What you need to know about China's creative tourism trend of the future?

The immensely popular Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong has, of all things, helped boost domestic tourism because it features 36 ancient architectural sites in China.

Local tourism departments, inspired by the video game, have devised crossover projects to successfully attract an increasing number of tourists.

An apt example of this is the decision of a number of local tourism departments to leverage the popularity of Black Myth: Wukong to boost local tourism.

In 2023, China recorded 4.89 billion domestic passenger trips, marking a staggering 93.3% year-on-year increase.

Moreover, in 2023 domestic travellers spent more than 4.91 trillion yuan (RM2.3 trillion), an increase of a staggering 140.3% year-on-year. Also, China received 82.03 million inbound trips last year as it further opened up the economy to the outside world.

Some regions and cities have tapped the potential of history and culture using their own attractions to advantage. For example, Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, integrates the art of making ice and snow sculptures with music to create the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.

Artists from around the world come to the city every winter to create the ice and snow sculptures, which attract a huge number of tourists. Harbin also holds many cultural events to meet the increasingly variegated demands of tourists to improve its international image.

Actually, the integration of cultural, creative products such as video games and movies with tourism is becoming increasingly appealing to people.

Besides, Chengdu in Sichuan province cooperated with a game developer to create a role-playing mobile game, in which players can feed and clean virtual baby pandas, and get vital information on the popular animals.

The demand for and supply of tourism-related services and products have been constantly changing thanks to the advancement of technology.

Travellers, the tourism sector and administrative departments all are adapting to the rapid changes brought about by the development of advanced technology. Therefore, the tourism sector should seize the opportunities created by the advancement of technology and offer better services to tourists, so as to attract more tourists in the future.

In fact, local tourism departments have been keeping pace with the changing trends, promoting the development of the tourism industry with a more open and innovative attitude.

Their efforts have helped create a vibrant pattern of cooperation and healthy competition in the tourism sector.

As such, more crossover interactions can be expected in the future to provide special, customized services and products for tourists.