The "self-replicating" of the Flickering Bay Literature and Tourism, will it work?

Recently, Flickering Bay Literature and Tourism's new project, "JIA ISLAND OLD STREET," officially opened the street. From the birth of the first project, and now another landing, as well as the progress of the number of its signing to open, the Flickering Bay is to promote the cultural tourism destination project from heavy to light industry practice, and "light" qualities are often accompanied by a number of chain characteristics, such as "can be self-replicating". Even though local cultural tourism destination projects and brands have always taken "uniqueness" as their core advantage, Flora Bay is open to "replicability" and has become one of the few "replicability advocates" among local destination brands. "After practicing in recent years, is the replicable paradigm it has explored a new sample of cultural tourism or a bubble of commercial dreams? What is the value and the danger of the reproducible road of local cultural tourism?

In recent years, there has been no shortage of new forces emerging from local cultural tourism destination projects. Anaya is a comprehensive cultural landmark that sells the aesthetics of life, Liangzhu Cultural Village is an "idealistic experimental field", and Flower Bay - Zen Town is a new interpretation of "Zen of life".

In 2015, Flickering Bay - Zen town in Wuxi Lingshan scenic area homogenization competition, the decline in the number of tourists, the urgent need for product upgrading of the background, the sword to go off the beaten track, came into being. The project is centered around the "Zen culture" of Ling Shan, and is named "Flower Bay" after the allusion to the Buddhist scripture, "Buddha flicked the flower and Gaya smiled". In addition, with reference to the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, the unique architectural style of the unique water system of the Jiangnan town, as well as the immersive nighttime light and shadow show program, make the Flower Bay - Zen Town a hit.

According to statistics, in 2016, the passenger flow of Flickering Bay was 1,487,000, and the ticket revenue was 76.75 million yuan that year, while the secondary consumption income from accommodation and food and beverage reached 131 million yuan. In the composition of secondary consumption revenue, hotel accommodation revenue accounted for 98%.

Along with the development of Flickering Bay, Flickering Bay Literature and Tourism has stepped up its efforts to realize a national layout in North China, East China, Northwest China, Central China, Southwest China, South China and other regions, and owns a number of projects under its banner, such as Flickering Bay - Zen Town, Flickering Bay - Jinling Small City, Lingshan Shengjing, Nishan Shengjing, Xinghan Shengjing, Zhifu Wonderland and so on.

It can be seen that, compared to the many cultural tourism projects for self-replication and expansion of the entanglement, Flickering Bay has clearly shown a rather open attitude towards this.

In 2018, Mao Houde, the main designer of the Wuxi Lingshan town of Flower Bay, said frankly in an online community sharing, there is no non-replicability of Flower Bay, as long as the concept, funds and resources are relatively available, the development model can be completely replicated. But the theme must not copy, or to ensure the uniqueness and exclusivity of the principle.

Two years later, Flower Bay explored a "light to make up for the heavy" operation of the new road, in a series of light asset projects, such as Kongdong Shengjing, Yantai Zhifu Fairyland project in the process of building the Chaoyang Street, the city of the city and other projects, to achieve the self-replication of the attempt.

Data shows that in 2021, the number of ticketed visitors to the Flickering Bay scenic area was 1.45 million, realizing a revenue of 367 million yuan, recovering to 61% and 74% of 2019, respectively, which is better than the national figures. At the same time, in 2022, Flickering Bay Literature and Tourism also signed new projects in Nanjing, Yili, Taizhou, Zibo, etc., and there are more than 10 high-quality reserve projects in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan, etc., and the total investment of the manipulation project has reached 100 billion yuan.

On the road of self-replication, Flickering Bay Literature and Tourism has obviously begun to take big steps. But the plight of replication has also quietly set up roadblocks on the road.

On the one hand, outside of the classic destinations, whether travelers will buy, become an unknown. Recently opened the street jia islet old street, offline hilarious people, in Taizhou local forums to discuss the degree is not low, but the evaluation is also mixed. There is praise for the beautiful landscape, but there is no shortage of picky local travelers who think that man-made buildings are featureless, the reservation system is too much trouble, and the clearing time is too early.

At the same time, large-scale cultural tourism projects, the time and effort required, whether it will be "copied" and become a "low-cost version", but also put a question mark. Wuxi Lingshan Culture and Tourism Group Chairman Wu Guoping pointed out in a public statement in 2017, the future of Flickering Bay to create a super IP vacation tourism destination, is to put the destination scenic spot + destination business + destination accommodation these things really good. Now Flickering Bay is not really good, there are still a lot of problems, and the nurturing process will take 3-5 years. We hope to explore new modes in all aspects of accommodation, commercial business, performing arts and activities in Flickering Bay.

Looking at the local amazing cultural tourism projects, they are all masterpieces of time and heart. Nowadays, there is a mature development model in Flower Bay, but what will happen in a different place is still to be witnessed.

In addition, the unique antique architectural style of Flickr Bay has also been the subject of repeated controversy. Behind the purely man-made antique architecture of each project, whether it is enough to support the culture to be conveyed, whether it can avoid homogenization? Jia islet old street antique buildings, the designers retained the classic style of Taizhou region, such as roof decoration using Taizhou region-like oyster ash pile molding, but many local tourists do not feel, but the feeling of "one size fits all".

The copying predicament of Flickering Bay is almost the same as the copying predicament of every cultural tourism project, and if you look deeper, the makers of these predicaments are both the general environment and the cultural tourism brand itself.

Wu Guoping will 2021 tourism industry market is summarized as "five impacts", respectively, for the survival of the impact, the impact of the operation, the scale of the impact, the impact of the mentality, the impact of the talent, and the impact of the following also accompanied by "four major difficulties" -- difficult to collect, difficult to transform, difficult to innovate, difficult to break out. From the external point of view, by the whole tourism downturn environment, a perfect self-replication is not easy.

Last year, Flickering Bay reported a net loss of more than 55 million yuan in the first quarter, which was once downgraded by the industry. Some media quoted industry insiders as saying, perhaps explaining the predicament brought about by the environment: "The antique scenic spot needs to continue to innovate, and now the commercial real estate-oriented enterprises are in the doldrums, are short of money, it is difficult to invest more funds in research and development."

On the other hand, the domestic cultural tourism projects follow the trend into nature, the lack of independent and in-depth thinking. Wu Guoping pointed out in his answer to the question "Why does Lingshan want to do Flower Bay?" that once a good product comes out in China, everyone follows the trend. If everyone builds an ancient town, all copy the ancient town, so there may be no hope. Almost all of the hot cultural tourism projects behind, are based on the industry, the research of the customer base, years of refinement, the product has its own soul.

Whether it is Anaya or Flower Bay, have received a number of groups of cultural tourism practitioners, but these people go back, but how to do can not do another Anaya and Flower Bay. Piecemeal imitation and superficial copying, is bound to encounter difficulties, as Mao Houde pointed out, if the copying is understood as copying the style and style of a building, then any one of the styles are not reproducible, copying the risk, and the risk is very high.

Although excellent cultural tourism projects can not be easily copied, but the impetuous and chaotic market environment, but invariably want to self-replication of the project, additional barriers.

And from the internal viewpoint of the cultural tourism project, the replication dilemma comes from the following two points.

First, the heavy asset model drags the expansion footsteps. Wuxi Flower Bay has close to 5 billion heavy assets and large capital investment, last year, was exposed to liabilities of 1.3 billion, a single quarter loss of 55 million, the sale of 20% stake. Some industry analysts pointed out that the loss of scenic spots, not loss in the operation, but lies in the annual depreciation of assets. The domestic cultural tourism project, especially cultural tourism town, also more than one project in Flickering Bay is facing difficulties. Two years ago, China Youth Travel Service 2020 "blood loss" 232 million yuan of annual report results, exposed the name of the Gubei Water Town in the anti-risk ability of the embarrassing situation.

A well-known investor said, aside from the epidemic this force majeure factors, these heavy assets of the cultural tourism project can produce composite attraction, as well as generate long-term operating income, the future development of the project is very important. If the expansion is too fast, it is more likely to be stretched.

Therefore, after the epidemic, the Flower Bay Literature and Tourism quickly turned to a new way of thinking both light and heavy, heavy asset project operations in the complex external environment to move forward at the same time, in the light asset output, it is accelerated, for the self-replication of the possibility of.

Second, the product and cultural polishing is not enough, still can not withstand the "bumps in the road". Well-known cultural tourism brand planner Tian Haicheng pointed out that each cultural tourism project is a handmade work, the developer's ideas, feelings and willpower in advance to determine how far this handmade work can go. The character of the developer is the character of the cultural tourism brand. Even Anaya, from the beach to the mountains after the project temperament followed to find another set of ideas.

Although Flickering Bay - Zen town is regarded as a representative of the deadbeat products, and even the Flickering Bay bamboo fence to spend 300,000 to ask the two 70-year-old Japanese bamboo fence master to do, each small landscape should also be decorated with moss mood. And in Taizhou islet old street culture and product polishing, although there are a lot of red bookstores, restaurants, attracting a group of young people card, but also easily by local tourists pulled "pigtails" - such as Taizhou's "Taiwan!

Looking at the "copy history" of the cultural tourism project, can be roughly divided into three periods.

The first period, we will call it "chaotic replication period". During this period, there is no so-called "self-replication" or "borrowing copy", once which cultural tourism project is popular, then there will be a large number of imitators swarming, after the dividends disappeared, leaving a chicken feather. The old town is hot, can be regarded as the product of this period.

The second period, the birth of a number of almost unrepeatable cultural tourism projects. Such as Anaya, Liangzhu Cultural Village, Wuzhen, etc., these projects, after a protracted and painstaking build of the main manager, become a "lone product". Anaya operator Ma Yin has pointed out in an interview, Anaya is not a traditional cultural tourism real estate projects, it can not be copied, it is not an assembly line products. Let's not talk about letting me build another Anaya, I can't even rebuild this thing.

The third period, prompted by the trend of asset-lightening, is the brand of cultural tourism after new thinking, to find out the road of "self-replication". The brand is able to create a "replica" with a similar core with the same spirit and differentiated ideas, but it is still difficult for others to replicate the project.

So, what kind of cultural tourism project is suitable for self-replication?

So, what kind of project is suitable for self-replication? From a series of well-known brands of cultural tourism projects that have started to step into the light asset output, we can get the following three qualities.

As the times change, even the most popular cultural tourism products will be outdated, only those with IP, and can continue to innovate and update their products, have the ability to transcend time, and can continue to replicate.

The world's most successful cultural tourism projects, when several head of the theme park, such as Disney, Universal Studios, both have more than half a century of long history, and enduring, favored by tourists around the world. Disney, for example, is itself a huge IP, relying on IP-derived products, not only those unique rides, but also constantly updated and growing doll team, creating fairy tale services and experiences.

As Mr. Mao Houde once pointed out, I think the most important thing to do is to find the soul of the project, and the soul of the project can also be called "IP".

Self-replication and expansion is a continuous process of "going out". From the "birthplace" away from the original regional culture. We can deduce the method, the continuation of the culture, the concept of transmission, the construction of the system, but the product is often due to different regional environments, different ratios of resources, both unique and inherited, and for the local culture and tourism to bring a new point of contact.

Such as Lijiang Revisited City is to build the core culture of the Lijiang region as the basis for high-end tourism vacation function as the core of the project, the innovation of Lijiang culture vacation new model. In Taicang, the theme of the Alps is to bring the five core natural elements of the Alps - "snow-capped mountains, lakes, valleys, forests and villages" - and the lifestyle to the resort experience.

Successful cultural tourism projects are often the result of timing, location, people and ****, without the need for forced replication. What we need to do is to summarize and apply the operation model, learn the "soul" rather than learn the "God", and then create countless differentiated products with the same kernel.

Last year, Anaya signed a contract for the "Anaya Xiangshan Coast" project, another coastal project of Anaya, which represents Anaya's advancement from Bohai Bay to the East Bay, and it will be easier for the project team to apply its experience to Xiangshan with ease.

The attraction of Anaya comes from the operation of business projects, arts and cultural activities, as well as the spirituality of its buildings, the sense of ceremony, and the echo of the natural environment. 500,000 square meters of land, looking at the sea of the lonely library, auditorium, dune art gallery and so on, has become an important cultural tourism business card.

According to Ma Yin, the founder of Anaya Holding Group, after Anaya's careful design, renovation and operation, it is believed that a number of venues such as the Coastal Hotel, Coastal Library, Sunrise Observatory, Seaside Concert Hall, and Seaside Art Museum will become another artistic "faraway place" in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The cultural tourism project should be self-replicating, or to create a unique product, depending on the needs of the cultural tourism brand itself, there is no right or wrong, and there is no superiority or inferiority, the key lies only in whether or not to continue to create the most creative products according to the destination. As Wu Guoping mentioned in an interview, the day you stop thinking and innovating, Flora Bay will be finished. "Beyond self, beyond expectations", this is our mission.