Reviewing 2009 and Looking Ahead to 2010 Zhangjiajie Tourist Attractions
Reviewing 2009 and Looking Ahead to 2010 Zhangjiajie Tourist Attractions Zhangjiajie National Forest Park: Achieved recovery growth. 2009 was a year in which Zhangjiajie National Forest Park faced challenges and overcame difficulties in its twenty-seven years since establishment. In the end, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park emerged from the harsh winter of the financial crisis and welcomed a sunny and warm spring. Since the beginning of this year, the tourism promotion campaign held at the start of the year, “Ecological Zhangjiajie, Tied to the Pearl River Delta,”…
Reviewing 2009 and Looking Ahead to 2010 at Zhangjiajie Scenic Areas
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park:
Achieved Recovery Growth
2009 was a year in which Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, in its twenty-seventh year since establishment, met challenges and overcame difficulties. In the end, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park emerged from the harsh winter of the financial crisis and welcomed a warm, sunny spring.
Since the beginning of this year, the tourism promotion campaign held at the start of the year, "Ecological Zhangjiajie, Ties with the Pearl River Delta," innovated with the concept of distributing consumption vouchers and achieved immediate, excellent results; more than 1 million RMB was invested in advertising through various forms, over 300 media reporters from "Scenic Hundred Cities" and other outlets were received, more than 10 feature films were invited from provincial and ministerial-level TV stations, and image promotion was carried out under the theme "Ecological Zhangjiajie, Civilized Scenic Area" in China Tourism News and other major media. Nine services were summarized and launched, achieving the four-zero goal (namely no public security criminal cases, no major safety accidents, no valid guest complaints, and no blind spots in scenic area management); conventional practices were broken by offering free admission to students under 24 years old during winter and summer vacations, expanding publicity; this drove the tourist source market, and during the summer vacation visitor numbers surged. As of December 29, 2009, the total number of ticketed visitors entering the park increased by 5.1% compared with the same period last year, with ticket revenue of more than 68 million RMB, a year-on-year increase of 1.9% from 66.25 million RMB in 2008, achieving recovery growth in park tourism.
To prepare for tourism in 2010, at present, the Huangshizhai cableway is being renovated at full swing, the thrilling yet joyful Huangshizhai Grand Loop boutique tour route (suspended plank road) is under construction, the construction of the super five-star hotel Zhangjiajie Hotel has started, and the ecological parking lot specially prepared for self-driving tours is being demolished and rebuilt.
In 2010, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park will present itself to visitors with a brand-new look.
Yellow Dragon Cave: Spring Is Rich After Crossing the Winter
2009 was an extraordinary year for the world and for China; for Zhangjiajie and for Yellow Dragon Cave, it was also a very meaningful year. In this year, with the joint efforts of all the people of the city, Yellow Dragon Cave Investment Co., Ltd., as a well-known tourism enterprise in Zhangjiajie, carried heavy burdens and forged ahead despite difficulties in 2009, achieving gratifying results in the industry.
The scenic area is more beautiful. In 2009, Yellow Dragon Cave Investment Co., Ltd. invested 150 million RMB in the Yellow Dragon Cave Ecological Plaza, which was fully put into free use. The entire plaza integrates tourism services, folk performances, office management, leisure life, and other functions. The main buildings are all expressed with elements such as bluestone rock walls, imitation wood columns, through-tenon blue tiles, and the Tujia people's unique stilted houses. The grand appearance of the plaza enriched the connotation of Yellow Dragon Cave's tourism products, changed the previous situation in which visitors only looked at the cave, made the scenery both inside and outside Yellow Dragon Cave splendid, and effectively enhanced the scenic area's reputation.
The brand is more famous. In 2009, Yellow Dragon Cave Company innovated its marketing model and successfully planned the 2009 China Zhangjiajie International Country Music Week. "The world's natural landscape, our country music." The event invited 32 world-class country music teams from 19 countries across five continents, including the United States, Russia, and France, to play heavenly music amid Zhangjiajie's peerless landscape. With an international perspective, it planned and promoted the integrated development of Zhangjiajie's culture and tourism industry, not only expanding Zhangjiajie's international visibility and reputation, but also enhancing the country's good image in the world through soft power.
Visitors are more satisfied. Since August, the whole city has carried out the massive "Safe and Satisfied in Zhangjiajie" campaign. While doing a good job in scenic area construction and publicity promotion, Yellow Dragon Cave Company vigorously improved tourism service quality. The Yellow Dragon Cave Family Service Team, composed of Communist Party members and Communist Youth League members, carried family service boxes containing tissues, medicines, sewing kits, and other small items, shuttling through the main gathering places of the scenic area every day, proactively providing zero-distance, fast, and warm one-stop service to visitors in need, and was highly praised by visitors from all over. According to random sample survey statistics, the visitor satisfaction rate of Yellow Dragon Cave Scenic Area in 2009 reached as high as 95%.
Spring is rich after crossing the winter. The people of Yellow Dragon Cave believe that as the new year arrives, Yellow Dragon Cave's tourism business will surely welcome a brand-new spring.
Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area: 2009, a Year of Brand Creation
2009 was a year in which Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area's tourism resource quality and brand influence were further enhanced. On the basis of previous brand building and image creation, and with the publicity platform set up by the government, in 2009 our scenic area successively participated in various forms of promotion fairs in important source markets and joined with other strong scenic areas to create special tourism routes including Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area, further expanding influence. With innovative and meticulous marketing work, relatively good sales results were achieved. Compared with last year, the number of visitors from within the province received by our scenic area this year increased by 162.35%, and the number of domestic group visitors increased by 44.96%. Under the general trend of a decline in Korean groups, the increase in other overseas groups such as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand reached 202.57%.
This year, continuing Tianmen Mountain's legendary brand, our scenic area held the consecration of Tianmen Mountain Temple, Samaiti's second wire-walking challenge, and many other major events, achieving very good media effects and publicity results, and further expanding the brand influence of "the new legend of beautiful Zhangjiajie"!
Looking ahead to 2010, we are full of confidence. In market development, our company will attract more tourist sources with a model of new forms + new products + new projects. In brand publicity, we will continue to focus the world's attention with "legendary" events. At the same time, we will focus on creating the world's first live landscape musical "Tianmen Fox Fairy," allowing it, while displaying Tianmen Mountain's cultural heritage, to become a representative cultural product of Zhangjiajie and even Hunan, and at the same time an epoch-making masterpiece of China's live performances.
Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Scenic Area: Taking the Path of Differentiated Development
Since the beginning of this year, the reception volume of many scenic areas has been less than satisfactory. This is certainly inseparable from the sudden changes in the external environment, but it also shows that tourism under the new situation must adapt to the needs of the new situation, constantly transform and innovate, and only then can it seek development amid difficulties.
We can see that purely natural scenery tourism is no longer today's trend. Therefore, Wulingyuan, as a World Natural Heritage site, needs transformed tourism products to supplement it. The decision of the municipal Party committee and municipal government to transform sightseeing tourism into vacation and leisure tourism can be said to come at exactly the right time. As a new scenic area, our Grand Canyon Scenic Area responds to the call of the municipal Party committee and municipal government for the transformation of tourism formats, and focuses on creating vacation and leisure products, including the already completed Nokeli Slide, as well as the planned world's largest-span glass bridge, the world's highest canyon bungee jump, ancient tea ceremony culture, original ecological Tujia living dwellings and folk customs, noble ultra-luxury hotels, rail sightseeing trams, scientific research classroom Xiansi Cave, and a series of comprehensive sightseeing, leisure, entertainment, and interactive extreme experience projects, striving to make Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon a major highlight of Zhangjiajie's transformation from sightseeing tourism to vacation and leisure tourism.
Also attached are matters needing attention when coming to Zhangjiajie:
Zhangjiajie Scenic Area is mainly composed of Tianzi Mountain, Huangshizhai, and Yuanjiajie attractions. It is mostly sandstone peak forest, and almost all are mountain roads. The tour routes in the scenic area are well equipped, but you still need to be careful about personal safety and pay attention to the following points:
1. When traveling in Zhangjiajie, do not climb mountains in the scenic area on rainy days. First, the roads are slippery; second, there will be heavy fog at the summit and you cannot see anything. It is best to go to the summit for sightseeing within 1 or 2 hours after rain. If you are lucky, you may encounter a sea of clouds, which is very rare; also do not climb mountains when the weather is hot. First, physical consumption is too great; second, several summits have no green shade for shelter, and people will be dizzy from the sun. Zhangjiajie Scenic Area has Spring Festival, Labor Day, summer vacation, and National Day as peak tourism seasons each year.
2. When taking a sedan chair in Zhangjiajie Scenic Area, you must negotiate the price clearly with the chair bearers. If it is from the foot of the mountain to the summit, each leg of the journey must be made clear, so that they do not ask for more money halfway. They are all mountain people and very rough; also, when ordering food in Zhangjiajie Scenic Area, you must look at the menu before ordering. If you are not careful, two or three dishes can cost several hundred. It is best to ask the guide to arrange meals for you, which is economical and practical!
3. When touring Zhangjiajie Scenic Area, the less luggage you carry, the better, and the lighter, the better. It is best to bring an umbrella or rainproof clothing and pants (you can also buy a disposable raincoat locally, a few RMB each). Because mountain weather is unpredictable. In summer, be sure to bring sunscreen and mosquito repellent. Prepare some disinfectant wet wipes; simple medicines such as band-aids, anti-inflammatory tablets, and anti-diarrhea tablets (to prevent acclimatization); wear non-slip sports shoes. Bring extra film and batteries; buying them locally is relatively expensive.
4. When touring Zhangjiajie Scenic Area, it is best to prepare a little dry food (climbing mountains consumes more energy) to satisfy hunger, bottled drinking water (to reduce high-priced purchases during the trip), and keep money in separate places. If you have a nationally accepted bank magnetic card, it is best to bring it, as well as your ID card.