Photography empowers the cultural tourism industry
What is tourism?
Many people may blurt out: "Get in the car to sleep, get out of the car to take pictures." Although it is a humorous answer, it is not difficult to see the importance of photography in travel.
The landscapes, cultural relics, and folk customs during the journey are recorded by photography, and have greater value in the dissemination of photos and videos.
As a way of recording and artistic expression in-depth life, photography has been closely related to tourism since its birth.
"The connection between travel and photography occupies an important position in people's daily life." He Yining, a well-known photography historian and curator, believes that the technology and creative methods of photography, as well as the tourism industry, have undergone tremendous changes in recent years. Photography plays an important role in promoting the development of the cultural tourism industry.
"The development of photography and the cultural tourism industry is a mutually reinforcing relationship," said Hu Linbo, a researcher at the Jiangxi Tourism Development Research Center of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Many tourist attractions in China are prosperous because of photography. For example, a large number of scenic spots such as Zhangjiajie in Hunan, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, Duku Highway, and Sichuan-Tibet Line have greatly improved their popularity through photography, and the photos out of the circle have even made some scenic spots famous in the world. point.
Previously, a photograph of He Jiaolong, deputy director of the Xinjiang Ili Prefecture Bureau of Culture and Tourism, wearing a red shirt and riding a horse and galloping, went viral on social platforms, and along the way, the small town of Zhaosu was also on fire.
Right now, Zhaosu County is in the most beautiful season.
In the circle of friends of photography enthusiast Qin Jie, every photograph is so beautiful that it makes people suffocate: the wetland park under the misty mist is like a fairyland, and the galloping horses at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains are magnificent!
"A good photo may attract a large number of tourists. If there are more tourists, we can also eat tourist meals." In order to promote tourism, Qin Jie has established a photography studio and is still preparing three tour groups and a photography exhibition.
The development of tourism is inseparable from the cultural core.
Tianma culture is the key object of Zhaosu County's development of tourism in recent years.
In order to better promote tourism, the local area holds tourism photography exhibitions and various photography competitions at the Tianma Tourism Festival every year, and also launches tourism photography projects such as "Tianma Bathing in the River", "Tianma Stepping in the Snow" and "Ten Thousand Horses Galloping", attracting a large number of photographers. home and tourists.
"Photography is of great significance to the prosperity of the Zhaosu Ma cultural undertaking, to enhance the popularity of Zhaosu Tianma, and to drive the development of the tourism industry," said Li Wenwu, executive deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Zhaosu County Party Committee.
Unlike Zhaosu, Xiyue Huashan in Shaanxi is famous.
As the weather vane of Shaanxi tourism, Huashan not only has unique natural scenery, but also integrates the culture of chivalry, Taoism, filial piety and landscape culture.
In the process of seeking cultural and tourism integration and industrial breakthroughs, Huashan has innovated its marketing methods through nationwide photography competitions, spread the majestic beauty and diverse culture of Huashan with the power of images, and actively promoted tourism recovery.
The annual photography festival in Wulanbutong Grassland of Inner Mongolia, Huangshan Photo Contest, Beijing International Photography Week... not only promote tourism through photography, but also hope that citizens can discover the beautiful corners of the city through photography.
Shandong Rizhao has taken photography as an important driving force for the development of tourism in recent years.
In 2018, Dongyi Town, Rizhao City, took the opportunity of holding the first China (Rizhao) Press Photo Week to officially "debut".
On the first day of operation, Dongyi Town became popular in Rizhao people's circle of friends, and the scene was even more crowded.
"Starting with the photography week, Dongyi Town has also listed the creation base of the China Press Photo Society, which has gathered a lot of popularity." said Xu Sen, manager of Dongyi Town.
"In recent years, Rizhao has fully tapped the local resources of Rizhao by means of photography, established the city image of Rizhao with the art of photography, and built the Photography Week into a unique urban cultural brand, making it a window for the world to understand and understand Rizhao. "Introduced by Xiao Mei, director of Rizhao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.
"The beginning of planning for a photography creation base is the era when China's tourism industry began to develop. Photojournalism is of great significance for promoting tourist attractions and improving the popularity of scenic spots." Xu Zugen, president of the China Photojournalism Society, said that in order to promote the development of tourism, China The Society of Photojournalism takes various measures to support the regions that have the conditions and the willingness to develop tourism. One of the measures is to promote the development of tourism by building a platform for photography creation bases.
The rise of travel photography and standardized follow-up
In the scenic spot of the ancient city of Kashgar, Xinjiang, tourists put on national costumes and transform into "Balang" and "Guli". The scenic spot is a natural photo studio. After they were busy, the shutter sound came one after another... Since March this year, the number of travel photography shops in this scenic spot has increased from more than 50 to more than 80 at present, and industries such as photography, makeup, clothing customization, and jewelry production have been formed around travel photography. chain, the travel photography industry in the scenic spot of the ancient city of Kashgar has begun to take shape.
The same scene is not uncommon in the Dunhuang scenic spot in Gansu, the ancient city of Dali in Yunnan, Sanya in Hainan and other places.
Recently, the epidemic has become the biggest uncertainty factor in the development of the tourism industry. Many photography exhibitions and competitions have been transferred online, which has a great impact on the development of new commercial formats and new product types such as travel photography.
"Taking advantage of the development of outbound travel and social media in 2019, the travel photography industry has just gained momentum overseas when it was interrupted by the sudden epidemic." said Bao Lingxian, general manager of Gaoguang Travel Photography.
Founded during the epidemic, Gaoguang Travel Photography is an enterprise that provides customers with high-quality professional travel photography services. At present, domestic services cover more than 30 cities.
"The epidemic is a double-edged sword, which makes our management more efficient and makes the team more focused on service. We believe that there will be more room for development in the future." Bao Lingxian said.
At present, most travel photography companies in the domestic market are "small and beautiful" studios, most of which are located in a certain city in China.
According to data from Ctrip.com, only 5% of the travel photography companies on the platform have locations in two or more cities in China.
"It can be said that the travel photography industry is now in the early stage of development." Bao Lingxian said that at present, domestic travel photography companies with brand influence and scale advantages have not yet emerged, and at the same time, the industry is chaotic and disorderly in the early stage of development. Characteristics.
Due to the low entry threshold, driven by commercial interests, there have been some non-compliant travel photography "explosion" incidents in the market.
For example, when you search for "Sanya travel photography" on a social platform, the "Sanya travel photography trap" that jumps out is very eye-catching. In many travel photography rights protection cases, customers have repeatedly mentioned "adding money in the middle, the effect is average, and the agency runs away", etc. question.
These industry chaos not only infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also caused losses to related companies and affected the development of the industry.
Hu Linbo said that the travel photography industry needs to be regulated and guided in the development process.
He suggested that the national cultural and tourism authorities should formulate and issue corresponding industry regulatory measures in a timely manner for the emerging formats of travel photography to promote the healthy development of the travel photography industry; local cultural and tourism authorities should take the lead and work with relevant administrative agencies to study and issue travel photography industry business license qualifications , regulate market supply; relevant industry associations should do a good job in the positive publicity of the travel photography industry, guide market demand, and make the travel photography industry sustainable.
Aziguli Turxun, deputy director of the Gaotai Residential Culture Center of the Management Committee of the Kashgar Ancient City Scenic Area, said that the scenic spot has specially created dozens of check-in points suitable for taking pictures, helping travel photographers to innovate their shooting ideas and attract more tourists to experience. "In order to avoid homogenization, avoid low-price competition and improve service levels, we are guiding travel photography practitioners to establish the Kashgar Travel Photography Industry Association, so that the industry can develop in a healthy and orderly manner."
Sanya City has also released the "Sanya City Wedding Photography Industry High Quality Service Standards", which puts forward clear specifications for reshoot services, standard contract guarantee services, and negative film gifting. It is the first to create standard contract services in the wedding industry. "Sanya City Wedding Photography Industry Standardization Contract", to prevent companies from cutting corners, mid-way price increases, secondary consumption and other problems in the service process.
The camera sets the stage to sing economically
In the lens, one photo after another records the different scenery, one after another works through the green water and green mountains, flying to the wider sky, through the light and shadow lens, the scenery has a place to rest.
In addition to the works themselves, the actors behind the photography bases, photography festivals, photography activities, photography towns and photography platforms are the economy.
In recent years, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province has deeply explored and transformed the value of photography, built a photography industry chain featuring digital photography and focusing on "photography +" industry integration, cultivated a 10-billion-dollar photography industry cluster, and opened up photography to enable high-quality green development channel, to create an innovative place for the industrialization of photography and photography to empower regional economic development.
According to the Lishui International Photography City Development Plan (2021-2030), by 2025, Lishui will build a complete photography and related industry system with an output value of more than 5 billion yuan.
Yunyang Town, Nanyang City, Henan Province has built a photography town, and successively held photography activities such as "Peach Blossom Festival Photography Contest", "Spring Lantern Festival Photographers' Creation" and "Magnolia Cup".
In recent years, the number of tourists in Yunyang Town has increased sharply, and the number of tourists reached 1.2 million in 2019 at the peak.
The average daily income of farmers will increase from 30 yuan in 2016 to 100 yuan in 2021.
Since last year, the local investment of 130 million yuan in road upgrades, river management, renovation of traditional villages, construction of East-West Garden Xinyi and Yunyang Magnolia Base has been in full swing.
The Stone Village of Shifo Temple, Yunyang Town, which became popular due to photography, will be named as a "National Rural Tourism Key Village" in 2021.
In 2021, Hualv Group and the People's Photography Press will hold the "Chinese Soul·Huashan Love" national photography competition. This photography competition will feature a waterfall of Huashan, a sea of clouds tumbling with white waves, a majestic beauty in the misty rain, and a hidden show in the wonders of Huashan. , the combination of hardness and softness, tall and gorgeous, presented in front of people one by one.
In 2022, the number of tourists in Huashan Scenic Spot will continue to rise, and it will also drive a variety of formats such as ropeways, catering, accommodation, and transportation, and achieve a significant effect of increasing regional income.
According to incomplete calculations, in June alone, the direct income of Huashan tourism exceeded the 100 million yuan mark.
According to data released by professional websites, the number of lenses sold worldwide will increase from 8.8 million in 2020 to 9.8 million in 2021, the first increase since 2017.
In addition to promoting the development of the cultural tourism industry, the growth of the photography industry has also pushed the photographic equipment industry to a higher level.
"Photographic equipment is almost a must-have item for travel. Equipment that is lighter and thinner, has better picture quality, and can shoot videos is also more popular with consumers." said Liu Jingyan, general manager of Beijing Yaqi Photographic Equipment Store. From taking pictures alone to taking VLOG, from linear connection to direct transmission, cameras are getting thinner and lighter, with more and more functions, and more and more people use mobile phones to take pictures on the go. The photographic equipment industry is ushering in a huge development opportunity.