People's Daily Online: Nanjing, the newest "net red city"

"There's always a trip to Nanking!"Throughout the year, you've always seen this quote here, or there, from time to time.

In August this year, a Tianjin female blogger came here in admiration, during the tour sent some short videos, did not expect to attract a wave of Nanjing netizens. What to eat, where to play, what season to come back to ...... a message is simply a guide guide, from which she saw the love of Nanjing people to their hometown, but also felt the warmth of Nanjing people. No wonder she said: "Nanjing I will definitely go again, and go a trip are not a problem, but also a few more trips."

In the cultural tourism recovery in 2023, from "May Day" to "National Day", from spring and summer to fall and winter, Nanjing has actually been on fire for a whole year, and even some netizens joked: "No kidding, there are really 100 million people in Nanjing. "

Nanjing how suddenly became a "net red"? In the view of the local culture and tourism people Zhang Zhenhao, Nanjing did not deliberately to create a net red economy, it's not man-made fire orchestrated, it seems to have a chance, in fact, is so natural.

Ancient Capital of the Six Dynasties, Famous City of History and Culture, City of Fraternity, China's Happiest City, World Literature Capital ...... It must be said that in Nanjing's many city titles, netizens give this "net red city" unique charm.

On October 28, the scene of the Nanjing Porpoise Music Festival. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Jianye District Committee

Visitors from all over the world converge on Nanjing

Zhang Zhenhao in Nanjing did more than ten years of tour guides, deeply today's tourism market has changed.

In the past, when I was a tour guide, I faced a busload of people, and at that time, I couldn't imagine that there was such a diverse audience on the Internet. "Nowadays, especially young people, they prefer to look for tips on social platforms, and some places may be swept across the net because of a guide, a live broadcast, or a breaking point." Zhang Zhenhao said.

At the beginning of the year, a sentence "always have to come to Nanjing," so that the popularity of Nanjing in the spring, tourists from all directions.

Due to the popularity of Nanjing's tourism market in this spring, some foreign netizens even said that "Nanjing has completed the annual tourism KPIs in three months". Relevant data also supports the proof, in the first quarter, Nanjing received a total of 44.37 million tourists, an increase of 68.5% year-on-year, an increase of 22% over 2019.

In the second half of the year, during the "Super Golden Week" connected with the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, Nanjing was unquestionably selected as one of the "Top 10 Popular Tourist Destinations in China". The city's key scenic spots, rural tourism, cultural and museum venues included in the monitoring received 16.182 million tourists, with a total tourism revenue of 21.96 billion yuan, of which the key scenic spots, cultural and museum venues received the largest number of tourists in the province.

The heat continues unabated

Nanjing also seized the opportunity

Take over the sky-high traffic.

At the beginning of this year, the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism developed a "tourist attractions to enhance the quality of service action plan"; during the Golden Week, Nanjing launched a special "stalls and night food" cultural and tourism consumption hand-drawn maps for tourists to provide a "tongue guide"; in October of autumn, Nanjing music festival blossomed everywhere, from Old Mountain, Jiangxinzhou, Wumadu to Tianshengqiao, Bashu Village and so on. "; October in the fall, Nanjing's music festival blossomed everywhere, from the Old Mountain, Jiangxinzhou, Wumadu to Tianshengqiao, Huashu Village and so on. In Jiangxinzhou, a porpoise music festival received nearly 40,000 visitors in two days, of which foreign tourists accounted for 70%.

Tourist satisfaction with Nanjing tourism is also well known. In Jiangsu Province, the Department of Culture and Tourism released this year, May 1, the first half of the Mid-Autumn National Day holiday in Jiangsu Tourism Visitor Satisfaction Survey, Nanjing is the province's only every time to achieve "high satisfaction" level of the city.

Citizen visitors play kayaking on Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing. Photo by Chang Cheng

Netflix City Under the Buzzword

10 attractions a day, only 3 hours of sleep at night, with the least amount of time, spend the least amount of money, visit the most attractions, tourism is like in the implementation of special missions. This year, the "special forces-style tourism" on the social platform has caught fire. College students limit tour 24h eat all over Nanjing "" hit workers special forces limit two brush Nanjing "" go to Nanjing to fill the army, two days special forces tour " ...... in the middle of the year, online once a large number of pop-up strategy about Nanjing.

Qinhuai District to cultivate the first store economy, night-time economy, experience economy, and encourage the traditional old brands to launch a new national tide, new national goods, to develop young people's favorite "tide economy"; Jianye District to build a number of characteristics of the Meow Street, Ginkgo Lane, South Lake Memory leisure neighborhoods, customized net red ice cream, cultural and creative peripheral, and the whole area of the tourism card routes, etc., to catch those young people. The young people have been captured tightly.

Fuzimiao, Old Mendong, Xuanwu Lake, Zhongshan Mausoleum; skin belly noodles, plum flower cake, salt water duck ...... In the industry, due to the Nanjing local tourism products, play is rich enough to attract young people from all over the world a steady stream of Nanjing, but also make Nanjing in the "Netroots City The road to become a "Netflix city" all the way to soar.

Different from the high-intensity "special forces-style tourism", "Citywalk" emphasizes slow-paced, immersive tourism, and the streets and alleys of Nanjing have become a citywalking destination. The alley near the Daxinggong (Great Palace) is a popular neighborhood for foreign tourists, and this ordinary market and backstreet in the eyes of the locals is known as the "Treasure Snack Street". Hidden in the old Qinhuai in the three seventy-eight alleys, some people say that this is the most urban hustle and bustle of the place, especially at the end of the year, full of purchases of New Year's Eve fireworks.

In April this year, "Nanjing release" said in an article: "comprehensive view of this wave of Nanjing travel fever, is to hit the young people's travel needs: first, at ease; second, culture; third, fashion. Jinling scenery, Jinling flavor, Jinling people, there are too many good things to discover.

Crowds at Fuzimiao Temple in Nanjing during the Lantern Festival. Photo by Shao Dan

Nanjing, how did it catch fire?

For Nanjing's popularity, many locals do not understand the question, "my mother bought a lifetime of vegetable farms," "neighborhood parks in front of the door," how "suddenly" on fire?

Hu Axiang, professor of the School of History at Nanjing University and director of the Six Dynasties Museum, said, "The most traditional Nanjing glows with the most youthful vigor, vicissitudes, romance, ancient capital, new city, richness, diversity, innovative endowment, a strong sense of contrast, there are too many places to see, topics to think about, and depths of enlightenment in Nanjing, which fits the individuality of the young people of the present pursuit. "

There is no reason to come out of nowhere, Nanjing has become a "net red city", naturally, is the result of the accumulation of thin hair. In the eyes of Professor Hu Axiang, "Nanjing has historical heritage, it is the ancient capital of the six dynasties, inheriting Chinese civilization; Nanjing has geographical features, it is a city of mountains, water and forests, half of which are made by heaven and half by man; Nanjing has a brilliant metropolitan literature, the peak of the ancient literature, it is the capital of literature; Nanjing has a lot of riddles to be solved, which will attract the young people to visit the ancient and explore the strange. In short, Nanjing is suitable for young people who have a sense of humanity, history, and like to play it cool, to walk around and have a look."

Stroll around the food court, walk a small street, listen to the dialect, walking in the smoke and fire in Nanjing, do not feel more a sense of affinity. More and more young people come to Nanjing, Nanjing also let more people feel that this is a warm city, warm and introverted, open and inclusive.

Hu Axiang said: "Nanjing's language belongs to the Jianghuai official language, Nanjing's diet mixed north and south, palatable wide, coupled with the city has experienced too many ups and downs, so the city has developed a calm and gentle city of Nanjing mentality - affordable, let go, think openly, carry clear. People strolling in Nanjing can relieve tension, anxiety, utilitarian emotions, subconsciously, that is a kind of poetic habitat feeling, which is why Nanjing is livable and workable."

As many netizens feel, Nanjing is a metropolis that combines "landscape, city and forest", "humanistic history", "affluence and convenience", and the key is Nanjing's fraternity and tolerance.

Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge water-friendly circular landscape bridge. Photo by Leng Jinming

"How does "Netflix" grow in popularity?

From "Netflix" to "Everlasting Red".

What's the secret?

"Retention is the key." "Nanjing release" said, on the one hand, is the development of the night economy, to create a long-lasting attraction of culture and tourism projects, will be more "one-day tour" into "overnight tour", from "one tour" to "multiple tours". From "one trip" to "many trips". On the other hand, is to enhance the core competitiveness of the city, the foreign friends of the "heart of the direction" into "no regrets choice".

In the view of Zhang Min, chairman and general manager of Nanjing Tourism Co Ltd, Nanjing has a very rich cultural heritage, and the cultural and tourism industry should continue to renovate on the basis of these resource endowments, injecting more vibrant cultural elements, making it a highlight that continues to attract visitors, and transforming the resource endowments into customer acquisition results. "With the recovery of the cultural tourism market, the demand of tourists has gradually produced differentiation, the cultural tourism industry needs to target the segmentation of the market, research on the preferences and needs of young people and consumer groups, so as to decide which fresh elements to inject." Zhang Min also found that the influx of people in Nanjing this year, highlighting the imbalance between traditional tourist attractions and emerging tourist attractions, such as Fuzimiao, the Presidential Palace, Zhongshan Mausoleum and other traditional tourist attractions, the number of tourists received has exceeded the carrying capacity of the attractions. "With emerging tourist attractions gradually coming into their own, we need to further guide the promotion of tourists, which can allow them to appreciate more of the splendor of Nanjing's cultural tourism." He said.

Zhang Chunlong, director of the Social Policy Institute of the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences and executive vice president of the Jiangsu Institute of Regional Modernization, believes that the heat brings more tourists, which can promote the development of the local tourism industry, and that more tourists mean more cultural exchanges, and the local culture can be spread and promoted. When a city receives widespread attention due to the popularity of online social media platforms, it is bound to have some impact on the economic, cultural and social life of the place. Zhang Chunlong suggested that Nanjing should rationally look at the existing "heavenly traffic" may return to normal, but also the need to take this rare traffic opportunity to build their own city brand in depth.

Paris, "City of Light", Rome, "Eternal City", Prague, "City of a Thousand Towers" ...... "Many cities in the world have maintained their attractiveness for a long time because of their unique brand charms. Nanjing needs to make full use of the unique charm formed by its existing historical background and development achievements to provide people with a rich tourism experience, while building its own city on its feet, realizing the fusion of tradition and modernity, and creating a better life scenario for citizens and tourists." Zhang Chunlong said.