Litang keeps up with Ding Zhen's speed: a rare passenger flow is welcome during the Spring Festival holiday, and infrastructure construction is already underway
Author: Chen Han speech
After becoming famous overnight, the development of Litang will take time.
On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, people who came to Litang to travel almost ended their holidays and returned to their respective life tracks. Genai Wangbo, who had been busy throughout the Spring Festival, had time to buy Tibetan wheat and other raw materials, planning to make some Tibetan snacks through e-commerce Platform sales.
"Many people may have known Litang's summer because of the love poems of Cangyang Gyatso, and Ding Zhen began to let more people know about Litang's winter and even the whole thing." He said.
In August last year, Genai Wangbo, who returned to his hometown from Beijing, opened a Tibetan dessert shop in Litang, "The Story of Zanba and Butter Tea."
This is the shop he originally wanted to open near his alma mater, Beijing Minzu University, and realized it in his hometown two years later.
"When I came back, due to lack of manpower and other reasons, it is only open downstairs, and the Tibetan baking has not yet started."
However, this does not affect the business of the shop.
In the last three months of 2020, Litang County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province received a total of 239,300 tourists.
In the entire Ganzi Prefecture, the fourth quarter of last year received 10.3791 million tourists, an increase of 55.24% over the same period in 2019.
This year's Spring Festival is a veritable "Golden Week".
Starting on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Genaiwangbo’s shop was filled with tourists almost every day. They came from the South and the North, or passed by on the way to tourist spots, or simply came to see Ding Zhen’s hometown. On Renkang Ancient Street, I saw Ding Zhen turning the prayer wheel while introducing Litang to tourists.
The Tibetan milk tea and desserts in the small shop are popular with tourists because of their distinctive features and low prices.
"There may be nearly a hundred people in the second year, and there will be 30 or 40 people every day thereafter. This is a rare sight for Litang in the off-season of tourism." Genai Wangbo said.
Based on the number of hot searches alone, Ding Zhen still maintained his status as a top star after four full months of popularity: apart from studying and working, he released singles and appeared on the Spring Festival Gala of various satellite TV... The pond, which is over 4000 meters above sea level, has excellent plateau scenery. Its summer is full of fertile water plants; its winter is cold and yellow; its agricultural products are of pure quality, and none of this is like Ding Zhen.
"This is normal. It will take time to promote development while protecting Litang." Du Dong, general manager of Litang County Tourism Investment Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Litang Tourism Investment"), was interviewed by China Business News recently. Said that for large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the sudden increase in the number of tourists by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands is not a problem, but for Litang, which has a population of only 70,000, it is necessary to welcome the arrival of hundreds of thousands of tourists. The overall upgrade of systematic engineering is required.
It needs to be solved step by step, ranging from the differentiated positioning and setting of tourism products to the small service training and sanitation facilities.
"Litang is very fortunate and favored by the god of luck. It is just such a place with excellent natural scenery. It is impossible for everything to develop at a super speed due to various reasons. Our goal is to maintain the carrying capacity of Litang and the original folk customs. Under the premise of people’s sentiments, race against time and do what you can do."
Ding Zhen's popularity accelerates Litang tourism
In 2020, Ganzi Prefecture can be called the “net celebrity place” and “big winner” of the national cultural tourism.
Under the huge impact of the epidemic, 31 million tourists were received throughout the year, and the comprehensive tourism income was 34.1 billion yuan. The two indicators were restored to 93.48% and 92.92% in the same period in 2019, basically the same as in 2019.
The popularity of Litang, which was not well known in the past, has risen sharply.
"In the past, we had a vacation early in the winter. Because there were no tourists, this year was completely different and very busy." The staff of Litang Travel Investment told the media before the Spring Festival.
My small shop is not yet profitable, and it does not make the busy Genai Wangbo feel disappointed, but is fulfilling and happy.
Sometimes when it arises, he will also perform Tibetan drumming for tourists in the store. "In cold winter, people will come to see Litang, not to mention the most beautiful time. I see my future."
As a native of Litang, Ge Nai Wangbo before junior high school was like Ding Zhen before his popularity. He herd cows, delivered milk, digged cordyceps and fritillary during holidays. The Tibetans waited for the heavenly gifts on the plateau with strong sunshine and produced them in different seasons. Green ecological pollution-free agricultural products, but due to natural conditions such as high altitude, the development of agriculture and animal husbandry is not smooth.
The "Survey on Poverty in Litang County, Sichuan Province" released in 2006 showed that in 2000, 96.75% of the total rural population in Litang County was almost in absolute poverty.
Due to backward education concepts, the drop-out rate of local primary school-age children is nearly 14%.
Until 2018, Litang's GDP was still only 1.215 billion yuan, and its industrial added value was 71.5 million yuan, making it one of the poorest counties in Ganzi Prefecture.
"There are elementary schools and middle schools in Litang, while high schools have to go to other places." Genai Wangbo was lucky. From high school and junior college to Beijing in 2011, to work in a health industry company in Tibet, he clearly did. The plan is to learn and understand the health sub-industries integrating agriculture and technology, and to promote products rooted in their hometowns, such as highland barley-based products.
"We use highland barley to bake snacks here without any additives, while the highland barley in Litang has a light fragrance, which is very unique."
Genai Wangbo's intuition is not wrong, Litang is really out of poverty by relying on technology to help farmers.
Beginning in 2014, under the national east-west poverty alleviation cooperation and the strategic deployment of counterpart assistance to Tibetan areas, Guangdong has formally supported Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan.
In 2017, the Zhuosang Modern Agricultural Park, jointly built by Guangdong Province and Litang, rose from the ground. Thanks to the difference in temperature between day and night on the plateau and abundant sunlight, extremely high-quality fruits and vegetables were planted here, and they were transported directly to major cities by air. Fresh supermarket.
In 2018, with the help of scientific research institutes and agricultural experts, Litang successfully planted watermelon, small tomatoes, mushrooms and other fruits and vegetables, which fundamentally changed the history of no vegetables on the plateau. Relying on cold chain logistics, Litang has become an agricultural industry in Chengdu. Transfer important production bases and pilot base counties for direct supply of Sichuan cuisine to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
On February 18, 2020, the Sichuan Provincial People's Government agreed to withdraw Litang County from poverty-stricken counties.
At the same time, Genai Wangbo also planned to quit his job and return to Litang after a thorough understanding of highland barley products, and opened a shop near the county square. Dante was really popular, which changed his choice of shop location.
"The development of Litang's cultural tourism industry is not because Ding Zhen started to pay attention to it. This is a decision made by the local area very early and it is very far-sighted." Du Dong said.
"Small but fine" Litang is practicing internal strength
Litang has the largest Tibetan Buddhism Gelugpa monastery on the 318 National Road, Qingnian Keer Temple, and Gnie Shenshan, which integrates glaciers, virgin forests and alpine meadows and pastures.
However, due to its limited popularity and high altitude, as well as the similarities in the natural scenery of the eighteen counties in Ganzi Prefecture, Litang is more of a place for tourists.
One of the ways that tourist attractions want to increase consumption is to become a tourist destination and a "consumption place."
In 2016, Litang County proposed to develop tourism as a leading and pillar industry.
In order to develop tourism, the local area has organized several Litang tourism resource expert review meetings.
In the winter of 2018, Du Dong was hired by Litang Travel Investment and began to create high-quality content in Letong Ancient Town.
Derived from the small and sophisticated high-end experience concept, there are no small commodity shops in the ancient town, but products with local characteristics.
In this way, the Tibetan bakery of Genai Wangbo was able to settle in the ancient town and become a way of experiencing Tibetan culture.
From 2019 to 2020, Litang Travel Investment invited domestic and foreign experts to jointly plan and design 8 miniature museums. Among them is the Cangyang Gyatso Micro Museum where Ding Zhen is currently working; moreover, many tourist spots are located in centralized exhibitions. The historical and cultural charm of the Tibetan folk custom and cultural experience-based Qianhu Tibetan Village AAAA scenic spot.
As a college student returning to his hometown to start a business in Litang, can Genai Wangbo's entrepreneurial ideals be realized?
During the Spring Festival, "The Story of Zanba and Butter Tea" sells ordinary milk tea for around 8 yuan, while some "exquisite Tibetan milk tea" on the same street will sell for 20 to 30 yuan.
"Will you be rejected by your peers like this?" Faced with the doubts of the CBN reporter, Ganai Wangbo said with a smile, of course.
"My goal is also to make fine products. At this stage, my cost is not low, but in the early stage of tourism development, in terms of the spending power of tourists, I think of small profits but quick turnover." Genai Wangbo said.
According to the original idea, everything from interior design and decoration to dessert categories and small shops must be the existing taste of Litang, the Gesang flowers of Ganzi, and the highland barley of Litang.
Compared with the Tibetan desserts in restaurants such as Beijing, the prices in small shops are much lower. Doing business in accordance with local conditions is the choice of Genai Wangbo, who travels north and south.
And in his heart, he is eager to have competitors to join, only by competition, his products will be better.
In fact, there are many cases of controversy caused by unreasonably high consumer prices in major tourist attractions across the country. What kind of management ideas should Litang operators use to contribute to Litang’s signature may require more experience Learning and training groping.
Not only operators, but service providers also need training.
Du Dong now has many things to coordinate every day, and the core is to solidify the software foundation of Litang Tourism.
In order to cope with the possible surge in the number of thousands of Tibetan village tourists in the peak season of spring and summer.
This is the necessary internal strength for small steps and fast walking practice.
A reporter from China Business News learned that, at present, most of the small but sophisticated projects of Litang Mini Museum are small investments of less than 1.5 million yuan.
"It's not that big investment is not good. Litang is not doing it at present. It is because of the high investment in natural landscape, long recovery period and high risk." said a person familiar with the development of Litang's tourism industry.
Not to mention the operating difficulties of some natural scenic spots built with a lot of money. In recent years, there have been cases of bankrupt natural scenic spots in China.
In 2018, a 5A-level scenic spot filed for bankruptcy and reorganization. The Grand Canyon has many famous scenic spots. Ticket income alone is as high as more than 76 million yuan a year. However, in the face of high investment and high debt in the early stage, these expenses are only enough to maintain the scenic spot Facilities: Last year, another 5A-level scenic spot had a debt of 900 million yuan and filed for bankruptcy.
In addition to Ding Zhen, a female deputy county magistrate in Xinjiang has recently taken a horseback riding video to promote local tourism and become popular.
Similar to Litang, most of the undeveloped natural landscapes in China are in backward and remote areas, but development cannot be achieved overnight. It is necessary to take advantage of the domestic tourism development opportunities in recent years to step by step to strengthen infrastructure and human resources construction.
The person said: "China has a vast territory and many natural scenery, many of which are also in remote and backward areas. Litang is very representative. Litang became famous overnight after Ding Zhen became popular, but many practical problems will not be solved. , You have to take every step steadily."