“Star City, Shining Bright” Traveler’s Forum (TF) to Kick Off in Changsha – The “City of Influencing” Will Focus on Vibrant Neo-Tourism Content

This August, stars shine over Changsha as the aroma of bustle and hustle wafts amid this dazzling city. Over three days from August 18th to 20th, 2022, KOLs of culture &tourism industry, experts and academics, as well as content creators of culture & tourism works will gather in Changsha, also known as Star City, for the Traveler’s Forum (TF). Hosted by the Changsha Municipal People’s Government and Trip.com Group Limited, the TF is jointly organized by the Changsha Municipal Culture, Tourism, Radio, and Television Bureau, Yuelu District People’s Government, with the support of the Changsha Yuelu District Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau, Hunan  Huanian Culture and Tourism Investment Co., Ltd., and Huayi Brothers (Changsha) Film Town. The Traveler’s Forum comprises three major events, including the International Traveler’s Content Creation Conference, the TF Gala and the Traveler’s Lifestyle Festival.

In recent years, Changsha’s innovative initiatives have promoted the high-quality integration of culture and tourism. With distinctive culture and tourism brands and an upgraded culture and tourism industry, Changsha offers a growing variety of tableaux of culture and tourism consumption. Furthermore, the city’s culture-and-tourism-friendly policies and initiatives to promote domestic consumption create diversified culture and tourism offerings for residents and tourists alike. Changsha has rocketed up the charts as a popular holiday destination. According to data released by Trip.com, the city ranked among the top ten destinations for short-distance tours during the Labor Day holiday, among the top ten most visited cities for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, and one of the top ten destinations for graduation trips by Generation Z.

In line with the Forum’s theme of “Star City, Shining Bright”, the culture and tourism IP events in International Traveler’s Content Creation Conference has been tailored for Changsha. Together with Trip.com Group’s TF Gala and Traveler’s Lifestyle Festival, the forum will integrate key elements of consumption, culture, and data traffic to demonstrate that culture and tourism is a comprehensive drive of socioeconomic development in the post-pandemic era.

As for the landing of the TF in Changsha, thanks to government-enterprise effort to promote an upgrade of destination brands. With the leverage of Trip.com’s “Tourism Marketing Hub,” the forum will promote an all-round upgrade in Changsha’s culture and tourism marketing by using the group’s influential marketing resources, supporting to raise the comprehensive strength of the culture and tourism industry to new heights.

Changsha, the “City of Influencing”, Will Undergo Brand New Upgrade and Focus on Creating Vibrant Neo-Tourism Content

On the first day of the forum, the International Traveler’s Content Creation Conference will gather the opinion leaders in the culture and tourism industry, top creators of tourist content, experienced travelers, all together to shine brightly at the Travelor’s Forum.

At the event, experts and academics will give keynote speeches on culture & tourism resources and development path. Content creators of culture & tourism works will reveal their soul cource and explore the development direction by sharing their travels in the year. TF Gala awardees will be invited to engage in a face-to-face session with all travelers. By combining sound, light, electronics and other scenario settings, the Forum will create a unique immersive experience for participants, allowing them to feel and witness the shift in culture and tourism from “photoing” to “storytelling”.

Changsha will utilize Trip.com Group’s platform to export its culture and tourism brands to global markets in a diverse and sustainable way, boosting the revitalization of city image and further increasing its city brand influence.

Star City’s “Star Program” Will Be Launched at the TF Gala Social Media

Apart from the International Traveler’s Content Creation Conference, the TF Gala will present awards for Trip.com Group’s annual travelers. The nominees will be announced in livestream after a series of appraisals and votings, and the annual creator list will be released as most influential traveler of the year, annual MCN list at the TF Gala. The forum will showcase the vitality of Trip.com Group’s Community’s travel content creation to the world and endorse Changsha on diversified culture and tourism contents.

Photo: Meixi Lake International Culture and Art Center

Star City Changsha will provide the colossal stage to the TF Gala, at which Changsha’s traveler list will be announced as part of the “Star Program”. All social circles will join in and trigger heated dedate on practice and enlightment about Changsha’s culture and tourism model, paving the way for China’s development next decade in the content creation within culture & tourism industries and beyond.

The fully-livestreamed events will invite cross-border travelers to share new concepts and goals that benefit both travelers and destinations, and the hottest topics of the year will also be announced, allowing enthusiastic travelers and content creators to explore trends of Neo-tourism content. The TF aims to promote Changsha’s rising popularity through content creation. Using innovative means, the internet events will capture tourists fast by forming positive perceptual impression on Changsha, helping Changsha’s culture & tourism industries to maintain a top differentiated brand-level trend in the long run.

New Upgrade in Content Consumption Tableaux, Trip.com Group Accelerates a Shift in Culture and Tourism from “Photoing” to “Storytelling”

The TF intends to explore and witness to the shift in culture and tourism from “photoing” to “storytelling”. With the coming of post-pandemic era, ways of travel become diversified with an upward tendancy to experience, immersion, links and public reputation. As an important content platform, the Trip.com Group Community is a leading hub for strategic content in the tourism industry. The community will integrate cultural entertainment and tourism with talk shows, concerts, music festivals, lifestyle festivals and other entertaining lifeways since Changsha Traveler’s Lifestyle Festival unfolds.

Photo: Changsha night scene

The Traveler’s Lifestyle Festival is called the “Kong · Music Carnival,” organized by Trip.com Group’s NOW, a new subsection of Trip.com Group Communities, in partnership with the Electric Jungle Music Festival, China’s leader in live experiences. Starting on August 19th, the two-day festival will embrace two grand stages and thirty four bands. Musicians will revel with travelers in the event music as accompaniment to their trips. Festival-goers will experience Changsha’s unique local attractions while enjoying a gentle and pleasant romance in the city’s late summer.

Through showing all-round and dimensional unique experiences, the Traveler’s Lifestyle Festival aims to empower Changsha’s upgrades on culture and tourism model and travel content, conveying to travelers the concept of travel as a lifestyle.

Trip.com Group’s Core IPs Will Help Promote Changsha’s Long-Term Popularity

To date, over 100,000 travelers have actively participated in Trip.com Group’s core IP and the TF events, garnering over 10 billion impressions and more than a million online and offline participants. The events will further enhance Changsha’s popularity and influence and in turn will promote consumption and development in the culture and tourism sector.

In recent years, Trip.com Group has been an important strategic partner in Changsha’s high-quality culture and tourism development. Leveraging Trip.com Group’s strong resource integration capabilities, Changsha has continuously rolled out culture and tourism combos, including building Changsha’s Star Hub, issuing culture and tourism consumption vouchers and subsidies, introducing Trip.com Group Country Retreats program and Changsha – Super Destinations program. The “Star City, Shining Bright” TF will be the ideal model for government-enterprise cooperation, Must-see travel IP, Festival IP and City IP. The forum will help the city develop into a young, international, trendy and entertainment-centric brand. It helps accelerate the recovery of Changsha’s culture and tourism market, unleash its consumption potential and break new frontiers to build a world-renowned tourist destination.

Changsha will also take in Trip.com Group’s brand influence and tourism industry ecosystem strength. Centered on its cultural symbol as “Star City” , Changsha is aligning itself with the strategy of “strengthening the provincial capital” and further completing its ecological tour goal. The tailored International Traveler’s Content Creation Conference, as permanent culture and tourism event IP for Changsha, the year-end gala, buzz marketing and other events will elevate the city’s all-round influence in various aspects as a seed city in Trip.com Group’s Super Destinations, attracting tourists from across China and abroad to witness the “City of Influencing” for sustainable and long-run popularity.

Photo: Changsha’s Huangxing Commercial Pedestrian Street