Hechi's tourism income reaches 14.7b yuan in 2014

The number of tourists visiting Hechi and the amount of revenue generated from the industry reached record highs in 2014.

The city received a total of 15.39 million domestic and foreign tourists, an increase of 19 percent over the same period last year. The total amount of tourism income generated was 14.7 billion yuan ($2.35 billion), 30 percent more than 2013. Hechi also welcomed 91,700 inbound tourists who contributed $33.83 million to the city’s international tourism revenue.

To take Bama Longevity International Tourist Area as an example, it received a total of 8.51 million domestic and overseas tourists in 2014, achieving an increase of 21 percent compared to 2013. Its gross tourism income was 8.1 billion yuan, an increase of 30 percent compared to the previous year. The number of inbound visitors amounted to around 62,800, bringing in $23.1 million of international tourism income.

The statistics reflect not only the prosperity of Hechi's tourism industry, but also the good momentum of its economic development.

Optimizing the development layout

Last year, Hechi carried out a development strategy for the Bama International Tourism Area and devoted to achieving the joint development of Donglan, Bama, Fengshan, Dahua, Tian'e, Du'an, Nandan, Jinchengjiang, Yizhou, Luocheng and Huanjiang. Meanwhile, the city made an overall plan in fields of project planning and construction, publicity and promotion, integrative development and supervision systems and comprehensive reform.

To take the public tourist service as an example, Hechi focused on four aspects such as the construction of a tourist distribution center and the development of smart travel. In addition, the city carried out comprehensive research on 184 tourism development projects belonging to six counties and put eight projects on the planning list, including key tourist attractions, land utilization, urban system, environmental protection, water resources utilization and protection, comprehensive transportation, cultural protection and the health industry. It has started to implement 53 programs belonging to local key scenic spots and has completed 22 of them.

Investing in special tour routes

In 2014, Hechi carried out a total of 170 tourism projects and input 1.45 billion yuan of fixed-asset investment in tourism, an increase of 37.2 percent compared to 2013. The Bama Longevity International Tourist Area constructed 163 infrastructure projects in 2014 and invested an accumulative total of 1.36 billion yuan in development. Hechi released six special tour routes, including the international longevity and health tour, ecological health maintenance tour, ethnic folk-custom tour, adventure tour of geological parks, Deng Xiaoping’s footprint seeking tour and Hongshui River's golden waterway tour.

Focusing on media publicity

Hechi strived to promote the poverty alleviation projects by the vigorous development of tourism industry and strengthen the interactions between tourism and other walks of life. Moreover, it advertised the tourism image of Hechi on CCTV, Guangxi TV, and even the billboards on the two sides of highways. Hechi also held promotion events in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Changsha to popularize its tourism attractions.

Edited by Jake Hooson