General situation of eco-cultural tourism circle in western Hubei

The eco-cultural tourism circle in western Hubei includes Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Yichang, Shiyan, Jingmen, Suizhou, Enshi, Shennongjia and other 8 cities and counties (forest areas) located in western Hubei. Its total population and land area account for about 50% and 70% of the province respectively. It is an important ecological function area in China, the largest hydropower base, the source of the culture of the Three Kingdoms, and also an important agricultural product base and manufacturing base in Hubei. Western Hubei is rich in eco-cultural tourism resources. According to statistics, there are 2 world cultural heritages, 9 national nature reserves, 35 national intangible cultural heritages, 4 national scenic spots and 3 national geological parks in western Hubei. Ecological and cultural tourism resources and scenic spots account for more than half of the province. It has five resource advantages: ecology, history and culture, wonders of engineering construction, regional folklore and location. Shennongjia, which accounts for 54% of the forest area in the province, is the only best-preserved virgin forest in the middle latitude of the world. This paper mainly introduces four of the five major cultural systems in Hubei, such as Chu culture, Three Kingdoms culture, Batu culture and religious culture.

The ecological circle in western Hubei has the world-famous water sources of the Three Gorges Project and the Middle Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project. The folk culture represented by the customs and folk stories of the Tu and Miao nationalities in Wudang Mountain area, connecting the east with the west and connecting the south with the north, is an important channel to enter Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hunan and Chongqing, and is connected with world-famous scenic spots such as xiangxi, Xi 'an, South Henan and East Chongqing. On the other hand, the western part of Hubei province integrates the old, the young, the poor and the reservoir area, and its economic and social development is relatively backward. Its poverty-stricken counties account for 67% of the province, and the poor population accounts for 70% of the province. Whether eight cities and prefectures (forest areas) in western Hubei can overcome all kinds of difficulties, give full play to their comparative advantages and achieve rapid development is very important for Hubei to coordinate regional development and become an important strategic fulcrum to promote the rise of the central region, especially for Hubei to cope with the international financial crisis and ensure stable and rapid economic development. Tourism is an important breakthrough.

The overall level of tourism development in western Hubei is not high, and its resource advantages are limited. From the perspective of the whole province, although western Hubei occupies more than 60% of the province's tourism resources, the total number of tourists received and the total tourism revenue account for a low proportion of the province. In 2007, the two indicators accounted for 43% and 36% of the province respectively. From the perspective of the whole country, western Hubei, which is rich in resources, has a great gap with developed regions and surrounding areas in terms of tourism.

Compared with the scenic spots, Wudang Mountain received only 6.5438+0.02 million tourists in 2007, which is extremely disproportionate to the status of world cultural heritage and national 5A-level scenic spots, and far lower than similar scenic spots: Mount Emei 2.568 million, Leshan Giant Buddha 2.767 million and Shaolin Temple over 4 million; Shennongjia received about 900,000 tourists, Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, which is also an eco-tourism scenic spot, received 2.52 million tourists, and Zhangjiajie in Hunan received 6.5438+0.78 million tourists. The Three Gorges Dam receives tourists 1.25 million, and Dujiangyan, which is also a water conservancy hub, receives tourists1.96 million.