Representatives of domestic and foreign travel agents have stepped into the Nanxi River scenic area in Yongjia.

Recently, a special group of guests visited Wenzhou. They are representatives of over a hundred of domestic and foreign travel agencies, including the Travel Industry Council of Macau, the National G1 Region Travel Agency Cooperation Alliance,  and the Bafang Tourism Alliance of China. They toured around, appreciating and experiencing the poetic landscape. They tried to explore the highlights of Wenzhou tourism from the professional perspective.

This cultural tourism marketing program, themed on “Visit Wenzhou in 2023”, is the first annual “marketing feast” for Wenzhou’s cultural tourism industry to connect with the national customers, under the background of this year’s steady growth in domestic tourism economy. Through a series of thematic marketing activities, Wenzhou’s cultural tourism industry is weaving a colorful painting of high-quality recovery.

Efficient innovation expands Wenzhou's cultural tourism “circle of friends”.

In order to promote the recovery of the cultural tourism market, Wenzhou innovatively launched the Wenzhou Cultural Tourism Purchasing Conference for a hundred national travel agencies in 2020, which has since become an “annual marketing event” for the connection with the national customers. Wenzhou has rolled out a slew of preferential policies on market expansion such as inviting representatives of key domestic customer source areas, releasing rewarding policies, and the bulk-buying of cultural tourism products.

Faced with numerous challenges including the heavy task of epidemic prevention and control, disruption of transportation and logistics, and weak demand in the cultural tourism market, it was quite difficult to organize a large-scale, wide-ranging, and high-level cultural tourism purchasing conference. Wenzhou's cultural tourism industry overcame many difficulties. On April 29th, 2020, nearly a hundred representatives from travel agencies associations of 11 citie and districts in Zhejiang, the Yangtze River Delta Tourism Alliance, the Bafang Tourism Alliance of China, and other travel agencies were invited. This aimed at making group trips to various counties (cities, districts), destination operators, and one-on-one for negotiations about cooperation, jointly promoting routes, sharing platforms, and seeking for common development. This officially announced the debut of the innovative brand of the Wenzhou Cultural and Tourism Purchasing Conference for a hundred national travel agencies.

After the 2020 Purchasing Conference, it attracted a continuous stream of 131 large groups, each with more than 500 people to experience the “Ouyue Mountain and water”, revitalizing the cultural and tourism market. According to Li Xinjian, an expert of the “14th Five-Year Plan” committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's , this is a good way for national travel agencies to cooperate and expand the market under the background of the epidemic. Wenzhou pioneered to invite national travel agencies to gather in Wenzhou and centralize the procurement of cultural and tourism products. It revealed the innovation and wisdom of this dynamic city.

Subsequently, Wenzhou's cultural and tourism influence continued to expand. In 2021, the purchasing conference expanded from traditional source areas in East China to Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Shandong, Jilin, and other provinces. In 2022, the conference placed more emphasis on inviting representatives of travel agencies from key national customer source areas and promoting on online platforms.

Compared with the previous three sessions, this year's procurement conference has seen many newcomers. In addition to representatives from major travel agencies across the country, such as the China Tourism Alliance, the Bafang Tourism Alliance of China, and travel agencies from the Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Shandong, and Sichuan, Wenzhou also invited new tourism organizations such as the Macao Tourism Industry Association, G1 (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei-Heilongjiang-Jilin-Liaoning) Regional Travel Agency Cooperation Alliance, and Shenzhou Travel Industry Hundred People Association. It has brought new perspectives and opportunities for cooperation, which will effectively promote the external expansion of the Wenzhou tourism market and expand its influence.

Cooperation and Win-win: developing new growth points of Cultural Tourism and Consumption

Breaking away from the traditional mode of promoting tourism products, the Wenzhou Cultural Tourism Procurement Conference has transformed into an innovative marketing mode of "providing what the market needs". At the conference, various levels of reward policies were released, and themed promotions were implemented in different counties, which will provide personalized combination services for domestic and foreign travel agencies.

In 2020, our city highlighted tourism products related to recuperation, health preservation, and study tours. In the same year, we launched a project of cultural landscape featuring intangible cultural heritage, green countryside walks, and the red footprints. In 2022, various products, like homestays for overseas Chinese, creative markets, and sports and leisure activities, were introduced. This year, we kept finding new ways and followed the consumption trends such as local delicacies, tea-making around the campfire, camping car trips, and "Dingbu" (Stepping Stone Bridge in Wenzho) sightseeing.

Wenzhou's abundant cultural and tourism resources, comprehensive business environment, and impressive incentive policies have aroused the enthusiasm of travel agencies, resulting in numerous negotiations and signed procurement agreements, which are important achievements brought by the cooperation and win-win effect of this event.

On the spot, the unveiling ceremony of the "Common Prosperity Cultural Tourism Road——Wenzhou's First Station" marked the beginning of cooperation between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the three northeastern provinces, and Zhejiang. The " Common Prosperity Cultural Tourism Road" has made its first stop in Wenzhou, benefiting travel agencies from the Northeast with Wenzhou's tourism incentive policies, achieving the "multi-party win-win" goal in the cultural tourism market. The Yandang Mountain Scenic Area and Tuying Digital Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. signed a contract, as the latter purchasing 20 million yuan worth of tickets from the former. It will further optimize tourism marketing through channels such as the internet and promote cultural and tourism consumption.

In addition, the travel representatives' collective visits to the cultural tourism destinations were a major highlight of this procurement conference. They visited attractions such as the “a Garden on the Sea—Hundred Islands Dongtou”, the Taishun Langdong Tourist Resort, Yandang Mountain, Nanxi River, and Jiangxin Island, as well as enjoying the thousands of Wenzhou delicacies. At the same time, these tourism industry experts also discovered new highlights and attractions in the “millennium commercial port” with their professional insight. Through personal experiences and recommendations, they promoted Wenzhou’s cultural tourism products more effectively, further driving market growth and prosperity.

“In the past, I only came to Wenzhou for business trips, but now I know there are pleasant Dongtou Islands and beautiful scenery here,” said Huang Hui, Chairman of the Macau Tourism Industry Association. “After the traffic problem is resolved, Taishun's tourism has great potential,” said Zhang Linglong, Chairman of the Zhejiang Travel Agency Association, who has participated in the procurement conference for four consecutive years. He believes that Wenzhou’s resources and products, especially in Taishun, are very suitable to meet the post-epidemic travel needs of citizens. Huang Yijian, the President of the G1 Regional Travel Agency Cooperation Alliance, plans to organize more tourists from Northeast China to travel in Wenzhou.