Recently, as night fell, the banks of the Tuojiang River were illuminated by brilliant lights, and many overseas tourists were enthusiastically taking travel photos by the river. "The stay duration of overseas tourists in Fenghuang has risen from 29 hours to 43.2 hours," said a spokesperson for the Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Television and Sports of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. The extra half-day spent by overseas tourists has boosted spending on homestays, dining, cultural and creative products, and costume photography services.

Xiangxi Prefecture has focused on upgrading its scenic areas, striving to create four "international calling cards": Fenghuang Ancient Town, Furong Town, the Aizhai-Shibadong area, and the Biancheng Literary Town. The move aims to foster a core cultural and tourism cluster that complements the scenic attractions of Zhangjiajie. In the first half of the year, 14 key cultural and tourism projects involved an investment of 703 million yuan, achieving an investment completion rate of 79.34%.

Fenghuang Ancient Town has continued to promote business model upgrades and refresh its tourism experiences. The town has completed the renovation of Nanhua Mountain, upgraded the exhibits at Shen Congwen's Former Residence, and optimized commercial facilities along the maglev line. The "Dance of 24 Solar Terms" project was also launched at Jinshui Village. It was recognized as one of the country's first batch of "Beautiful China Must-Visit Destinations," making "sightseeing by day, enjoying performances by night" a reality, which has effectively prolonged tourists' stays.

Efforts have been made to advance the designation of Furong Town and Liye-Bamian Mountain as national-level tourist resorts. Furong Town, in collaboration with the Laosicheng World Cultural Heritage site, launched a "one-stop" tourism package and partnered with travel agencies in Zhangjiajie to develop a "Tianmen Mountain-Furong Town-Laosicheng" three-day tour route. In the first half of the year, Furong Town received over 120,000 visitor arrivals routed from Zhangjiajie.

Xiangxi has integrated the resources of Aizhai, Dehang, Shibadong, Qianzhou Ancient Town, and Lvdong Mountain, creating a world-class authentic Miao culture experience area, and offering a composite product of "canyon wonders + a model of targeted poverty alleviation + Miao folk customs." Shibadong Village saw a 40% year-on-year increase in study tour groups in the first half of the year, becoming one of the most distinctive sites along the Greater Zhangjiajie red tourism route.

Building on the cultural appeal of "Biancheng (Border Town)", Xiangxi has launched site-specific performances, intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, and literary salons, propelling Border Town travel to widespread popularity.

Meanwhile, nine new intangible cultural heritage experience spaces were built across the prefecture, and a digital intangible cultural heritage platform was launched, featuring more than 4,000 resources catalogued. Miao-embroidered tiger-head hats became a trending hit, and sales revenue from intangible cultural heritage creative products increased by 21% year on year. The prefecture has systematically rolled out facilitation measures in payment, language, and transportation. In collaboration with Jishou University, the prefecture provided foreign language training for 1,200 practitioners in the first half of the year and established a 30-member team providing tour guide services for foreign visitors. Major scenic areas such as Fenghuang Ancient Town and Furong Town now feature multilingual signage and audio guides in Chinese, English, and Korean.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.
 
Translator: Xiao Juan
 
Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn