Lvwei Cultural Tourism: The 'Two-Six' Methodology for Creating National-Level Tourist Resorts

National-level tourist resorts are a golden brand, representing the brand of industrial transformation and upgrading. Since the National Tourism Administration announced the first batch of 17 national-level tourist resorts in October 2015, provincial-level tourist resorts across the country have initiated creation efforts, aiming to meet national standards as soon as possible. The process of creating national-level resorts has become an important lever for reform, innovation, upgrading, and enhancement of provincial-level resorts.

In recent years, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has vigorously promoted the quality improvement, capacity expansion, and upgrading of national-level tourist resorts. In accordance with the national standard "Classification of Tourist Resorts," it launched a total of 30 national-level tourist resorts in three batches in 2015, 2017, and 2019. In December 2020, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the fourth batch of national-level tourist resorts, adding 15 new ones.

So far, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has determined a total of 45 national-level resorts.

In terms of geographical distribution, the 45 national-level tourist resorts are located in 23 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government, accounting for about two-thirds of the country's administrative divisions. The distribution of national-level tourist resorts is closely related to the level of economic development, with most located in the eastern coastal areas and the southwest, showing a pattern of more in the east, fewer in the central and western regions, more in the south, and fewer in the north.

In terms of quantity, Zhejiang leads with 6 resorts, Jiangsu ranks second with 5, Shandong and Yunnan are tied for third with 4 each, followed by Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, Chongqing, and Guangdong.

In terms of type, the categories of national-level tourist resorts are gradually diversifying. In addition to common lake-type, hot spring-type, mountain forest-type, and coastal island-type tourist resorts, new types such as towns, manors, ancient cities and towns, ice and snow, and desert grasslands have emerged due to changes in market demand. Among them, there are 16 river-lake wetland-type resorts, followed by 10 mountain forest-type tourist resorts. Hot spring and coastal tourist resorts have risen rapidly, with 6 and 5 respectively. In the future, with national policy trends and market changes, more new types of tourist resorts will emerge.

From the perspectives of planned area and core resources: the planned areas vary widely, ranging from 10 square kilometers to several hundred square kilometers. Core resources are mostly based on leisure and entertainment, covering types such as seaside, grasslands, hot springs, sports and fitness, and medical care, with a focus on natural ecological environments like mountains, lakes, and forests.

Statistical data: as of November 30, 2020.

Judging from the currently announced national-level tourist resorts, their development types and foundations differ, but overall they all show good momentum. According to a relevant official from the Resource Development Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the construction and development of national-level tourist resorts are of great significance for optimizing the structure of tourism products, guiding the development of national resort leisure tourism, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry. National-level resorts can leverage different resource environments to set up leisure and resort products, extend the resort industry chain, and form a cluster of the resort leisure industry.

Based on the development of 45 national-level tourist resorts, Lvwei Cultural Tourism has derived the following experience:

From the perspective of resource utilization: based on advantageous resources, integrate other resources. Integration can involve resources inherent to the project site, such as folk activities, or artificially created ones, such as golf.

From the perspective of resort products and activities: product diversification, integrating leisure product projects with different functions to form a resort industry cluster.

From the market perspective: diversified products to meet the needs of various market segments, multi-faceted marketing, and brand building.

From the perspective of management services: international standard quality reception facilities + diverse personalized services + networked information management.

Yabuli Ski Resort

Development models of national-level tourist resorts

By studying the main products and characteristics of national-level tourist resorts, Lvwei Cultural Tourism has summarized two major models: "1+1+X" and "1+X+Y."

Xishuangbanna Tourist Resort

PART1. "1+1+X"

The first "1" refers to the foundation of integrating other resources based on advantageous resources;

The second "1" is the core of the resort, encompassing various leisure products such as natural sightseeing, fitness sports, leisure entertainment, accommodation and dining, conferences and exhibitions, and is built around one or several of these as the main focus;

"X" refers to several soft services such as international service standards, personalized services, and network information services.

PART2. "1+X+Y" Model

"1" refers to mining advantageous resources and integrating other resources as the core resort carrier;

"X" refers to high-standard resort facilities, international-standard resort hotels, plus themed dining streets, shopping, commercial streets, etc.;

"y" refers to several soft services such as international service standards, personalized services, and network information services.

Six Essential Elements for Creating a National-Level Tourist Resort

Lvwei Cultural Tourism believes that building a national-level resort requires six elements.

Protection of Ecology and Culture

Protection of ecology and culture is the foundation.

A good ecological environment is a basic condition for forming a resort area. The environment should be a hard indicator, and ecological environment protection should be legalized to reduce the impact of tourism.

Culture is the root of the region and the embodiment of the distinctive features of resort tourism products. Protecting culture is necessary for the continuation of regional vitality.

Xinjiang Nalati Tourist Resort

Compound Development

Single products have limited competitiveness, so it is necessary to fully explore advantageous resources while integrating other resources, forming diversified products through the optimization of multiple resources.

Integration of leisure products with different functions forms a resort industry cluster.

High-quality and Diversified Supporting Service Facilities

Supporting service facilities are important factors for tourists when choosing a resort destination.

National-level resorts should have international and branded hotels; diversified and distinctive resort facilities to meet market demands at all levels.

Modern Management Services

Provide diverse personalized services for different groups.

Deepen and broaden the application of technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, high-speed mobile communication networks, and high-performance information processing in routine operations, safety, and office automation of the scenic area, thereby improving service and management levels and building a smart resort.

High-starting-point Marketing

In addition to traditional magazines, newspapers, and online marketing, as well as rapidly spreading methods in recent years like Weibo, WeChat, festivals, and films, it is also necessary to seize high-starting-point opportunities such as international events, forums, and conferences for publicity, conduct brand building through multiple channels, and expand the visibility of national-level resorts.

Flexible Development Model

Adopt a development model led by the government with enterprises as the main body, correctly handling the relationship between government and enterprises.

The government is responsible for public engineering construction, land management, tax and fee preferential policies, investment attraction, and institutional guarantees; enterprises are responsible for the construction, management, and operation of related projects. The government and enterprises each perform their own duties.

National tourist resorts are an inevitable path for China's tourism to transform from extensive to high-quality, representing the highest level of China's tourism resort products, and meeting the objective needs of adapting to the consumption upgrade of urban and rural residents, improving quality of life, and creating a wonderful leisure and vacation life.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in the third quarter of 2020, the total number of tourists received by 30 national-level tourist resorts was 44.2618 million person-times, an increase of 82.57% quarter-on-quarter; the total tourism reception income was 24.919 billion yuan, an increase of 90.88% quarter-on-quarter.

In addition, in the third quarter, 515 provincial-level tourist resorts received a total of 293 million tourists, with total tourism reception income of 135.842 billion yuan, an increase of 37.69% quarter-on-quarter.

Lvwei Cultural Tourism believes that national-level tourist resorts are another golden brand reflecting China's tourism service level after 5A-level scenic spots, and another "power train" driving the high-quality development of China's tourism. Together with 5A-level scenic spots, they represent the highest level of China's tourism resort products and sightseeing products, forming the dual engine driving the development of China's tourism.

To apply for a national-level tourist resort, ten conditions must be met: comply with the national standard "Classification of Tourist Resorts" (GB/T26358) and related detailed requirements; meet the requirements of socialist core values; resort facilities are relatively concentrated with good operating conditions; a sound tourism public information service system; high overall tourist satisfaction; relatively high visibility and brand influence nationwide; land use complies with relevant laws and regulations; the main operating entity has no record of serious violations of laws and regulations in the past three years; no major tourism safety liability accidents in the past three years; and has been recognized as a provincial-level tourist resort for more than one year. The evaluation of national tourist resorts lights the way for the development of tourist resorts!

For over a decade, Lvwei Cultural Tourism has conducted extensive research and development on resorts and tourist resorts. Through the compilation, discussion, and practical summarization of a large number of resort planning projects including resort markets, resort manors, resort hotels, resort-style film bases, resort villages, rural resorts, and resort-type elderly care, it has formed a series of practical cases, research results, and service models, providing comprehensive services for the creation and application of tourist resorts in various regions.