Relying on history and culture: the development model of rural tourism in ancient villages and towns (2)

Commercialization trend of ancient villages and towns: Modern tourism economy is based on market economy, and the development of tourism in ancient villages and towns inevitably involves the participation of commercial departments. The commercialization trend and over-commercialization have attracted more and more attention from scholars and relevant departments.

(A) Problems in the development of commercialization

1. Continuation of spatial form

In the development of commercial tourism in ancient villages and ancient towns, we must respect the historical spatial form and cultural atmosphere and avoid the destruction of the mechanism of ancient towns. For example, the Shuiduo ancient town in Taihu Lake Basin is mostly prospered by water, and the traditional strip commercial street or cross water street is the main form of historical blocks. Therefore, although the modern transportation system with roads and bridges as the main body has gradually faded out of the historical stage, the commercial development of ancient villages and towns still needs to continue the coordination of ancient buildings in ancient villages and towns. Commercial streets should be strip-shaped or cross-shaped to prevent inconsistent development of business forms.

2. Scale control

For ancient villages and towns with tourism nature, the control of commercial scale is very important. Exceeding the limit will not only lead to the failure of commercial projects, but also make the cultural connotation of ancient villages and towns lose. The ancient village itself has a small resident population and weak consumption power. The target customers of new development projects are basically tourists, and the time and scope of tourists' activities at the most points are limited, resulting in limited consumption power. Therefore, when planning a business circle, we should scientifically verify the commercialization ratio according to the nature of tourist attractions resources, adhere to the principle of few but fine, and control the quantity and location. At the same time, commercial activities should not be occupied by others. Cultural resources scenic spots, eco-tourism scenic spots, red scenic spots and core areas of scenic spots should minimize the existence of commercial activities, and the design and decoration style of shops in scenic spots must conform to the style of scenic spots, which is conducive to spreading local culture.

3. Resettlement of indigenous inhabitants

Residents are an important carrier of history and culture, but in the commercial development of scenic spots, operators and residents are bound to encounter various problems such as interests and property rights, and the resettlement of indigenous people in ancient villages and towns has become a key issue that directly affects the sustainable development of scenic spots. The complete freedom of residents often leads to disorderly competition, which is not conducive to management, but the unified management of companies is easy to lose the traditional characteristics of ancient villages. The resettlement method of "changing cages for birds" adopted by Wuzhen has certain reference significance. Although under the guidance of unified and standardized management, there is still some debate about whether the folk tradition will be gradually lost, the property right formed by unified buyout does help to enhance its competitiveness, and residents have certain operational autonomy and retain traditional characteristics to a certain extent.

(B) explore the business model of ancient villages and towns.

Using natural resources for simple transformation and charging for sightseeing resources is the mainstream mode of domestic tourist attractions at present. However, the single-ticket economy does not conform to the principle of capital recovery in the company's operation, and it is more difficult to achieve profitability under the condition of average resource quality, thus giving birth to various new business models.

1. Comprehensive income business model

The comprehensive income business model has got rid of the single ticket economy and emphasized various income forms such as catering, shopping and accommodation, forming an effective cycle of capital. The "one-stop" development of food, housing, transportation, shopping and entertainment proposed by some scenic spots is the embodiment of this comprehensive income business model. For example, in Wuzhen's income model, ticket income only accounts for one third of the total income, hotel income accounts for one third of the total income, and other business contents constitute the rest of tourism income, which is a typical comprehensive income business model.

2. Industrial linkage business model

Use the resources of tourism platform to develop related industries, so as to gain more benefits, such as tourism real estate, tourism agriculture and tourism creative industries. Among them, the tourism real estate model, in which tourism and real estate develop at the same time, and the investment in tourism is compensated by the income of real estate, has been relatively mature in China. The combination and interaction between tourism and real estate make tourism real estate a unique selling point with three advantages: scarcity of resources, diversity of tourists and convenient location and transportation. At present, the development of tourism real estate in China is mainly based on the leisure and holiday of accommodation and second residence, and most of them are built in the outer suburbs of large and medium-sized cities or scenic spots directly away from cities.

3. Resource integration business model

This model is that the government or a single investor controls resources, completes infrastructure, and then attracts investment for various projects, and unites many small investors to participate in the operation. For example, in Fenghuang Ancient Town, Hunan Province, after the local government develops the tourist attractions within its jurisdiction, it will transfer the management rights to attract investors to participate in tourism development. Investors will continue the process of ancient town tourism development according to their own advantages and market demand, and the government will only manage investors at the macro level of the industry.

4. Mixed business model

Mixed operation mode refers to the mode of adopting various investments, modes of operation and various types of theme operation. From the early fund-raising to the withdrawal of diversified management methods, such as the development of Pingyao ancient city, the government is short of funds and unable to undertake the maintenance of a large number of street houses and the huge funds for the development of tourism in the ancient city. Take two ways: transfer of management rights and auction of property rights, and allow social capital to participate in the development of tourism. Pingyao government publicly auctioned more than 20 property rights and 100 management rights of ancient buildings in the ancient city, introduced social capital to carry out the commercial operation of the ancient city, and built six tourism industry streets, including special shopping, special catering, special accommodation and special entertainment, which attracted more than 40,000 tourism-related employees and played a leading role in the regional tourism economy.