Harbin is now the city of wealth

This New Year's Day, the "Little Potatoes of the South" have chosen Harbin to celebrate the holiday. Let's take a look at how popular Harbin is this winter!

"Welcome to Northeast China! The pines and cypresses are about to be covered, the heavy snow is turning into frost, the outside of the Great Wall is drifting to the north, and the goshawk has landed on the Songhua River..."

With the popularity of this internet hit song, Northeastern culture has once again become popular through various short video platforms.

Before that, "It's not that you can't afford to go to Northern Europe, but Harbin is more cost-effective" has become a hot topic on the Internet. This winter, Harbin, a city in Northeast China, stood out among a number of tourist destinations and became a new "top stream". Major scenic spots were crowded with people, and the entire Heilongjiang province started "hospitality mode" to use "cold resources" to drive the "hot economy".

According to data from Tongcheng Travel Platform, Harbin's tourism popularity has increased by 240% year-on-year, ranking fourth in the national destination tourism popularity list. It is expected that the local tourism boom will continue during the winter vacation and the Spring Festival holiday. Mafengwo Big Data shows that after the Ice and Snow World officially opened on the 18th, Harbin's popularity has soared by 300% month-on-month, once surpassing Shanghai Disneyland to become the hottest tourist destination.

To welcome tourists from all over the world, Harbin has come up with many tricks: flight attendants danced to greet them at the airport; symphony orchestras performed in shopping malls; Oroqen people brought reindeer to the streets of Harbin to interact with tourists; in case tourists could not adapt to the cold weather, a temporary "greenhouse" was built outdoors; in case there was no moon when taking photos at night, an artificial moon was raised by a drone; even polar penguins were invited to the Citywalk.

As one of the most important cities in Northeast China, driven by the popularity of ice and snow tourism in Harbin, the number of homestay bookings in surrounding areas such as Daxinganling, Daqing, Jiamusi, Mudanjiang, etc. has increased by 5-10 times compared with the same period last year.

During the just-concluded New Year's Day holiday, Harbin City achieved a total tourism revenue of 5.914 billion yuan, while Hainan Province's total tourism revenue during the same period was 2.406 billion yuan. Judging from the numbers alone, Harbin's tourism revenue on New Year's Day was more than twice that of Hainan Province.

Some netizens even joked that "Hainan, a holy place for wintering, never imagined that it would 'lose' to Harbin in winter."

1. "Eastern Moscow", catching up with the ice and snow tourism boom

Harbin’s popularity is not accidental, but the result of many factors, including the right time, right place and right people.

First, consumers are enthusiastic about traveling during the holidays . After three years of the epidemic, people are more eager for a lively atmosphere full of fireworks.

Qunar released the "2023 Qunar Travel Data Report" showing that domestic air ticket bookings in 2023 hit a record high, significantly exceeding the level of 2019; hotel bookings in popular cities increased by 1.1 times compared to 2019. The travel enthusiasm of passengers of all ages has been released, driving the growth of tourism consumption in various cities.

According to relevant persons in charge of Fliggy Travel, the number of bookings for medium and long-term tours this year has increased by more than 2 times year-on-year, and domestic air tickets and tour bookings are generally booked more than 10 days earlier than last year, while international air tickets and free travel bookings are generally booked more than 20 days earlier than last year.

These data reflect consumers' enthusiasm for traveling, and this year's New Year's Day holiday overlaps with the weekend, so the "three-day holiday" further increases the possibility of implementing travel plans.

Secondly, Harbin’s unique landscape and cultural factors also contributed to the popularity of the “Ice City”.

Walking on the streets of Harbin, visitors will feel as if they are in a foreign country with large ochre-red or dark green "onion-shaped" dome buildings, rows of sloping-roof houses, and various European-style villas on Sun Island. This is completely worthy of the title of "Moscow of the East". 870,000 pieces of breadstones are paved on both sides of China's first pedestrian street, and ancient Greek, Gothic, Byzantine, and Baroque buildings are lined up one after another. If you don't look carefully, you will think you have entered an "architecture museum."

In addition to Western-style houses and churches, as an important industrial city in my country, Harbin has also retained a large number of factories, workshops, dormitories, etc. from the industrial era, which also brings another flavor to this "Ice City".

Harbin's 18-meter-tall giant snowman. Source: Weibo @CCTV News

Finally, the boldness that is unique to the "black soil" has won the hearts of the people . The influx of tourists has greatly tested the "internal strength" of tourist cities and scenic spots, such as their carrying capacity, service level, and ability to respond to sudden public opinions.

On the first day of the opening of Harbin Ice and Snow World, the number of visitors reached 40,000 in less than 3 hours. Some tourists were unable to experience the popular attractions they had booked due to long queues, and some people shouted "refund". The next day, the Ice and Snow World issued a "Letter to the General Public", apologizing for not meeting the needs of some tourists, and that it would reflect and make rectifications overnight, and promote the refund of tickets.

Since then, Harbin has offered almost everything to tourists, from hovercrafts, hot air balloons, and reindeer parades to polar penguins, candied haws, and hot brown sugar water. Almost everything you can think of has been offered to the tourists.

Enthusiastic local citizens "let the scenery" be enjoyed by tourists, and promised: "We won't eat in restaurants or take showers, and we won't drive our junky cars around the streets. If tourists come to say hello, we will serve as guides for free."

So much so that the official WeChat account of People's Daily also published an article titled "Erbin, you make me feel strange...", and then this topic rushed to the sixth place on Baidu's hot search.

Wu Liyun, associate professor at the Institute of Chinese Culture and Tourism Industry of Beijing International Studies University, believes that after the Beijing Winter Olympics, there has been a boom in ice and snow tourism across the country. More tourists have made ice and snow activities a must-do tourist activity in winter, which has expanded the scale of the ice and snow consumer market. In the first full snow season after the epidemic, tourists' long-suppressed demand for ice and snow tourism has been released, so it is not surprising that tourist destinations with rich ice and snow resources such as Harbin have become popular.

2. Focus on the “pleasing” market style

According to the "2024 New Year's Day and New Year's Eve Travel Insights" released by Ctrip, the number of New Year's Day holiday orders with Harbin as the destination increased by 631% year-on-year, the number of orders for Harbin Ice and Snow Hotels in December increased by 17 times year-on-year, and the number of orders for ice and snow group tour products increased by 79 times year-on-year.

Most of the surge in orders was contributed by "Southern Little Potato". Data shows that from December 1 to 21, the passenger load factor of flights from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Chengdu and other cities to Harbin reached 90%. Harbin Airport also added 11 domestic routes for this purpose.

Image source: TikTok

In order to "please" these little beans, Harbin has mobilized almost the entire city's strength.

In terms of public services, considering the large temperature difference between the north and the south, Harbin Airport recently added 12 dressing rooms in the baggage claim area; Harbin Metro Line 2 opened a two-way free passage between Taiyangdao Station and Ice and Snow World Station; China Railway Harbin Bureau Group Co., Ltd. provides discounts for more than 150 EMU trains running in Heilongjiang Province according to time periods, sections, and seats...

In terms of tourist attractions, this year's Ice and Snow World is the largest since 1999, with a total investment of nearly 3.5 billion yuan and took 30 days to produce.

In order to meet the needs of "foodies", Harbin Daily compiled the distribution points of Harbin's main breakfast stalls. Harbin Culture and Tourism even published a 6-day detailed travel guide, covering ice and snow tours, cultural tours, and food tours, helping tourists think about what to eat, what to see, what to play, and what to buy, down to which scenic spot to visit in the morning and which restaurant to go to for lunch, focusing on a "nanny-style" tour.

Image source: Harbin Culture and Tourism Public Account

After the "hardware" was in place, Harbin started working on the "software". As early as the warm-up stage of ice and snow tourism, the Harbin Culture and Tourism Bureau put aside its pride and closely followed the current hot topic "My surname is Shi" to produce a rustic promotional video "My surname is Ha", firing the first shot of attracting traffic on the Internet.

In early December, Harbin launched the 4th Ice City Souvenir Competition to encourage companies to design Harbin-themed souvenirs. Later, more than one million coupons and consumer vouchers were issued in real money to stimulate local consumption.

Harbin’s response to tourists’ concerns about tourism fraud is also “turning the knife inward.”

A blogger revealed that the pricing for Snow Town tour groups was confusing. Harbin Daoli District Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau immediately investigated and found that the travel agency and related personnel involved had committed illegal and irregular acts, and quickly filed a case for handling.

He Jing, Party Secretary of the Heilongjiang Department of Culture and Tourism, said that this year's popularity is not accidental, and we have been preparing for a year. Since January, we have launched two 100-day actions, namely the "100-day Summer Tourism Action" and the "100-day Winter Ice and Snow Tourism Action", and have launched the "100-100,000,000" idea, that is, 10 routes, 100 food shows, 1,000 grand performances, and 10,000 kinds of good things, with the aim of giving the people more things to play, eat, and experience.

"We think from the perspective of tourists. After releasing a video, we don't pay attention to its number of views. We pay more attention to the comments under the video, especially the comments about what tourists are not satisfied with in the comment section. We will add what they need. For example, a tourist said that it would be better if there was a moon when taking photos at the Hagia Sophia, so we made a big artificial moon to raise it; a tourist said that the weather in Harbin was too cold, so we built a lot of small warm houses; a tourist wanted to eat our frozen pears but didn't know how to eat them, so we specially made a frozen pear platter. I think all these details are what touch tourists the most and make them feel comfortable and respected. They post these bits and pieces of comfort and respect on the Internet, and then comment on them themselves, which creates a large flow of traffic." He Jing introduced.

In order to improve passenger services, Harbin has also recruited more than 380 cultural and tourism experience officers across the province, and sent these experience officers to scenic spots, hotels, homestays, transportation hubs, and shopping centers. Wherever they find problems after the experience, the relevant departments will rectify and solve them. Now about 245 problems have been solved.

Subsequently, "A Letter to the People of Harbin" once again raised the "temperature" of the Ice City. The letter mentioned "putting guests first, respecting guests, treating guests as friends, and treating guests as relatives", which was not only a call from the government, but also a spontaneous action of the citizens. The enthusiastic drivers who picked up and dropped off tourists for free on the street and the hot water provided by roadside restaurants were heartwarming actions that warmed the hearts of tourists from other places bit by bit.

The effect of this combination of measures was immediate, and tourists left their experiences on various social platforms: "Only the weather in Harbin is cold, the rest of the time is hot", "It's very fun, I'll come again next time", "Thank you for the warm hospitality in the Northeast", etc.

According to data released by the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the surge in tourists has led to an increase in accommodation and catering volumes, with accommodation and catering companies growing by 129.4% year-on-year.

Iron pot stew, pig-killing dishes, Russian food, Madiel popsicles... these famous Harbin meals have also become an important consumption item for tourists. According to local media reports, the sales volume of Madiel popsicles alone reached 100,000 in the three days of New Year's Day.

3. How to continue the “huge wealth”?

Over the past few decades, the decline of the three northeastern provinces has been obvious to all. For a long time, negative rumors have been circulating among the people that "investment does not go beyond Shanhaiguan."

Harbin, which is located at a higher latitude, seems to appear less and less in front of people.

In 2021, Harbin's GDP was only 535.2 billion yuan, ranking last among the 15 sub-provincial cities, and its economic size was only 30% of Wuhan and 50% of Xi'an.

There is no national Internet company or real estate company here, and Harbin cannot be found in the list of Fortune 500 companies or the list of unicorn companies.

The economic downturn has also caused a large outflow of population. In the past decade, Harbin has become the first provincial capital city in China to fall out of the club of 10 million people, and the only provincial capital city in China with negative population growth.

Compared with its former resounding reputation as "the eldest son of the Republic", Harbin and the entire Northeast region behind it seem particularly lost.

Now, the millions of netizens who have traveled across mountains and seas and the billions of traffic exposure have indeed been taken over by Harbin. Data shows that as of the third day of the 2024 New Year's Day holiday, Harbin has received a total of 3.0479 million tourists and achieved a total tourism revenue of 5.914 billion yuan. Both the number of tourists received and the total tourism revenue have reached historical peaks.

Source: "2024 New Year's Day Holiday Travel Consumption Report"

After being booked by "Southern Little Potato", the topic of "Will Harbin become the next Zibo?" has also aroused heated discussion.

Zibo was extremely popular throughout the summer of 2023. According to Mafengwo travel data, during the May Day holiday in 2023, Zibo's popularity increased by 605% month-on-month.

Looking back now, this round of Zibo barbecue craze lasted for nearly three months, which is a miracle in the life cycle of the "Internet celebrity" effect. However, as time passed, Zibo's popularity gradually declined, and there were also news such as "barbecue restaurant closure" and "barbecue restaurant transfer" on the Internet.

Other internet celebrity cities similar to Zibo include Dali, which became popular due to the TV series "Go Where the Wind Is", Taipan Village in Taijiang County, which became popular due to the "Village BA", and Nanyang, which became popular due to the music festival. However, the popularity of these cities only lasted for a period of time. How to transform traffic into "retention" has become a difficult problem faced by tourism departments in various places.

In the face of sudden growth in tourist traffic, cities need to take prompt action to strengthen and improve infrastructure such as public transportation, accommodation and catering. Tourism can not only bring popularity and wealth to a city, but also become a booster for urban management, enhancing tourists' sense of experience, participation and integration. Only in this way can we accumulate strength for subsequent development and keep the "overwhelming wealth" more stable and longer.

From this point of view, Zibo and Harbin are both actively carrying out internal reforms, and Harbin's performance this winter also strongly illustrates the point that sincere hospitality is always the most solid signboard.

After the New Year's Day holiday, tourist peaks such as the students' winter vacation and the Spring Festival holiday are coming one after another. For winter tourist destinations represented by Harbin, greater opportunities are yet to come.

Harbin's "Harbin Ice and Snow Culture Capital (Ice and Snow Economy) Development Plan (2022-2030)" shows that the local government plans to build a number of ice and snow tourism resorts and ice and snow sports bases, cultivate a number of ice and snow enterprises and well-known brands with international competitiveness, continuously improve the ice and snow industry system, and continuously consolidate the foundation of the industrial chain. The transformation of "ice and snow" into "gold and silver" has achieved significant results. The plan also mentioned that by 2025, the total output value of the ice and snow industry will reach 75 billion yuan, accounting for more than a quarter of the province; by 2030, the total output value of the ice and snow industry will exceed 150 billion yuan, accounting for more than one-third of the province.

It is worth noting that Harbin's popularity has also driven a tourism boom in the three northeastern provinces. Changchun, 300 kilometers away from Harbin, is one of the cities affected. Data from Changchun Station of Shenyang Railway Bureau shows that as of January 2, 2024, Changchun Station has sent a total of 518,000 passengers, an average of 104,000 passengers per day, and 126,000 passengers on the peak day of December 30.

Jin Yun, who runs a homestay in Changchun, told Value Planet that he did feel that there were many more tourists in Changchun. His homestay has more than 20 rooms, all of which were fully occupied during the New Year's Day holiday, and the earliest reservation was booked in November. Judging from their accents, most of the New Year's Day tourists are from other places, and there are also many "Southern Little Potatoes".

"Although the popularity is far from comparable to Harbin, Changchun has also put a lot of effort into winter tourism this year, and the tourist routes and ways of playing have also been upgraded to varying degrees. We received a notice during the National Day holiday, requiring us to stabilize hotel accommodation prices and not to raise prices, etc." Jin Yun said.

Another city, Yanji, is also an important tourist destination in the Northeast. As the local area retains more abundant ethnic minority resources, it is known as "Little Korea". In the unique Yanji Customs Park, changing into Korean costumes and experiencing the costumes of "Princess Yanji" and "Dae Jang Geum on the Run" have become hot topics on platforms such as Xiaohongshu.

Image source: WeChat Index

In 2023, Dali will be the city at the beginning of the year, Zibo will be the city in the middle of the year, and Harbin will be the city at the end of the year.

This wave of traffic is certainly worth celebrating, but don’t take temporary luck as a permanent resource. After all, there are many cases of “Internet celebrities” becoming outdated. Harbin does not need to become the next Zibo, but should dig deep into its own characteristics and create a unique tourism brand. After all, “ice and snow are also gold and silver mountains.”

Author: Tang Fei, Editor: Liu Jingfeng

Source: Public Account: Value Planet (ID: ValuePlanet), discovering company value and telling capital stories.