Walking in Longchuan village makes you feel like you are walking in an oil painting. Creeks, bridges and mist mold a typical Southern Chinese scene, alongside Hui-style architecture, featuring exquisite homes, ancestral halls and memorial archways, one of the main Chinese architectural styles in ancient times. The small village is located in Xuancheng, East China's Anhui Province, which is among the country's 5A top-level tourist destinations. The village is ranked as one of the most beautiful villages in the province. From quantity to quality Xiao Yao is a lucky girl, who has worked in this place as the attraction manager for five years, during which she vowed to provide better experience and services for visitors. Since the country released a blueprint in early December for the region's further integration, Yao sees more opportunities. In the past, Longchuan was a popular attraction, but "it needs to be upgraded into a quality tourist attraction," Yao told the Global Times. With further integration of the region, which is one of the most mature tourism markets, "the diversified visitors' sources will push us to upgrade our tourism products," Yao said. Currently, more than 60 percent of visitors to Longchuan are from the Yangtze Delta River region, according to Yao. Yao and her teams treat this region as a treasure. Cultural mixture The Yangtze River Delta region has the largest number of 5A tourist attractions in the country including Huangshan Mountain in Anhui and Qiandao Lake in East China's Zhejiang Province, with rich cultural and tourism resources. Meanwhile, the railway networks developed rapidly. By the end of 2019, the high-speed railway linking Hangzhou and Huangshan in East China has recorded 11.27 million passenger trips since it went into operation on December 25, 2018. It connects a number of iconic scenic spots, including Huangshan and West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang. Tourism products with cultural experience have attracted tourists both at home and abroad, and will become the trend for river tourism in the future, according to a November Xinhua report, citing another report issued by the World Tourism Alliance and the College of Tourism and Service Management of Nankai University. The Yangtze tourism attractions should "learn experience from the world-famous tourism destinations and make efforts to provide individual and quality services for the tourists," Wu Liyun, associate professor of the Chinese culture and Tourism Industry Research Institute of Beijing International Studies University, told the Global Times. They could also launch themed lines and cultural tourism products, Wu said. Yangtze authorities are making efforts to further integrate these precious tourism resources. For instance, the second Conference on the Procurement of Public Culture and Tourism Service Products was held in Pudong, Shanghai on November 14. Nearly 100 representative groups from the Yangtze River Delta region displayed their products during the three-day conference. During the conference, renowned designers, curators and operation teams had the chance to communicate with each other. This was echoed by the local tourism bureaus of the Yangtze River Delta. The local tourism departments have actively participated in activities to communicate with the partners and competitors. The Xuancheng authorities combined with its local attractions pushed forward a series of new attractions, which mainly caters to young people, such as the Sichuan-Tibet highway in the southern Anhui. Compared with developed cities in the region, it still has space to lift its culture and tourism development, said the local culture and tourism bureau director surnamed Fu. For instance, a high-speed railway is expected to cover this region soon. A tourist gathering and distribution service system is being constructed step-by-step to cover the entire city. The supporting facilities such as the tourism tag system and smart tourism also still need to be improved, Fu told the Global Times. Indeed, the local governments of the Yangtze are the promoters as well as the implementers, and should establish a unified talent evaluation system, improve the basic facilities such as the transportation between cross-regions museums and culture centers, Wu noted. For smaller and underdeveloped tourism attractions, it's essential for them to innovate new products, Wu said, adding that individuality could provide a chance for them.
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