Evaluation of the integrated development of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang

Comrade Hu Ningting of the Statistics and Survey Institute released the evaluation report on the integrated development of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang on behalf of the joint research team of the China Tourism Academy and Tencent Location Services. The report consists of the overall index of the integrated development of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the sub-index of development competitiveness and the sub-index of coordinated development, and shares the characteristics and main data of the integrated development of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The report points out that the holiday-type county destinations with rich industrial clusters in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have relatively higher "square meter efficiency" in the development of culture and tourism; the integration of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has the general characteristics of strong tourism and weak culture; there is no obvious shortcoming on the supply side in the development of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the factor system is very complete, the demand side advantage is weaker than the supply side, the consumption related to accommodation, transportation and travel is lacking, and the consumption of food, shopping and entertainment is relatively leading.

1. Origin of the Study

The integration of culture and tourism is the basic law of market evolution and the core task of future development. Tourism is a mobile cultural collision, defined by culture and expressed by economy. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized the need to take the realization of people's yearning for a better life as the starting point and foothold of modernization construction, and to promote the in-depth integration and development of culture and tourism. According to the survey data of our institute during the May Day holiday, the cultural experience purpose accounted for 62.9% of the tourists' travel motivation. The integrated development of culture and tourism is the basic orientation of national policies and an increasingly explicit expression of urban and rural residents' desire for a better life. County towns are the most active areas for the development of culture and tourism. As the basic unit in China's administrative divisions, counties bear the most direct authority for the development of culture and tourism. Management and guidance are mainly carried out above the county level, and implementation and construction are mainly carried out below the county level. Therefore, the county is the basic unit for the quality of the integrated development of culture and tourism, which determines the breadth and depth of the integrated development of culture and tourism.

2. Research Framework

Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are rich in cultural heritage, rich in tourism resources, and residents are rich and free, meeting the necessary and sufficient conditions for participating in cultural and tourism activities. The integrated development of culture and tourism in counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, to a certain extent, represents the basic direction of the integrated development of culture and tourism in the country. The research team selected 30 counties with equivalent basic development conditions as research objects based on the population, productivity, land area and other factors of county administrative units in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and constructed a total index framework for the integrated development of county culture and tourism, which consists of county culture and tourism development competitiveness and coordinated development sub-indexes.

3. Main Viewpoints

The competitiveness of county-level destinations with high industrial concentration and vacation-type destinations is strong. Changxing County, Anji County, Deqing County and other counties have enriched the types of destination tourism products, met the travel and consumption needs of tourists, expanded the reputation of the destination and the perception of the products, and raised the competitiveness of county-level cultural and tourism development by gradually establishing rural tourism, ecotourism, and green tourism industry clusters and continuously improving various types of supporting facilities such as commerce, housing, culture, and art.

The degree of mismatch between supply and demand in county-level cultural and tourism development is not controlled by the level of development. Based on the same population, productivity, land and similar location advantages, the development momentum of county-level tourism in Zhejiang Province is stronger. The average score of Zhejiang counties is 77.082 points, while the average score of Jiangsu counties is 68.790 points. Among the top 10 counties, 9 are in Zhejiang. However, the ranking of counties in Zhejiang Province in terms of resource endowment, market activity and product perception is lower than that in Jiangsu Province, indicating that the mismatch between supply and demand in Zhejiang Province is more significant.

The integration of culture and tourism in counties has the universal characteristics of strong tourism and weak culture. The process of cultural and tourism integration is both "entrepreneurship" and consolidating the material foundation; it is also "shaping" and building a spiritual home. Combined with the data analysis of the county culture and tourism coordinated development index, the average score of Zhejiang county culture and tourism coordinated development is 79.477 points, and the average score of Jiangsu Province is 79.754 . Among the top 10 counties, there are 5 in Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Among the 30 sample counties, nearly 2/3 of the counties belong to the type of strong tourism and weak culture, which means that in 63.3% of the counties, the integration of culture and tourism is constrained by the level of cultural development. The strong tourism driving force shows that more profound and extensive cultural excavation needs to be injected into the process of county culture and tourism development.

County destinations are more dependent on foreign tourists. The total index of cultural and tourism integration development in Zhejiang Province is 79.237 points, and Jiangsu Province is 78.658 points. The level of cultural and tourism integration development in Zhejiang Province is relatively higher. Comparing the total index of cultural and tourism integration development in counties with the ranking data of permanent population, the local population is less correlated with the integration of culture and tourism. For example, Deqing, Anji, Changxing and other counties have better cultural and tourism integration development when the local population base is relatively low. This shows that when the local population base is basically at the same level, the contribution of local tourist consumption to the integration of culture and tourism in county destinations is limited. The entry of foreign tourists can strongly promote the optimization and development of boutique projects in the cultural and tourism industry.

IV. Case Analysis

Among the 30 sample cities, the research team selected Ninghai, Zhejiang and Liyang, Jiangsu to specifically analyze the overall situation of their 31 observation indicators. Ninghai, Zhejiang is the opening place of "Xu Xiake's Travel Notes". It is located on the southern coast of Ningbo. It currently has tourist attractions such as Qiantong Ancient Town, Wushan Grottoes, and Ninghai Forest Hot Springs. It has mountain, sea, forest, hot spring and other element resources. Liyang, Jiangsu is located at the junction of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces in the southwest of the Yangtze River Delta. It has Tianmu Lake Scenic Area, Nanshan Bamboo Sea, Yushui Hot Spring and other tourist attractions. The two counties have similar traditional cultural and tourism resource conditions and location conditions, and in the data analysis process of the 30 counties, the level of loss of points is similar.

The coordinate axes are constructed based on the loss of points and rankings to form a quadrant division diagram of the advantages and disadvantages of the supply side and the demand side. In the two supply-side diagrams, county destinations represented by Ninghai County and Liyang City have no obvious shortcomings on the supply side in the process of cultural and tourism integration development , and most indicators are in the advantage maintenance area. Its cultural and tourism integration element system consisting of scenic spots, cultural and museum venues, urban parks, and consumer clusters is very well developed . The demand-side advantage is weaker than the supply-side advantage, and consumption related to accommodation, travel and tourism is lacking, while consumption related to food, entertainment and shopping is relatively leading.

Supply-side advantages and disadvantages of Ninghai, Zhejiang and Liyang, Jiangsu

Quadrant division of advantages and disadvantages of demand side in Ninghai, Zhejiang and Liyang, Jiangsu

Source: Statistical Research Institute

Proofreading | Yang Liqiong

Source | Joint Research Group of China Tourism Academy (Data Center of Ministry of Culture and Tourism) & Tencent Location Services