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When it comes to tourism, Hangzhou doesn't miss a beat
By David Maguire |
March 30, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
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MARCO Polo, possibly the world's first travel writer, called Hangzhou "the most splendid city in the world." And today, tourism officials are doing everything they can to promote it worldwide, reports David Maguire.
They don't miss a beat in Hangzhou when an opportunity arises to promote the "paradise city." The recent hit Chinese romantic comedy "If You Are the One" included many scenes shot in Hangzhou's famous Xixi Wetlands Park.
Its China premiere ?? attended by acclaimed director Feng Xiaogang and leading actor Ge You and actress Hsu Chi ?? was held in the Grand Theater in Hangzhou before nationwide release last December.
It has taken hundreds of millions of yuan at the box office and had a spin-off boost for Hangzhou visitation by movie fans.
Rather than including the locations anonymously, the movie's script specifically mentions the Xixi Wetlands Park and Liuxi, the city's preeminent ancient town, believed to date back to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
As a result, the film has inspired many tourists to visit the wetland park that "has become a very hot location," says Carol Han, director of marketing for the Hangzhou Tourism Commission. and the wetland park now incorporates a film tour.
What the film and tours will do for tourism to the city acclaimed by the explorer Marco Polo, possibly the world's first travel writer, is yet to be determined.
However, Han is operating in a period of global economic crisis and has a lot to do to sustain Hangzhou's inbound tourism business. "Though the situation has been very serious," she says, "the numbers were still increasing."
A recent stimulus introduced by the commission was free travel coupons that offer discounts for sightseeing and other associated products in the city and its seven districts and counties.
The 150-million-yuan (US$21.94 million) coupon campaign was possible through a collaborative subsidy by the government and local businesses, and as a result Han expects "domestic tourism will be much healthier in this looming first season of the year."
International tourism is also a continuing focus of the commission and, despite the downturn, Hangzhou is hoping to attract 2.5 million overseas visitors this year, up from last year's 2.25 million.
Major marketing campaigns continue in Hangzhou's largest overseas markets of South Korea and Japan and new regional business is being targeted with direct flights now available between the city's Xiaoshan International Airport and Taiwan.
"European visitors have been a major market but due to the serious economic crisis we are not expecting much lift, so the focus this year is on Asian markets," Han says.
For the past few years, Hangzhou has promoted itself heavily in Europe - Germany, France and Spain - with Germany and Spain in the top 10.
"America has ranked fourth or fifth, equating to around 100,000 tourists but we don't expect it to be so good this year," she says.
Hangzhou attracts nearly 40 million domestic and foreign visitors a year, arriving by road, rail and air and earnings the local economy more than 20 billion yuan annually.
Hangzhou is the sixth most popular Chinese mainland city with foreign visitors after Shenzhen and Guangzhou (both in Guangdong Province), Shanghai, Beijing and Zhuhai (Guangdong Province) and ahead of Suzhou (Jiangsu Province), Guilin (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province) and Tianjin.
The tourism commission has booked extensive advertising campaigns on BBC and CNN to cover US and European markets and it collaborates with regional airlines JAL, ANA and Korean Airlines in promotions.
Han says the city government - benefiting from the creative drive of Party Secretary Wang Guoping - had invested heavily in improving Hangzhou's infrastructure.
"The Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal has been completely restored from last year so we promote it as a new attraction," she says.
"The Xixi Wetlands is very popular and has the added boost of the movie and a lot of new spots have been developed around the West Lake, our premier attraction."
As well as the signature top attractions, Hangzhou is a traveler's paradise offering museums, temples, historic sections and streets and the rich cultures of tea, silk, traditional medicine and cuisines.
"In China everybody knows Hangzhou but our aim is to build it into an international tourism destination and we have to push hard because it is not so well known overseas," Han says.
The profile will be raised when the Pacific Asia Travel Association's travel mart and the World Airline Road Race are held in Hangzhou in September this year, the latter expected to attract up to 5,000 participants from the global airline industry.
Han says Hangzhou was among only three cities, along with Chengdu (Sichuan Province) and Dalian (Liaoning Province), to be awarded "Best Tourism City in China" and Hangzhou ranked No. 1.
Signor Marco Polo, who all those centuries ago described Hangzhou as "without doubt the finest and most splendid city in the world," would not be surprised.
For further information, visit the Hangzhou Tourism Commission Website www.gotohz.com.
They don't miss a beat in Hangzhou when an opportunity arises to promote the "paradise city." The recent hit Chinese romantic comedy "If You Are the One" included many scenes shot in Hangzhou's famous Xixi Wetlands Park.
Its China premiere ?? attended by acclaimed director Feng Xiaogang and leading actor Ge You and actress Hsu Chi ?? was held in the Grand Theater in Hangzhou before nationwide release last December.
It has taken hundreds of millions of yuan at the box office and had a spin-off boost for Hangzhou visitation by movie fans.
Rather than including the locations anonymously, the movie's script specifically mentions the Xixi Wetlands Park and Liuxi, the city's preeminent ancient town, believed to date back to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
As a result, the film has inspired many tourists to visit the wetland park that "has become a very hot location," says Carol Han, director of marketing for the Hangzhou Tourism Commission. and the wetland park now incorporates a film tour.
What the film and tours will do for tourism to the city acclaimed by the explorer Marco Polo, possibly the world's first travel writer, is yet to be determined.
However, Han is operating in a period of global economic crisis and has a lot to do to sustain Hangzhou's inbound tourism business. "Though the situation has been very serious," she says, "the numbers were still increasing."
A recent stimulus introduced by the commission was free travel coupons that offer discounts for sightseeing and other associated products in the city and its seven districts and counties.
The 150-million-yuan (US$21.94 million) coupon campaign was possible through a collaborative subsidy by the government and local businesses, and as a result Han expects "domestic tourism will be much healthier in this looming first season of the year."
International tourism is also a continuing focus of the commission and, despite the downturn, Hangzhou is hoping to attract 2.5 million overseas visitors this year, up from last year's 2.25 million.
Major marketing campaigns continue in Hangzhou's largest overseas markets of South Korea and Japan and new regional business is being targeted with direct flights now available between the city's Xiaoshan International Airport and Taiwan.
"European visitors have been a major market but due to the serious economic crisis we are not expecting much lift, so the focus this year is on Asian markets," Han says.
For the past few years, Hangzhou has promoted itself heavily in Europe - Germany, France and Spain - with Germany and Spain in the top 10.
"America has ranked fourth or fifth, equating to around 100,000 tourists but we don't expect it to be so good this year," she says.
Hangzhou attracts nearly 40 million domestic and foreign visitors a year, arriving by road, rail and air and earnings the local economy more than 20 billion yuan annually.
Hangzhou is the sixth most popular Chinese mainland city with foreign visitors after Shenzhen and Guangzhou (both in Guangdong Province), Shanghai, Beijing and Zhuhai (Guangdong Province) and ahead of Suzhou (Jiangsu Province), Guilin (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province) and Tianjin.
The tourism commission has booked extensive advertising campaigns on BBC and CNN to cover US and European markets and it collaborates with regional airlines JAL, ANA and Korean Airlines in promotions.
Han says the city government - benefiting from the creative drive of Party Secretary Wang Guoping - had invested heavily in improving Hangzhou's infrastructure.
"The Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal has been completely restored from last year so we promote it as a new attraction," she says.
"The Xixi Wetlands is very popular and has the added boost of the movie and a lot of new spots have been developed around the West Lake, our premier attraction."
As well as the signature top attractions, Hangzhou is a traveler's paradise offering museums, temples, historic sections and streets and the rich cultures of tea, silk, traditional medicine and cuisines.
"In China everybody knows Hangzhou but our aim is to build it into an international tourism destination and we have to push hard because it is not so well known overseas," Han says.
The profile will be raised when the Pacific Asia Travel Association's travel mart and the World Airline Road Race are held in Hangzhou in September this year, the latter expected to attract up to 5,000 participants from the global airline industry.
Han says Hangzhou was among only three cities, along with Chengdu (Sichuan Province) and Dalian (Liaoning Province), to be awarded "Best Tourism City in China" and Hangzhou ranked No. 1.
Signor Marco Polo, who all those centuries ago described Hangzhou as "without doubt the finest and most splendid city in the world," would not be surprised.
For further information, visit the Hangzhou Tourism Commission Website www.gotohz.com.
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