Integration of culture and tourism through museum boom – Opinion

Culture is the soul of tourism. Capitalizing on the successful experiences of countries and cities that attract the most tourists, it is possible to attract more tourists by leveraging various cultural resources such as museums, industrial cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage, and theatrical performances. , is an important way to upgrade China. ” cultural tourism industry.

Thanks to the mobile Internet and digital cultural technologies, the integration of the cultural and tourism industries is progressing rapidly.

China has more than 5,000 cultural relic protection and exhibition institutions, with approximately 760,000 immovable cultural relics nationwide and 108 million movable cultural relics in national museums.

Protecting these cultural relics is a very difficult task. And because the tight security required to protect these relics prevents many people from viewing them, China’s cultural relics protection department has set up a digital museum with 3D digital archives and cloud exhibitions. built and allowed people to not only appreciate them, but also develop new modes of cultural heritage. Spread. This has enabled the preservation of cultural relics and heritage.

The digitization of cultural resources and the construction of digital museums will promote the creative transformation of China’s traditional culture and the development of tourism and digital cultural industries.

Many digital presentation projects for cultural assets have been developed, including the “Digital Palace Museum”, “Digital Treasure Hall”, “Digital Dunhuang” and “Digital Classical Cave” in the National Palace Museum (Forbidden City). “Cloud Tour of the Great Wall” by Dunhuang Academy, “Night Banquet of the Tang Dynasty” jointly developed by Tencent and other institutions, stunning underwater dance “Prayer” and “Zhou” by Henan Provincial Museum, History of Shaanxi Province “Qin, Han, Tang” digital cultural spectrum course launched by the museum.

These projects have greatly stimulated people’s love and interest in China’s historical and cultural heritage. Museums across the country are using digital technology to display various cultural relics and heritage sites online, arranging for experts to conduct museum tours through live streaming, and providing a virtual immersive museum experience.

Targeted policy implementation has increased public interest in museums. He has five noticeable signs of museum craze. First, the public’s enthusiasm for visiting museums has reached unprecedented levels, and visitor numbers are increasing rapidly.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2012 to 2019, the number of museum visitors nationwide increased from approximately 560 million to 1.2 billion, with an average annual increase rate of 79.74 million. After the end of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of visitors to museums in China will increase explosively in 2023. Last year, the National Museum alone recorded 6.76 million visitors, an increase of 314 percent over the previous year.

Second, the Internet has become the main source of museum communication. According to the “2023 Museum Data Report” of Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), in 2023, the total number of views of museum-related videos on Douyin alone will reach approximately 51.3 billion, which is 66 times the annual number of museum visitors. It is said to be equivalent to Nationally.

Third, TV programs about cultural heritage and museums continue to be popular. They innovatively use a variety of methods to deepen their audience’s awareness and understanding of Chinese culture.

Fourth, the museum’s cultural and creative products and intangible cultural heritage products continue to sell well, continuing to attract visitors to the museum and boosting the sales of cultural and creative products.

And fifth, the museum helped young students learn, understand history more deeply, learn about cultural dissemination, and enhance aesthetic knowledge.

The museum boom in China is the result of various factors, including the overall improvement in the level of museum services and people’s pursuit of a better life. But the central factor igniting the museum frenzy is undoubtedly the advent of the digital cultural age.

Digital technology has transformed the existence of museums, allowing traditional museums, previously limited to physical spaces, to become digitally enabled online.

The integration of culture and tourism has thus entered a new digital phase, with an unprecedented increase in depth and breadth.

Behind the museum boom is also a significant increase in the historical and cultural trust of the Chinese nation. The digital integration of culture and tourism continues to create new aesthetic forms of modern Chinese civilization, strengthen the common sense of Chinese ethnicity among the people, and enhance the people’s sense of cultural accomplishment and happiness.

The position of digital museums in the national digital culture strategy will further increase. And the integration of culture and tourism, led by digital culture, will lift China to new heights of digital civilization.

The author is affiliated with the Cultural Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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