How to handle the relationship between the cultural and economic aspects of tourism

The most important consumption characteristic of the tourism and leisure economy lies in its cultural, social and humanistic nature. Tourism can be said to be a cultural industry with strong economic value, and it is also an economic industry with strong cultural value. When tourists travel, they are essentially buying culture, consuming culture, and enjoying culture.

Our country began to implement a five-day working week in 1995, and implemented the "Three Golden Weeks" in September 1999 (the Spring Festival, May Day, and National Day implement seven-day long holidays). In this way, all labor workers have 114 days of statutory holidays every year. If paid vacations are included, the number reaches about 124 days. Nationally, college, middle and primary school students and teachers have about 140-160 days of holidays each year. This means that people spend 1/3 of their time on holidays and leisure every year. During working days, people also spend about 1/3 of their spare time every day. According to statistics, consumption in vacation time and spare time has accounted for about 1/3 of total consumption. These three 1/3 show that China has entered the threshold of the leisure era and has been integrated into the background of the entire international leisure culture. What took Western countries nearly a hundred years to achieve, my country achieved in less than 20 years after reform and opening up.

This marks that our people have been liberated from heavy manual labor, that people have shifted from meeting basic life needs to the needs of cultural life and spiritual life, and that people have shifted from the traditional subsistence-based consumption model. Shift to the comprehensive development of its own well-off consumption model. Along with this change, a tourism and leisure economy is emerging.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce for this year's "May Day Golden Week", the country's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 278 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16%, of which the catering industry increased by 18%. During the "Golden Week", the country received 146 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 20%, and achieved tourism revenue of 58.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.2%.

Judging from last year’s statistics, the number of tourists in my country reached 1.363 billion, and the total tourism revenue was 768.6 billion yuan, an increase of 10% and 12.4% respectively. Among them, the number of inbound tourists reached 120 million, and international tourism revenue reached 29.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 10% and 13.8% respectively, making it the most dynamic and safe tourist destination in the world. The number of outbound tourists reached 31.03 million, an increase of 7.5%. China has become Asia's largest source of tourists. 124 countries and regions in the world have opened tourism to our people. If the income of various tourism-related leisure industries such as entertainment, transportation, service industries, etc. are counted together, the total income of my country's tourism and leisure industry last year has reached more than 1 trillion yuan. This fully shows that the tourism and leisure economy has become a new bright spot in our country's national economy.

Currently, 141 countries around the world implement a five-day working week, and tourism has become one of the largest industries in the world. It creates an output value of US$3 trillion every year around the world, of which the tax revenue in the United States exceeds US$600 billion. Industries related to tourism have become the top three largest industries in the United States: tourism at US$621 billion per year, health care at US$604 billion per year, and education at US$331 billion per year. The U.S. tourism and leisure industry employs more than 10 million people, with nearly 300,000 public service jobs. More than 2 million writers, artists, entertainers and professional athletes work in it, and its total consumption has exceeded 1 More than a trillion dollars. This economic model driven by tourism and leisure has become the number one economic activity in the United States. Americans have 1/3 of their leisure time, 1/3 of their income for leisure, and 1/3 of their land area for the development of leisure industries. These three 1/3 show that Western developed countries represented by the United States have entered an era of leisure.

Generally speaking, the emergence and development of cities originally relied on the development of the manufacturing and processing industry. But today, the prosperity of cities mainly depends on the development of tourism and leisure economy. Looking around at large and medium-sized cities at home and abroad, almost all of them are now engaged in commercial development, entertainment facilities, catering services, tourism, sports competitions, development and utilization of historical sites, and various vocational skills training, such as tea ceremony, flower arrangement, pottery, fishing, chess, etc. Housekeeping services are booming, and the conference and exhibition industry, parks and green spaces, art venues, museums, community services, etc. are also springing up. The rise of all these tourism and leisure industries has formed a complete industrial chain with social and economic benefits that complement each other, and has become a major symbol of prosperity, joy, and vitality in modern cities.

The most important consumption characteristic of the tourism and leisure economy lies in its cultural, social and humanistic nature. Tourism can be said to be a cultural industry with strong economic value, and it is also an economic industry with strong cultural value. When tourists travel, they are essentially buying culture, consuming culture, and enjoying culture. Therefore, tourism operators must correctly understand and carefully consider the various cultural and spiritual needs of tourists. Making service recipients happy, satisfied, and happy is the fundamental means to obtain economic benefits from the tourism industry. In this sense, the tourism and leisure economy is an economy that provides people with cultural taste and happiness.

It is a behavioral state in which people crave cultural appreciation, cultural creation, and cultural experience after completing the necessary labor time in society. It should satisfy people's spiritual needs of "seeking novelty, seeking knowledge, seeking pleasure, and seeking beauty" and promote the harmony between man and nature. The harmonious and friendly relationships between people, as well as the exchange and integration between different cultures, can achieve civilization, cultivate temperament, and enhance the value of human life. How great is this method of economic and cultural activities!

This means that to develop the tourism and leisure economy, we must attach great importance to the cultural pursuits of tourism and leisure people, pay attention to the cultivation of tourism and leisure mentality, and pay attention to the natural landscape and humanities The cultivation of landscape appreciation ability focuses on promoting cultural exchanges between different countries, different ethnic groups and different classes. It is necessary to prevent the destruction of our country's fragile natural and cultural heritage resources from purely economic perspectives. For example, the 800-year-old ancient city of Lijiang in Yunnan has become a "shopping city" and "eating and drinking city" bustling with people from early morning to late at night; the influence of carbon dioxide and light exhaled by tourists at the Dunhuang Grottoes caused the murals to discolor and peel off, and the damage in the past 20 years has exceeded that of the past few years. Hundreds of years of natural erosion; some cities with rich cultural heritage have almost submerged the cultural soul accumulated over thousands of years due to the construction of a large number of artificial attractions and modern buildings. This is all worth learning lessons and improving.

With the diversified development trend of people’s leisure needs, my country’s tourism industry is facing new challenges. From public tourism to personalized tourism, from emotional tourism to rational tourism, from urban tourism to rural tourism, from traditional tourism to leisure tourism, from domestic tourism to foreign tourism, all of these are one trend, which is to pay more attention to cultural connotation and gain spirituality. of satisfaction. This is a new issue faced by the development of tourism and leisure economy. During this year's "May Day Golden Week", due to the failure of relevant departments to keep up with the requirements, many people have lost their lives at a painful cost. Therefore, to further develop the tourism and leisure economy, it is urgent to introduce new concepts, new thinking, new enterprise models and new business models; it is urgent to cultivate high-quality tourism professionals who are good at business management; and it is urgent to strengthen tourism and leisure education for the public. , to create a good social and cultural atmosphere for cultivating the tourism and leisure industry and market.

I believe that my country’s tourism and leisure economy is in the ascendant and will surely develop more and more and become more and more popular among the people!