Rural tourism development cannot be a stampede; beautiful villages need industry support
On the 1st, the Hangzhou (International) Rural Tourism and Leisure Forum opened in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Qiu Yongzhong, a China Rural Tourism Person of the Year -- the first person in Taiwan's leisure agriculture and chairman of the Taiwan Beautiful Village Development Association -- said at the forum that many places are now developing rural tourism, but they cannot "stampede" into it without differentiation. A beautiful village should have an industrial foundation, and farmers should have something to eat and something to earn. On a certain foundation, there can be much integration of agriculture beyond production.
Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. In recent years, rural tourism in China has achieved unprecedented development, giving rise to strong development potential and contemporary value. The more "rustic" rural tourism becomes, the more popular it is, and it has gradually become the "main force" of tourism. Impoverished villages have become tourist attractions, and "geographical advantages" have gradually been transformed into development "dividends," in which leisure agriculture plays an irreplaceable role.
As a China Rural Tourism Person of the Year, Qiu Yongzhong believes that leisure agriculture is built on the foundation of agricultural operations, with agriculture integrating resources across fields, just like what is commonly said: "Business has no boundaries, cross-domain integration, unlimited extension."
"Taiwan has the foundation of agricultural operations. Without this foundation, it could only be sightseeing, not rural tourism or leisure agriculture. There are many kinds of agricultural development, not only production, but also many combinations of agriculture beyond production," he said.
He took Taiwan's Flying Cow Ranch as an example. At first, the local area sent 20 farmers to the United States to learn cattle raising. After returning, they were to operate a ranch in Miaoli, Taiwan, but unexpectedly policy changed, and milk powder and beef were allowed to be imported, so their operation faced a huge crisis. "So we studied it together with this ranch, and everyone decided to develop in the direction of leisure agriculture," he introduced. At the beginning, tourists who came to the leisure farm felt it was very fresh and also liked coming into contact with the cattle, so in the early stage of development there were already many tourists. In the middle stage of development, after tourists arrived at the ranch, they could experience dairy products and related derivative products on the farm, and of course also take part in experience activities on the farm.
Today, 90% of the ranch's tourists are "three generations of parent-child" visitors. Parents bring their children to the ranch and let them play and have fun on the open grassland, while the adults simply space out in a corner of the ranch. "What we want is exactly this feeling of relaxing together." As he spoke, Qiu Yongzhong improvised a local folk song, "When We Are Together," at the forum, letting everyone feel together the feeling that leisure agriculture needs.
"Agricultural resources combined with planning for various types of activities are the opportunity of leisure agriculture. They are inexhaustible, and using them adds distinctive features and differentiates the market, achieving the effect of competitive advantage." Afterwards, he also mentioned that today's open-style rural tourism scenic areas may bring a series of problems such as insufficient funding sources, difficulty in self-generating income, and difficulties in maintenance and management.
He believes that a software mechanism for rural tourism operations should be built. "Especially marketing. Through good activity experiences and multi-faceted interactive communication, experiential marketing should be done well." He stated that the path to cultivating and sustainably developing distinctive rural tourism products lies mainly in creativity, followed by brand building and the story behind the brand. The distinctive features of leisure villages should emphasize "local": local materials, local materials, local technology, shaping local differentiation.
"Agriculture has 15 business forms. Combined with planning for 17 types, 255 uniquely distinctive leisure agriculture products can be derived. These colorful agricultural variations can all be used together by everyone," he said.
It is understood that this event was co-hosted by the China Rural Culture Research Institute, China Newsweek, the Zhejiang Branch of China News Service, and the Hangzhou West Lake Expo Organizing Committee. On the evening of the 1st, at the closing ceremony of the West Lake Expo, an awards ceremony was held for the 2015 China Rural Tourism Persons of the Year, jointly selected by the China Rural Culture Research Institute, China Newsweek, the Zhejiang Branch of China News Service, and the Hangzhou West Lake Expo Organizing Committee.