10 HOLIDAY | Travel Monday, May 1, 2017 CHINA DAILY
By YANGFEIYUE
More travel packages exclusivelytargeting mothers with childrenand senior-aged travelers areexpected to hit the market soon.
The Jiangsu-based online travelagency Tongcheng Network Tech-nology will put together such prod-ucts as part of its strategy to focusmore on consumer needs and devel-op products targeting specific agegroups.
The whole travel industry is likelyto pay more attention to customer
types, insteadof theirnumbers, inthefutureyear, saysTongcheng’s founderand CEO Wu Zhixiang. He spoke at aCEO summit focusing on the neweconomy in Beijing on April 15.
Roughly 20 CEOs of major busi-ness players, such as the bike-shar-ing company Ofo Inc, the group-buying provider Meituan, and live-streaming powerhouse Yixia Tech,attended the meeting to discussfuture moves in their market.
Most agreed that business, espe-cially startups, will shift focus fromresources to products and ultimate-
ly to consumer experience.When that happens, Wu says,
“traveler’s needs in tourism con-sumption will be better satisfied.”
At the moment, travel productsare mostly offered indiscriminatelyto customers without targeting ortailoring for age groups.
“You’ll face the same productwhether you are a mother who istaking your child with you or mid-dle-aged or senior traveler,” Wuexplains.
He believes that travel productsand services exclusively for travelers
of specific classes will be available inthe next 18 years.
For mother-and-children custom-ers, travel packages should cater tothe needs of mothers, while helpingchildren expand their vision andgrow along the way, Wu explains.
“It’s about totally redesigning ourproducts and integrating customerneeds with our understanding ofthe industry,” Wu says.
The travel agency set up a spe-cial club for elder clients in Sep-tember 2016, and the number ofmembers has grown at 300 per-
cent month-on-month ever since.Members have now spread across
160 cities nationwide.The club has launched a series of
customized tours for seniors sincethe end of last year.
In addition to health checks andtravel insurance, “second honey-moon” trips to rekindle old flameshave also been developed.
The ultimate goal is to meet theelder customers’ needs in travel, lei-sure and social life and create a hap-py community for them, accordingto Wu.
R ichethnic culture, aprim-itive natural landscapeand exotic gourmet foodnever fail to draw in visi-
tors to Kaili.The city sits in the southeast of
Guizhou and is capital of the Qian-dongnan Miao and Dong autono-mous prefecture. Ethnic Miaopeople are in the majority in a com-munity with 33 ethnic groups thataccount for 75 percent of the localpopulation of 1 million.
The diverse peoples have giventhe city a strong ethnic ambience.
Roughly 135 folk festivals arestaged throughout the year forlocals to express their various tradi-tions, according to the Kaili tourismauthority.
These include exotic ethnic songand dances, thrilling bullfights andexquisite art, such as embroidery,batik and silver ornaments, saysZhang Miao, Party secretary ofKaili.
One could stop by the Qiandong-nan prefecture museum in down-town Kaili to get a workingknowledge of local ethnic culturebefore exploring further afield.
Themuseumwas founded in 1988and covers an area of 11,000 squaremeters. It preserves daily objectsand artifacts made by locals that tellthe stories of local history.
Be sure to visit the museum’s big-gest treasure, a Miao costume tradi-tionally embroidered with tin wires.Free guide service is usually offeredto a group of four to five people inMandarin.
From there, local villages are thebest way to savor ethnic culture.
Nanhua village is roughly 20 min-utes’ drive from downtown Kailiand has enjoyed a history of morethan 400 years. All residents are ofMiao ethnicity and surnamed Pan.
The village is tucked away in agreen forest, with towering treesand chirping birds. A gallery lieshalfway up the mountain and canserve as a resting point. A moss-cov-ered stone path down from the gal-lery leads to the Bala River.
Mostof residentialbuildings inthevillage are diaojiaolou, suspendedwoodenhouses featuringstone foun-dations and green-tiled roof. Somebuildings have been a century long.
A pebble-paved lane connectsevery household.
Locals are hospitable and wouldserve wines to arriving guests. Onmajor holidays, they would play alusheng, a reed-pipe wind instru-ment and dance to greet visitors.
Girls will wear pleated skirts, with
the longest being 0.8 meters long,and one-meter-long silver orna-ments resembling ox horn.
Convenient transport has ena-bled relatively good tourism devel-opment in the village.
Wooden inns have been builtalong the river, and bonfire partiesare often held to spice up the visitorexperience.
Jidao village is another site thatshouldn’t be missed. Just severalkilometers away from Nanhua, itoffers a century-old pedestrian lane,granary and plaza, as well as mysticanimal footprints and caves alongthe way.
The village sits on the river bankand is home to 500 Miao people. Awood of ancient trees stand in theback; a paddy field and the riverstretch out in front.
Compared with Nanhua, Jidao isless developed and thus presentsmore primitive local elements.Diaojiaolou can be spotted from
afar, surrounded by clouds of cook-ing smoke. Most of them are of twostories, with the lower level beingused to raise livestock or for storage.
The old pedestrian lane starts offat the entrance of the village andwinds into its depths. The lane lookslike golden bricks under the sunwhile resembling oily black jadewhen it rains.
The lane leads to the granary,which is a rare public facility in a vil-lage. It was built out of the concernfor theft back in the old days, whenall households put their food togeth-er under guard. Now, the granaryhas been out of use but one could geta sense of ancient people’s wisdomby looking at the granary structure.
All is quiet and extramundaneinside the village. Small lanes criss-cross it.
When a holiday or a visitor comes,locals perform ancient songs thatreflect the history and beliefs of theMiao group.
In addition to the villages, onecould visit the Miao and Dong Eth-nic Customs Park, where one canshop for distinctive local food, silverornaments, embroideries and otherhandmade art products.
Modern farm pleasures includingfruit picking, a playground for chil-dren and outdoor exercises can beenjoyed in Weco Park.
The Huakai bullfight city claims tobe the first of its kind in China. Visi-tors can get a taste of Chinese bull-fighting culture on weekends.
The city is now going all out towoo visitors from far and wide.
Kaili signed deals with severalmajor travel agencies at a tourismroad show in Beijing on April 2.
Those agencies, including ChinaNational Travel Service (HK) GroupCorporation and China Ocean Inter-national Travel Service, will plantravel routes and send tourists toKaili.
The city is now accelerating devel-opment to keep up with China’s Beltand Road Initiative.
At the Beijing road show, Kailialso signed 24 deals covering realestate, internet technology, tradi-tional Chinese medicine and folkart and culture, with a total invest-ment of 21.1 billion yuan ($3.1 bil-lion).
To spice up travelers’ experience,there have been various shows andevents.
The international 100-km racearound the Leigong Mountain andthe Chinese music instrument con-tests have been hits among travel-ers, according to Li Mengqun,deputy director of the Kaili tourismauthority.
The grand Silver Show is a visualfeast. It tells the life and the love sto-ry of the Miao and Dong boys andgirls. The show features traditionalMiao and Dong dances and songswith 3-D and other dazzling effects.
Those activities have helped Kailito pack in 30 million visitors in 2016,up 35.38 percent over the previousyear, according to the tourismauthority.
Tourism income surged 42.3 per-cent to 28.6 billion yuan.
Improved transportation has alsohelped tourists get to Kaili easier.
It now takes three hours by airfrom Beijing to the city and roughly10 hours by high-speed rail.
Local authority is planning tointegrate health preservation, expe-dition and sport elements in future.The goal is to achieve a 15 percentgrowth annually during 2017-2020period, and ultimately draw in 45.3million visits, according to Li.
You’ll face thesame productwhether you are amother ... orsenior traveler.”Wu Zhixiang, TongchengNetwork Technology CEO
Tourism giant focuses more on customers’ needs
THE PEARLOFGUIZHOUAttractions from scenicbeauty to bullfightslure visitors to thismultiethnic community
One-day trip•Nanhua village-Jidao village-Soursoup culture-Huakai bullfight city-Kaili ethnic culture park-Yinxiu(Silver show)•The Miao and Dong Ethnic Cus-toms Park-Sour soup culture-We-co Park-Xiasi ancient town-Huakaibullfight city-Kaili ethnic culturepark-Yinxiu (Silver show)Two-day tripGuiyang-The Miao and Dong Eth-nic Customs Park-Sour soup cul-ture-Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village-Nanhua village-Jidao village-Xiasiancient town-Weco Park-Kaili eth-nic culture park-Yinxiu (Silvershow).Three-day tripGuiyang-The Miao and DongEthnic Customs Park-Xiasiancient town-Weco Park-Kailiethnic culture park-Yinxiu (Sil-ver show)-Yuntai Mountain,Shamuhe scenic spot-WuyangRiver-Zhenyuan ancient town-Qinglongdong scenic spot-Tiexiscenic spot
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The diverse peoples have given Kaili, Guizhou province a strong ethnic ambience. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Xiasi is a town of Kaili city, Guizhou province. The town was established in 1931, it has a total area of 154 square kilometers. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
YUNNAN
GUIZHOU
GUANGXI
Guiyang
CHINA DAILY
Kaili
