On October 30th, the highly anticipated "2024 World Tourism Alliance · Xianghu Dialogue" event grandly opened in the picturesque Sanya, Hainan. During the event, numerous elite representatives from the global tourism industry had in-depth exchanges and discussions on the core issue of "using sustainable development strategies to promote local community prosperity". The following is an overview of the main content of the event:
host:Patrick Fritz, Technical Coordinator for Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department of the United Nations Tourism Organization
Dialogue guest:
Olga Stovel, an expert from the United Nations Tourism Organization
Shi Jinlian, Expert of the United Nations Tourism Organization and Dean of the Institute of Culture and Tourism Development at Beijing Business and Technology University
Song Rui, Director of the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Anli, Vice President and Head of Public Policy at Airbnb China
Wang Xiaoshi, Asia Regional Director of the World Tourism and Travel Industry Council
Zhou Meixiang, Deputy Director General of the South South Cooperation Financial Center
The following is the conversation content:
host：Communities are important stakeholders in the development of tourism industry. Given the diverse and even controversial definitions of community tourism, how should we define and understand successful community tourism?
Olga StovelSuccessful community tourism is typically built upon the necessary skills and suitable conditions we possess to ensure we can tackle various challenges. Given the complexity of the situation, we cannot simply use a unified standard to measure it, but must conduct detailed analysis based on specific circumstances. Overall, the core of successful community tourism lies in adopting appropriate methods to continuously improve the level of coordinated development between the tourism industry and the community. In this process, we should draw on more successful cases as references.
host:So, how do people practice the concept of "community-based tourism"?
Shi JinlianThrough case studies, it has been found that successful cases all share a common feature, which is a high emphasis on the effective utilization of cultural and tourism resources. Firstly, the importance of resources is self-evident. Each region has unique resource endowments, which are used to develop diverse tourism products. Secondly, the management of community tourism destinations is particularly important, including government leadership, multi-party participation, and benefit sharing mechanisms. Once again, the digital transformation of communities is indispensable, such as enhancing visitors' experience of local history and culture through immersive performances and other means. For example, the Wukang Road Anfu Road block in Shanghai showcases the historical changes of century old architecture, while the Phoenix Ancient City integrates literary characters into tourism experiences. Finally, the key to sustainable tourism is to strengthen community training and capacity building to ensure that local community residents can fairly share the benefits of tourism development.
Song RuiIn China, community tourism is not so much a specific type of tourism as a basic principle and concept for tourism development. This concept emphasizes that when developing various forms of tourism such as rural tourism, folk tourism, and urban tourism, communities should participate as much as possible and benefit from them. To achieve this goal, it requires the joint participation of government, enterprises, industry associations, academic institutions and other entities. Taking the Chinese government as an example, the "15th Five Year Plan" currently being formulated places special emphasis on the interests of communities. In fact, China has always emphasized that "blood transfusion is not as good as blood production", and has actively advocated for cultivating the self-development ability of local residents, enabling them to participate in various levels of work from basic labor to decision-making empowerment. This kind of capacity building is the core of community tourism development. Of course, the specific implementation methods of community tourism vary for different countries and regions, and it is particularly important to rely on international platforms to share experiences in a timely manner. Finally, regarding community tourism, is it possible to further expand its meaning, making it not only a goal for tourism development, but also a way to promote the development of related fields? This will be a development direction worth looking forward to in the future.
host:The core feature of community tourism is to rely on the local community and its cultural heritage. For enterprises, how to establish mutually beneficial and win-win cooperative relationships with communities to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the tourism industry?
amwayThe community tourism concept constitutes one of Airbnb's core competitive advantages. Airbnb was founded in San Francisco in 2007. Initially, the two founding partners hosted three guests at their home, sparking the idea of allowing community residents to directly participate in community tourism activities. For over a decade, Airbnb has successfully implemented this concept. As of 2023, 4000 cities worldwide have welcomed Airbnb visitors for the first time, with 80% located in non urban areas. The shared accommodation model has lower initial investment and entry barriers, making it easier for local residents to participate, which helps promote the development of tourist destinations and employment growth. By utilizing local resources and providing localized services, we are committed to better revitalizing local communities, maintaining and disseminating community culture, and creating unique travel experiences based on the community. By extending the stay time of tourists in non-traditional or popular tourist destinations, they have more opportunities to deeply experience local culture and life. We are well aware that local culture in the tourism industry is the best travel experience, and Airbnb hopes to convey unique cultures from around the world to residents around the world.
Wang XiaoshiFor the World Tourism and Travel Industry Council, sustainable development has always been one of its core tasks. A report we released earlier last month showed that indigenous communities play a crucial role in community tourism and have made significant contributions to sustainable development. In the actual operation process, we still face many challenges, mainly reflected in three aspects:Firstly, there is the issue of fundingIn indigenous communities, many small and medium-sized enterprises face the problem of insufficient funding for infrastructure construction and market promotion. The involvement of commercial capital is usually accompanied by considerations of investment return cycles. How to strike a balance between short-term gains and long-term development, while incorporating the opinions and participation of indigenous peoples, is undoubtedly an important issue.Secondly, there is cultural overdevelopmentThe artistic presentation of culture is crucial, but current cultural and tourism performance projects are often executed by professional groups, not always by local residents themselves. We should further explore how to involve local residents more deeply and create more exquisite and beautiful experiences.Finally, the destination carrying capacityGiven the centralized and intensive dissemination phenomenon on social media platforms, it may lead to overcrowding of destinations in the short term. How to strike a balance between capacity building and the rational use of communication tools, while protecting relatively vulnerable indigenous communities, is also a thought-provoking issue.
Zhou MeixiangIn terms of innovative financial models for community tourism, China has carried out various effective and successful practices. Among them,Community Tourism CooperativeIt is an effective financing method. In Gansu, service providers operating homestays and rural homestays have joined forces with local service personnel such as plowing and horse pulling to form community tourism cooperatives. The cooperative concentrated funds to transform local characteristic residential buildings into homestays, providing services for tourists. At present, the bank has provided several foreign loan projects, each with a funding scale of 200 million US dollars. These projects cover dozens of counties and multiple villages located around tourist attractions.Tourism CrowdfundingIt is also a financial innovation model based on community tourism. Gutian County in Fujian and Liuyang in Hunan have raised funds through this method to improve community infrastructure, scenic spots, and tourism services.Data assetizationIt is also an important way to obtain credit support. Tourism investment companies screen and organize data, convert it into assets, and include it in their financial statements. These data assets help to enhance the valuation of tourism companies and obtain credit support from banks. Hunan, Sichuan, Qinghai and other regions have successfully obtained credit support from banks through data assetization. China has also implemented infrastructure public REITs development projects, obtaining financing through infrastructure bonds. In addition, community tourism has successfully received financial support through the development of scenic spots, wetlands, afforestation, and carbon credit projects.