Recently, Gansu Tianshui Malatang has become popular on social media platforms, attracting many tourists to check in.
A staff member of a local Malatang shop told a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily that the number of tourists from out of town has increased recently. The store opened at 11 a.m., and tourists started queuing up at 6 a.m. Some tourists queued for nearly 5 hours before finally getting a bite. Had Malatang.
Malatang shop business is booming
The boss mobilized relatives and friends to help
On the morning of the 15th, before the opening time, the staff of Haiying Malatang were preparing dishes, and there was already a long queue outside the door.
The staff told the Beiqing Daily reporter that the store opened at 11 o'clock, but there were tourists queuing outside the door at 6 o'clock in the morning.
"We stopped queuing at 3:40 pm on the 14th, but we were still busy until after 8 pm before we could finish work. When there were many people, we had to queue for three or four hours, and the longest queue was nearly five hours. When everyone was queuing There are volunteers to maintain order, and many people come to deliver specialties. We have to prepare food, and there is no way to open the door early."
As for how many diners the store received in a day recently, the staff admitted that they had no time to count.
According to the staff, Haiying Malatang has been open in the local area for more than 20 years. It was well-known before the explosion and was very popular with local diners.
"Last year, the traffic in the store increased since May Day, but this round of popularity started after the Spring Festival. The diners mainly come from the areas around Tianshui, but recently there are more and more diners from out of town, from Shaanxi, Shanxi, We have received customers from Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Tibet, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other places." In order to cope with the booming business, the staff said that the boss has mobilized relatives and friends to help, and there are currently nearly 20 staff members in the store.
Talking about the characteristics of the spicy hotpot in our store, the staff said that the spicy hotpot ingredients in the store are mainly vegetarian dishes, but regardless of meat or vegetable, the price is 1 yuan per skewer, so you can eat enough for 20 to 30 yuan.
A staff member of another Malatang shop said, “There have been a lot of tourists coming to the store to eat Malatang recently, and we basically have to wait in line for three or four hours.”
There are car owners at stations and airports
Free transportation for tourists to eat Malatang
As more and more tourists come to Tianshui to eat Malatang, starting from March 11, Tianshui Xitong Passenger Transport Company opened two "Malatang Bus Dedicated Lines".
Mr. Wang, a staff member of the company, told a reporter from Beiqing Daily that around March 8, the company’s staff on duty at major transportation hubs in Tianshui observed that more and more tourists from other places came to Tianshui to eat spicy hotpot.
"Many foreign tourists will ask the staff when they leave the train station, how to get to the Siheyuan in Taizhou District to eat Malatang. On the short video platform, we have also noticed that the number of videos and comments related to Tianshui Malatang is increasing, so, We changed the original buses No. 1, No. 6 and No. 35 into the 'Mala Tang Bus Dedicated Line'."
In addition, Tianshui citizens voluntarily organized a love car fleet to pick up tourists at the train station and airport for free to eat Malatang.
One of the car owners, Mr. Zhang, said that he was very excited to see his hometown becoming popular and wanted to do his part for his hometown.
“Although there are direct buses from the high-speed rail station to the place where you eat spicy hotpot, the distance is 15 kilometers, so I drove tourists there for free from the station.”
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that the Tianshui Hongqi Car Club has also formed a love fleet to transport tourists to eat Malatang for free.
Mr. He, a member of the Car Club, said that they started to pick up and drop off tourists for free on March 9. As the number of tourists increases, more and more caring car owners join.
"On the 14th, there were 25 cars. On the train that arrived at 10:56 a.m. that day, our 25 cars carried hundreds of tourists. We plan to do this for a long time."
Recommended by Tianshui Culture and Tourism Bureau
Tourist Routes and Malatang Shops
In an interview with local media, Li Xingjie, deputy director of the Tianshui City Culture and Tourism Bureau, called on tourists from all over the world to bring their relatives and friends to Tianshui for tourism and as guests.
He said that the arrival of tourists made Longcheng Tianshui even more exciting, and invited everyone to taste Mala Tang in Tianshui Ancient City and continue 600 meters to Fuxi Temple, the first temple in China, to experience the ancestral culture.
In addition, Li Xingjie also recommended tourists to visit the Maijishan Grottoes, a 5A-level scenic spot, the Daxiangshan Grottoes in Gangu, a national 4A-level tourist attraction, and the Wushan Water Curtain Cave, which is said to be the largest cliff relief in Asia.
expert
Develop northwest characteristic tourism to create sustained attraction
After Tianshui Malatang became popular, how can Tianshui keep the enthusiasm of foreign tourists to travel to Tianshui while catching this wave of traffic?
In this regard, a reporter from Beiqing Daily interviewed Han Yuanjun, an associate researcher at the China Tourism Academy.
He said that this craze reflects people's pursuit of "special elements" when choosing tourist cities. For example, Harbin's ice and snow are the characteristics of the city, and Tianshui's spicy hotpot is also the city's characteristics.
“This makes it easy for tourists to have the impulse to consume and take a trip as soon as they want, and thus this craze is formed.”
For a city to develop tourism well and create sustained attraction, it needs to follow the laws of tourism industry development.
Han Yuanjun believes that the popularity of Malatang is the "trigger" for the development of tourism in Tianshui. "Tourism products or tourism resources must have a certain regional or national appeal, so that tourists can be attracted and tourists can stay and have a good life." There is something to do and enjoy. I think Tianshui needs to develop the unique tourism resources of the northwest. Previously popular tourist cities were in North China and Northeast China, at least one every year. This time it is Tianshui’s turn in the northwest. It depends on whether Tianshui can be here. Together we continue to work hard.”
Han Yuanjun said that in order to develop Tianshui's tourism attraction, it is necessary to solve the transportation problem to Tianshui from the main tourist sources, such as whether the transportation to Tianshui from the main tourist sources in Gansu Province and major developed cities in the country is convenient.
Transportation problem is an important factor in deciding whether tourists should travel to Tianshui.
Text/Intern Yao Yi, Zhang Ke, reporter Dai Youqing
(Source: Beijing Youth Daily)