Yichang has a unique charm in September. Over one hundred traveling salesmen from Korea, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as the mainland of China embarked on a trip for looking for the beautiful sceneries of Yichang.
Whether it is a luxury cruise which creates comfortable travel experience, or a visual feast brought by landscape and humanity, different salesmen have different feelings about Yichang, various challenges and opportunities of the trip.
Surprise: The New Tourism Brings New Opportunity
"I feel so surprised because I have come to Yichang many times but each time I found a different Yichang." This is the feeling from Cao Yating, the product planner of department of mainland, Hong Kong and Macao of Taiwan Lion Travel Co., Ltd., when she traveled the Three Gorges Family Scenic Resort.
"To be honest, as the tourism enterprise, we cannot introduce Yichang to Taiwan most because of the transportation." Wu Shushen, the manager of mainland district also from Lion Travel said.
As Taiwan\'s largest travel business enterprise, the Lion Travel is also an important Taiwanese strategic partner built by Yichang in recent years. Both sides once cooperated in "Beautiful Hubei Province", "Travel Shennongjia by Boat and Experience New Three Gorges", etc. But due to the lack of direct flights, the cooperation between the two sided had been in a transboundary state, which means people took Chongqing or Wuhan as the transfer center and passed through Yichang "incidentally". In view of this, Taiwan inbounds tourists accounted for a small proportion in the Yichang\'s tourism market in the past two years.
Since 2014, the condition has the new change and opportunity. In last year, the charted airplane from Yichang to Taiwan was approved to open which ended the history of no direct flights between the two districts. The direct advantage of this good policy is stimulating Yichang\'s tourism market.
"There are many good tourism products in Yichang and Taiwanese people like them very much." Wu Shushen said that some outstanding tourism products like "two gorges and one dam" have a huge attraction to Taiwan. After coming back to Taiwan, they will make great efforts to promote and deeply develop new product lines based on Yichang, Shennongjia, Enshi and Badong. "This will cause new selling points and opportunities to attract more and more Taiwanese to Yichang." She said confidently. She said confidently.
Confusion: When the tourism transit venue can be centralized?
At the scene of Bride\'s Weeping with original taste in the Three Gorges Family Scenic Resort, a 32-year-old South Korean guy named Piao Youji was hit by the a ball made of strips of silk thrown by the "bride" and experienced the original Tujia culture. When a guy wearing a red came out surrounded by Tujia girls, travelers around with him burst into cheers and laughter. The director of South Korean Swan International Travel Service of Wuhan Tourism Investment Group Jin Mengyong took the phone and shared it on his weibo.
With 16 years working experience, Jin Mengyong is a frequent visitor to Yichang. In 2009, his business was first expanded to Yichang. "The Main products at that time were some famous products, such as the Three Gorges Dam." "In terms of quality, Yichang\'s tourism brand is perfect except the inconvenient transportation." Jin Mengyong said. He introduced that in a long period of time, visitors felt so tired because there was no nonstop airplane and from South Korea to Yichang, visitors had to transfer from Wuhan or Chongqing. Due to that, the Swan International Travel Service had stopped the travel business from South Korea to Yichang between 2013 and 2014.
Yichang government and tourism bureau worked together in 2014 so that the direct flights from South Korea to Yichang finally opened and Yichang was not a "transit" any more. Jin Mengyong focused on charted airplane again and achieved initial success. Even so, he still directly pointed out that the problem of "transportation" is also the major reason to hinder the tourism development between Yichang and South Korea.
His analyzed that Zhangjiajie which is also belongs to the Three Gorges City Cluster attracts so many South Korean because of its fame and position, and moreover, it has a convenient transportation. "Many direct flights entrances, indefinite airlines a year and the reasonable price are also the factors which attract South Korean visitors." "By contrast, in a year, only four months have the airline between Yichang to South Korea, and which cannot meet the demand of the visitors." According to his introduction, since October this year, there will be five chartered flights directly flying to Yichang, and there will be nearly a thousand South Korean coming to enjoy Yichang\'s scenery. "Sooner or later, Yichang will turn to be the destination if more conditions are created." He said.
Hope: The Tourism Scope will be enlarged.
"Six years ago, the tourism condition of the Yangtze River focused on upstream and Yichang was a part of it. Now Yichang has become a source of tourism." The representative of Nanyang International Travel Service in Henan Province Li Renda said that.
That is a direct reflection of Yichang\'s rising tourism status and influence for the man who has worked 20 years in tourism. He said since 1996, he experienced that Yichang\'s tourism industry developed from depression to recovery, and now in prosperity.
"Yichang\'s location advantage has become more and more obvious and Yichang tourism\'s software and hardware facilities can comprehensively meet the visitors\' demand, so that it attracts lots of visitors from Henan Province" Li Renda said. Participating in the "Two Festivals" held in Yichang, the deepest feeling he felt was that the concept of the Three Gorges City Cluster has been gradually deepened. "It is a good altitude. If the time is right, we will make great efforts on it."
In Li Renda\'s blueprint for the future tourism products, the tourism areas of Yichang, Enshi, Badong, Shennongjia and Wudang Mountain has been gradually enlarged focusing on Yichang. He said they will introduce the self-driving and DIY tours to Hunan visitors with a shorter time and higher efficiency on the basis of the original group tour. "That is consistent with the idea of building Yichang to be the paradise of self-driving tour." (Reporter: Wang Yin; Correspondent: Fan Ruiqing)