Zhongxin Wanghai, April 4 Question: Shanghai Exploring the Way "with Fiction and Strengthening": How Does the Metaverse Detonate Cultural Consumption Power?
Written by Fan Zhonghua
Since the beginning of the year, Shanghai's cultural tourism consumption has "picked up" with the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival holiday, Shanghai received more than 1000 million tourists and achieved tourism revenue of 166.40 billion yuan, ranking first in the country; in the first quarter, Shanghai International Tourism Resort received about 630.2019 million tourists, an increase of 82.4% compared with the same period in <> before the epidemic. As a result, hotel and catering spending continued to rise.
Shanghai empowers cultural tourism and cultural and creative economy with digital technology. Photo by Fan Zhonghua
As an international cultural capital with nearly 300 museums and galleries, more than 2000,4 cultural and art exhibitions and more than <>,<> performances at home and abroad, how should Shanghai take advantage of this "east wind" to continue to tap its cultural value and empower the cultural tourism economy to become a "nuclear flashpoint"?
"The Great Memorial Hall of the Communist Party of China has recently welcomed 78,000 tourists every day, but the venue area is limited, how to let the audience have a better sense of experience and gain, we have been exploring ways and paths to deeply integrate with the digital world of the metaverse," said Ruan Jun, member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the First Memorial Hall of the Communist Party of China, adding that the biggest limitation of the traditional cultural tourism economy lies in the limitation of time and space, "In the spatial dimension, no matter how large the museum, there is an upper limit of reception every day, and in the time dimension, First, the uneven utilization of resources in the off-season and peak season, and second, it is difficult for thousands of years of Chinese civilization to be simply carried in one exhibit and one exhibition, and it can be deeply understood through only one exhibition. ”
Ruan Jun took the CPC Memorial Hall as an example, this year's preset number of participants is 300 million, an average of about 1,5 per day, but if this peak is really reached in the peak season, only the core exhibition hall of 3700,<> square meters will be crowded, and the exhibition experience is worrying. It is precisely for this reason that at the beginning of this year, the Great Memorial Hall of the Communist Party of China released the metaverse application scenario "Digital One - The Spiritual Home of Chinese Communists" for domestic and foreign enterprises and scientific research institutions, hoping to use digital technology to solve the "persistent diseases".
Shanghai contributes to cultural heritage by creating immersive experience spaces and virtual experience scenes. Photo by Fan Zhonghua
According to Wang Shuangning, director of the metaverse business department of Leyard Group's East China headquarters, another "pain point" of traditional cultural tourism lies in sustainability, "Will tourists come back after visiting once?" What kind of memories will you leave them with this visit? Wang Shuangning said that through technologies such as metaverse digital twins, tourists can continue to reminisce about the experience and even discover new pleasures from it, inspiring their idea of "visiting again".
In addition, Wang Shuangning believes that tourists can also change from objects to subjects, jointly participate in the creation of digital twin attractions, and participate in the content creation and consumption of digital collections.
Ruan Jun also pointed out that digital technologies such as the metaverse can allow more people to actively participate, learn and give feedback, "The 'spiritual home of Chinese communists' is jointly created by everyone, and this platform should not only allow everyone to gain something, but also form a positive cycle through interaction." ”
In fact, the immersive experience brought by the metaverse can also crack the one-sided feeling brought by the "full reality" of traditional cultural tourism. Wang Shuangning believes that the metaverse can fully mobilize the senses, and it is more memorable to break the fancy tour of the real scene that rarely changes during travel or exhibitions. At present, Leyard Group has entered the metaverse from the field of intelligent display, and has created a number of immersive metaverse cultural tourism projects in Detian Transnational Waterfall Scenic Area and Zhangjiajie, which have caused "hot comments" on social media.
Sun Xueting, founder of the Internet celebrity brand Solar Term Box brand and founder of the Solar Term Research Society, which is committed to integrating traditional culture with new consumption through smell, also pointed out that if the sense of smell can be brought into the immersive experience through meta-universe technology, the "five senses" can be fully opened, and in the perspective of time and space, the interpretation of different dimensions of culture by different dynasties can be perceived more three-dimensionally, and the meaning of traditional Chinese culture can be more deeply appreciated.
For example, she said, for example, the 24 solar terms are a clear symbol of Chinese traditional culture, through the longjing tea fragrance of the spring equinox, the ancient lotus fragrance of the summer solstice, the plum blossom fragrance of Xiaoxue, etc., combined with the time-space immersive experience of the corresponding solar terms living customs in ancient China, consumers can fully perceive the essence of Chinese traditional culture, and it is also possible to further "replicate" some elegant lifestyles, inherit culture while rejuvenating cultural consumption.
The cultural tourism field is considered to be one of the best entrances for metaverse applications, but on the one hand, the most "hardcore" technology integration, on the other hand, the most "soft" cultural content, how to make the digital reality truly integrated?
"The current very significant problem is the lack of 'logical transformers' between technology and content, the limitations of content creators' understanding of technology limit their imagination, and it is difficult for technical parties to deeply understand content and its value presentation appeals," Ruan Jun pointed out, adding that more "bridge-type" talents and organizations are needed between "wild imagination" and "a clear list of technical needs".
"The characteristics of metaverse technology integration make it necessary to 'big scenes, big integration', which poses a higher challenge to the combination of technology and scenes," Duanmu Haiying, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Multimedia Industry Association, pointed out that at present, the docking demand between both ends of science and technology and scenes is strong, on the one hand, new technologies need scenarios to verify capabilities, on the other hand, such as the cultural travel industry has a large amount of content that urgently needs to be awakened through technology empowerment, but after the initial docking, how to complete the empowerment well, there should be a large number of intermediate platforms to bridge the information gap at both ends.
Xi Tao, professor of the School of Media and Communication of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and director of the Institute of Information Design, pointed out that the metaverse is a fusion of content and technology dual innovation, which requires professional and good information design guidance. We should start with education, and use courses such as graphic creativity to cultivate the innovative thinking of science and engineering talents, so as to prepare for the rapid development of the metaverse era with "high innovation concentration". (End)