Cherry blossom markets, cherry blossom-themed cosplay, Hanfu travel photography… In recent days, early cherry blossoms covering 1,400 mu in Cherry Valley, Zhulong Town, Longquan City have bloomed in succession. The local rural cultural and tourism planning and operation team issued an invitation to “Enjoy Cherry Blossoms in the Year of the Horse”, and launched a spring carnival integrating nature, culture and trendy entertainment. It has attracted tourists from all over to enjoy flowers, take photos and taste farm food, driving more than 500,000 yuan in related cultural and tourism consumption.

Spring Festival is a golden period for cultural and tourism consumption and a key juncture to increase rural income. During the holiday, rural cultural and tourism planning and operation teams composed of grassroots cadres worked non-stop to deeply integrate professional skills with consumer demand. They used “all-round skills” to fuel the Spring Festival economy and strengthened their core competence in “planning, operation and execution”.

Teams in various regions focused on “gathering popularity, boosting consumption, expanding income and building brands”. They deeply explored local cultural, ecological and industrial characteristics, developed exclusive cultural and tourism IPs, and created immersive, interactive and experiential cultural and tourism scenarios. This has turned rural “visitor flow” into common prosperity “growth momentum” and consumption “heat” into people-benefiting “warmth”.

This Spring Festival, Chenjiapu Village, Sidou Township, Songyang County became a hit thanks to a “nostalgic aesthetics” campaign. The local operation team accurately grasped tourists’ experience needs, acting as “rural aestheticians” and “scene designers”. Taking sea of clouds and ancient dwellings as a natural backdrop, it carefully created a number of Internet-famous spots including “Meet Nostalgic China in Chenjiapu”, making the traditional village widely popular. During the Spring Festival, the village received more than 9,000 tourists per day on average.

Intangible cultural heritage performances, festive markets, fish lantern parades, fireworks shows… During the Spring Festival, the 4th “I Spend the Spring Festival in Jinyun” event was held in Xinxikeng Village, Rongjiang Township. The fragrant Nanxiang steamed bread, fish lantern making and paper cutting delighted parent-child families. International students from Iran and Tanzania also stopped by to experience the charm of Chinese New Year. The event attracted more than 70,000 tourists and boosted the village collective income by nearly 200,000 yuan.

Behind this cultural feast lies the painstaking efforts of the local operation team. Members personally participated in everything from fish lantern IP planning and folk custom arrangement to market investment and event live streaming promotion. They have built “I Spend the Spring Festival in Jinyun” into an important platform to showcase local customs and promote common prosperity through culture and tourism, achieving the goal of “Hosting One Event, Cultivating One Team, Vitalizing Local Economy”.

The operation team of Hushan Township, Suichang County made full use of the Spring Festival cultural and tourism boom. It extracted the “Blessed Village Under Heaven” IP from the village name “Fuluoyu” and launched a five-blessings check-in activity featuring “Seeking Blessing, Gaining Wealth, Enjoying Longevity, Feeling Joy and Achieving Prosperity”. During the event, all team members went to the frontline and gave full play to their strengths: some repeatedly surveyed and carefully designed the village landscape according to road layout and tourists’ visual habits; some planned interactive scripts for “Five Blessing Gods” and played NPCs in person; others introduced AI interactive equipment, robot dogs and other smart elements to enhance experience and communication. This unique “blessing-receiving” activity attracted nearly 10,000 tourists, directly increasing the income of village farmhouses by more than 250,000 yuan and villagers’ income by over 100,000 yuan.

Chongtou Town, where the national 5A-level tourist attraction Yunhe Terraces is located, deeply integrated southern Zhejiang’s New Year customs with terrace scenery. It launched the featured interactive experience “Visiting Relatives at Terraces” and staged intangible cultural heritage shows such as “Climbing Blades, Walking Through Fire”, She ethnic wedding ceremonies and New Year pig parades. Folk culture, intangible cultural heritage skills and local festive vibes were deeply integrated, allowing tourists to experience authentic rural New Year. During the Spring Festival, Yunhe Terraces Scenic Area received 184,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 88.13%, with popularity and enthusiasm surpassing the same period last year.

Centering on the core IP of “Dream Painting in Dagangtou”, the operation team of Dagangtou Town, Liandu District integrated diverse resources including intangible cultural heritage, music, markets and oil painting. It launched nearly 700 immersive experience activities, allowing tourists to enjoy the unique festive atmosphere of “Traveling in a Painting, Celebrating the New Year Among Scenes” along the Ou River. During the Spring Festival holiday, it received a total of 172,000 tourists, up 30.99% year on year, and revenue rose 113.08% year on year.

Focusing on youth-oriented cultural and tourism demand, the “Zhen Haowan” (Fun Zhenwang) operation team of Zhenwang Township, Qingtian County gave full play to professional skills in planning, operation and creativity. It integrated red cultural and creative products, creative handicrafts and digital experiences, issued a themed check-in map, and launched more than 10 themed activities including red script games, Spring Festival blessing-giving and karaoke. Red cultural tourism has become a new hotspot for Spring Festival visits.

During the Spring Festival, operation teams across the city broke the “isolated operation” model. They joined forces with scenic spots, merchants, villagers and returning youth, and made efforts in scene design, service improvement and business format innovation, forming an integrated development pattern of “culture & tourism plus”. Villagers and village collectives have shared the dividends of Spring Festival cultural and tourism development.

Breaking the traditional model where rural cultural and tourism operation relied solely on village collectives and operators, Pingdu Subdistrict, Qingyuan County innovatively launched the “Youth Co-creation Beauty Village” program. It built platforms and provided services for returning youth, and successfully introduced 13 featured businesses including village cafes and costume-changing shops. Sales during the Spring Festival exceeded 700,000 yuan, nearly tripling year on year.

Riding the wave of CCTV’s special program “Happy Spring Festival”, the operation team of Dajun Township, Jingning She Autonomous County organized professional skills training for villagers. Local residents have changed from “onlookers” to “performers” and “service providers”. It also broke the traditional passive viewing mode of wedding performances, guiding tourists to join the “wedding escort team” for immersive experience of She ethnic customs. Dajun She-style festive travel photography quickly gained popularity. During the Spring Festival, the She Nationality Village Scenic Area received more than 100,000 tourists and ticket income exceeded 250,000 yuan, up 20.5% and 25.0% respectively year on year.

With the continuous deepening of skills empowerment, operation teams across the city not only focus on short-term popularity during the Spring Festival, but also attach importance to long-term brand building. They keep optimizing the cultural and tourism planning and operation model to sustain the Spring Festival boom and accumulate momentum for follow-up economic development.

“Come to the village and enjoy the Spring Festival.” At the rural festive cultural and tourism planning training roadshow held in Longquan, 6 rural cultural and tourism planning and operation teams competed on the same stage, focusing on creative planning and promotion. Through “learning by practice and improving by competition”, training was integrated into real scenarios, helping skilled cadres enhance capabilities in planning and operation, resource integration and market connection.

A relevant official from the Organization Department of the Municipal Party Committee stated that in the next step, the city will continue to strengthen practical training for rural cultural and tourism planning and operation teams. It will refine the “traffic code” of Spring Festival operation into replicable “practical teaching plans”, and turn grassroots cadres’ “skill list” into an “achievement list” serving development. This will promote rural cultural and tourism from “temporary popularity” to “sustained prosperity”.