cultural big data system.

The following is a summary of the main content of the live broadcast:

Strategic Deployment of Cultural Digitalization

Cultural digitalization has been elevated to a national strategy. This is not a new concept. As early as the "National 12th Five-Year Plan for Cultural Reform and Development Outline," it was proposed to promote the cultural digitalization development project. It has been more than a decade since then, and now the central government has made a far-sighted and unified deployment, with various ministries actively participating and local provinces actively promoting. Cultural digitalization has shifted from a construction project to a major national strategy.

Cultural digitalization is an important lever for building a culturally strong country. The digital economy is developing at an unprecedented speed, with an unprecedented breadth of influence and depth of impact, driving profound changes in production methods, lifestyles, and governance models. As an important measure for innovating China's cultural governance model, cultural digitalization is also a key lever for building a culturally strong country.

China's cultural digitalization has tremendous potential for development. In 2021, the added value of China's cultural industry accounted for only about 4% of GDP, far lower than that of the United States (about 30%), South Korea (about 15%), Japan (about 20%), and the European average (10%-15%), which is inconsistent with China's status as a major country. On the other hand, the extremely rich and precious cultural resources left by Chinese ancestors are our inherent advantage. Therefore, there is significant room for growth in China's cultural digitalization, with very broad prospects.

[Nation's 12th Five-Year Plan for Cultural Reform and Development Outline] Column 3 clearly states the implementation of the "Cultural Digitalization Construction Project," specifying the comprehensive digitalization from cultural resource digitization to cultural production digitization and then to cultural dissemination digitization.

[Cultural Industry Promotion Law (Draft) (Consultation Paper)] Encourages the organic integration of creative production with digitalization; promotes the digitization of cultural resources and the construction of a cultural big data service system.

["14th Five-Year Plan" Related Guidelines] In 2020, the "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives for 2035" proposed two digitalizations: promoting the digital construction of public culture and implementing the digital strategy for the cultural industry. In 2021, the "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives for 2035 of the People's Republic of China" (Column 13: Socialist Cultural Prosperity and Development Project) specified: classify and collect cultural heritage data, and build a national cultural big data system.

Strategic Objectives of Cultural Digitalization

The "Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of the National Cultural Digitalization Strategy" clarifies the short-term objectives by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the medium- to long-term objectives by 2035.

Short-term Objectives—Basically Complete the Digital Layout of the Cultural Industry

By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, basically complete the construction of cultural digitalization infrastructure and service platforms, basically connect the data centers of various cultural institutions, basically complete the digital layout of the cultural industry, elevate public cultural digital construction to a new level, and form a cultural service supply system with online-offline integration, interaction, and comprehensive coverage.

Medium- to Long-term Objectives—Achieve Rapid Development of Cultural Digital Productivity

By 2035, build a national cultural big data system with physical distribution, logical correlation, fast links, efficient search, comprehensive sharing, and key integration; achieve rapid development of cultural digital productivity; present a panoramic view of Chinese culture; enable the digital achievements of Chinese culture to be shared by the whole people; and make outstanding innovative achievements well-known both at home and abroad.

Architecture of the Cultural Big Data System

Gao Kai started from basic concepts, focusing on explaining what cultural resource data is and what cultural digital content is. He noted that these two are important terms on the supply side of cultural digitalization. Then he outlined the construction process of cultural digitalization from resources to production to consumption and dissemination.

It is worth mentioning that China's standard system for cultural digitalization is also at the forefront of the world. In 2015, the international standard "International Standard Link Identifier (ISLI)" based on China's national standards was officially announced.

In 2021, the National Cultural Big Data Industry Committee of the China Public Relations Association compiled and released the "National Cultural Big Data Standard System." To date, more than 10 related standards have been released, and the formulation of other standards is proceeding in an orderly manner. This will standardize the terminology of the cultural big data industry and regulate the development order of cultural copyright resources, ensuring the healthy development of the cultural big data system.

Development Opportunities of Cultural Digitalization

The "Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of the National Cultural Digitalization Strategy" proposes eight key tasks: forming a Chinese cultural database, building a national cultural private network, establishing a cultural data service platform, exploring effective ways for digital transformation and upgrading, developing new scenes for digital cultural consumption, coordinating the construction of the national cultural big data system, the national smart library system, and the public cultural cloud, accelerating the digital layout of the cultural industry, and building a cultural digital governance system.

Unlock New Scenes, Generate New Business Forms, and Drive New Consumption

The implementation of the digital strategy for the cultural industry and the high-quality development of the digital cultural industry are expected to create new online and offline consumption scenes, rejuvenate traditional industries, stimulate cultural consumption potential, enhance national confidence, and improve national cultural soft power. This is a major opportunity for the entire cultural industry and cultural undertakings.

With the application of new technological means, the establishment of a cultural material database can accelerate the innovation process of traditional culture, improve the positioning of cultural consumption scenes and the supply of products and services in a targeted manner, and even effectively guide the organic renewal of cultural industry spaces, thereby promoting innovative planning and efficient operation of cultural tourism projects.

In addition, Gao Kai also mentioned six core points of the national cultural big data system construction: data is the core production factor; data correlation is the core productivity; correlated data is the core asset; data monetization is the core driving force; data security is the core competitiveness; and the production-end line network is the core.