Yue Songdong, Development Research Center of the State Council

Research Report No. 186, 2004

II. The Tendency and Problems Related to Tourism Promotion in Gansu Province in Western Development

1. Tourism in Gansu has entered a rapid development stage in the process of developing the western region

From the 1980s to 2004, the development of tourism in Gansu Province could be divided into three stages: In the first stage – 1980s, tourism only meant reception of foreign affairs with low rates of resource utilization and low-end products. The second phase began from 1990s, and ended before the birth of the program of developing the western region. At this stage, the provincial government started to develop tourism as an industry. However, the development model was too simple, for instance, the government only exploited a number of tourist resorts on the basis of its historical relics and human landscape. In the third stage – the beginning of the program of developing the western region till now, the government accelerated the construction of the tourism infrastructure, promoted the restructuring of the tourist industry, developed a series of new tourism projects, and designed a number of high-quality tourist routes with distinct characteristics. As a result, tourism in Gansu has stepped onto a brand new stage of fast development.

In 1984, there was only one travel agency in Gansu Province. But by 2004, the number soared to 242, including 24 international travel agencies. Hotel star-rating system began in 1990. Two years later, 11 hotels were evaluated as star-rated hotels, among which one was evaluated as a three-star hotel, and 10 as two-star hotels. By 2004, there were altogether 156 star-rated hotels, of which one was five-star hotel, 11 were four-star, 48 three-star, 97 two-star, and nine one-star. In 1984, the total tourism revenue was only 17 million yuan. The figure amounted to 3.134 billion yuan in 2002, 183 times as much as that of 1984. In 2003, SARS hit the whole industry severely. But the tourism revenue in the first half of 2004 totaled 1.51 billion, roughly the same level as that before the outbreak of SARS. In 1984, foreign exchange earnings from tourism reached 3.37 million US dollars in Gansu Province. Tourism revenue in terms of foreign exchange earnings in 2002 was 54.31 million US dollars, 15 times as much as that of in 1984. And in the first half of 2004, tourism income totaled 19.47 million US dollars. In 1984, Gansu received 27,900 tourists. In 2002, the number increased to 10,587,100, which was 379 times as much as that of in 1984. In the first half of 2004, the number was 5,073,300. It was anticipated that the number of tourists would exceed the figures of 2002.

2. Tourism has propelled the development of related industries in Gansu, and has become the flagship of the service industry

Tourism in Gansu significantly drives the development of the transportation industry. Sightseeing buses now link the places of interests in 14 cities and prefectures; special tourist trains have become an important selling point for public transportation; and tourists’ hot destinations have become the first choice of airline companies in their opening of new air routes. According to telecom departments, the revenue created by the floating population and tourists accounted for 46% of the total in recent two years. In addition, banks are expanding their intermediary businesses. As a result, the circulation of various credit cards has increased dramatically; the number of insured persons who have bought all kinds of travel-related insurance mounts up greatly; and the tourism e-commerce has developed quickly. Tourism also spurs the development and sales of local products, medicinal materials, folk products, artifacts and painting, body-building products, and religious artifacts in various regions. Tourism promotes the exploitation and protection of folk culture, such as Taomin and Hezhou folk songs, Qingyang shadow plays and sachet, revitalizing and presenting the folk songs and dances to the country and world. Tourism plays an important role in the campaign for establishing the cities in Gansu as"China Outstanding Tourism Cities in China"as well. At present, Dunhuang, Jiayu Pass and Tianshuicities have successfully obtained the title; at the same time, many other cities are still striving after this goal. In a word, tourism has become a flagship industry that will promote the development of other industries.

3."Under the guidance of government, the market-oriented and enterprise-operated model with the participation of the society" has become the main line for developing tourism

Since the program of developing the western regions was implemented, the enthusiasm for promoting tourism in the cities and prefectures (counties) of Gansu was at an all-time high as the result of huge positive impacts of the development of tourism on other industries across the province. Based on their economic situations and the need to develop tourism, thirteen cities and prefectures (Jiuquan, Jiayu Pass, Zhangye, Wuwei, Pingliang, Tianshui, Gannan, Longnan, etc.) issued guiding policies for accelerating the development of tourism. JiuquanMunicipal Party Committee and Municipal Government promulgated The Advice on Further Accelerating the Development of Tourism, and solved some urgent problems in the advancement of tourism, for example, the municipal financial department and various county and township governments should appropriate respectively one million and 300,000 to 500,000 yuan to a special tourist development fund respectively. Jiayu Pass Municipal Government formulated a tourism development scheme, and established the high-quality Jiayu Pass Guancheng Museum and many other scenic spots. The Party Committee and Government of GannanPrefecture founded"the prefectural leading group on tourism economy", and invited a number of mass media, travel agencies, experts and scholars forming "realizing dreams in Xiangbala"group with the purpose of collecting folk songs and rhymes, and carrying out a comprehensive survey on humanities, mountains and rivers, religion, customs and relics in the prefecture, thus creating very good economic and social benefits.

In recent years, Gansu has focused on implementing the policy of"those who develop get the benefit", stimulating private capital into tourism. In Lazikou Scenic Spot in the Diebu County of GannanPrefecture, Pabacili, a Tibetan private entrepreneur, invested 10 million yuan to establish the Memorial Hall of the Red Army Lazikou Battle, as well as tourist hotels, therefore, filling in a blank space in the"red tourism"project. Furthermore, such large-scale SOEs as Yumen Petroleum, Gansu Tobacco, Gansu Electric Power, Gansu Forestry and Langxin Group investedthousands of millions on tourism, simultaneously advancing Gansu’s tourism and the program of developing the western region.

Tourism in Gansu has made significant progress. In the meantime, there also exists some difficulties and problems. These issues aremainly expressed in the following four aspects:

First, the tourist resources in Gansu are quite rich, but it is still underdeveloped. Most scenic spots are still in early stages of development. Moreover, the means of developing tourist resources is rather simple and at a low level. Scenic spots in the remote areas are scattered. Without enough attraction, tourism could not develop into scale to attract investment.

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