Li Mingde: Local Features and Potentials Support the Progress of Tourism Economy in Hotan

The name of Hotan reminds many people of Hotan jade and Hotan Chinese date. Located in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Hotan is a multi-ethnic area with Uygur people as the main body, featuring unique cultures and customs that attract both Chinese and overseas tourists. In the history of China, after the Han Dynasty in particular, Hotan has always been a border town of significant geographical, economic and political position. Now, it enjoys an even greater historic standing under the Belt and Road Initiative. Especially in the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Hotan serves as a world-renowned hub that links China with the world.

Located in western China, Hotan has its own regional features in economic development. First, Hotan boasts profuse mines and energy, making it a unique yet integral part in China's progress of modern industrialization. Second, Hotan is a traditional cradle of agriculture and husbandry – also its advantageous industries, where many rural-based, renowned brands have thrived and laid the local economic foundation. Third, Hotan has been facilitating the tertiary industry characterized by tourism in a fast pace, and has become a vital tourist destination in southern Xinjiang, drawing world-wide attention. Above are the main features of the regional economic status in Hotan. In addition, in response to the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Hotan is trying to build itself into a critical logistics center, making the local tertiary industry a new economic growth point in a short time.

Therefore, the fundamental direction for the future development of tourism in Hotan is to figure out how to exploit Hotan's resources, to attract extensive attention by producing special local products, to further build Hotan into a special tourist destination.

In my opinion, we need to focus on the following three aspects in resource exploitation. First, special resources do not equal to special products, the objects that tourists and consumers come to purchase. So, it is significant to work out how to integrate special resources and transform them into tourism products for sale on the market. Second, special resources and creativity are, rather rigid and inanimate when separated, but charming when combined together, leading to the integration of culture and tourism. What tourists want is comprehensive spiritual experience. Only if we fully understand it, can we truly integrate culture and creativity into tourism with excellent market adaptability. Third, special products ought to generate brand effect. In China, tourism products must get approval from relevant authorities, granted the honor of national brands, to generate greater market presence. The reason is that the future of tourism products depends on the market presence and target customers. If a product can attract more customers, more people would help promote and advertise for it.

Based on the status quo of tourism in China, Hotan needs to seek further progress in the following four directions:

First, with the top-level design of tourism taken into consideration, we need to inject positive momentum into products from different areas for both social and tourism development. Hotan is a vast place with abundant natural and cultural resources, so we must come up with a comprehensive design (I suggest to take top-level design of all-for-one tourism into consideration). Planning, in addition, is the authorative version of this top-level design.

Second, we must clearly identify two priorities in the development strategy. The first is to value the implantation of big products or projects with special selling points to directly apply for national credit. The second is to focus on motivating urban and rural areas, as well as the broader society at large. Any tourism resource that could generate special appeal should be exploited from scratch, making it easier to form up an all-round tourism atmosphere.

Third, we need to tackle the relatively easy issues and attract business easy to be introduced first in terms of strategic planning. In particular, we must pay closer attention to the emerging leisure tourism, to satisfy both leisure and tour demands of domestic and overseas tourists, making it a trans-regional appeal. In doing so, we could better meet both material and spiritual needs of tourists, so that all tourists and others could pursue a better life.

Last, we must pay close attention to the status quo and development details. Tourists nowadays are becoming more and more reasonable. As for us, we must do a better job in institutional guarantee and set up sound tourism orders. To do it, we need to treat service as the essential part of tourism development.

Hotan, a tourist destination in western China, indeed boasts great development potential that would be gradually revealed once we pick the correct direction and efficient strategies.

Since founding, World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) has been making remarkable contributions to the progress of tourism in countries all over the world, including China. Many tourism cities in the world have joined WTCF. Hotan, a city of priority in partner assistance from Beijing, has formed up a sound interactive relationship with WTCF, making tourism the top priority of Beijing's partner assistance on the to-do list. Without economic development, a city / region cannot enjoy stable social status, which proves the utility of such interactive relationship.

Personally speaking, assistance in tourism has the following three key points. First, we need to continuously invite experts from the Expert Committee of WTCF to assess the status quo of our tourism and propose targeted opinions on the existing problems. Second, we must exchange information and learn from the successful experience in excellent tourism cities in China and the world at large, including members of the WTCF, as fast as possible. Third, we need to give full play to the great marketplace appeal of WTCF to support the tourism progress in Hotan in many aspects, including marketing.

The most significant influence of the general trend of economic development on Hotan is to inject external momentum into the city. The rise of the middle class presents us a large consumer group. As long as we fully understand their consumption preference, we can get a stable source of tourist consumers, which is, in short, what economic development means to tourism in Hotan.