Ingenuity to create boutique homestays to empower the high-quality development of tourism

Haibei Bay B&B group. Courtesy of Nanxuan

Spring returns to all things, and it is the right time to go out and enjoy the flowers. In Dapeng, Shenzhen, you can see the first ray of sunshine in Pengcheng in spring in the early morning, you can enjoy the rape flower field, golden-flowered bell tree and other prosperous flowers at noon, and you can see the bright starry sky at night, coupled with the beautiful mountain and sea scenery, so that many tourists will Dapeng as a popular destination for flower-viewing tours, and local homestays have also ushered in the climax of consultation and booking.

As the only national-level tourism reform and innovation pilot zone in the province and a pilot area of Shenzhen National All-for-One Tourism Demonstration Zone, Dapeng New Area will receive more than 16.11 million tourists in 2023 and its tourism revenue will exceed 9.7 billion yuan. In 2024, Dapeng New Area will focus on the goal of "Dapeng Tourism High-quality Development Year", accelerate the overall development level of the tourism industry through a package of measures, and achieve new results in promoting high-quality development with new atmosphere and new actions.

Flower viewing tours are popular

Dapeng boutique B&B is in high demand

Overlooking the sea of oranges, sip a cup of fragrant coffee, share parent-child time in the sea-view suite with an oversized slide, take a yacht or swing on the beach to feel the embrace of the sea breeze...... When it comes to the relaxation vacation in Shenzhen, Shenzhen Arcanara Liulihai Resort (hereinafter referred to as Arcanara Liulihai), located in Dapeng Nanao, provides tourists with a variety of choices.

With the soaring popularity of flower-viewing tours, the reservation of rooms in the Glass Sea of Arcanara is becoming increasingly demanding. Li Chao, chairman of Shenzhen Arcanala Commercial Management Company, said that thanks to the warmer weather and the beautiful scenery of mountains and seas in Dapeng, many people take advantage of the spring flowers to play in Dapeng, "Now more and more tourists' tourism consumption habits have changed, from watching the flowers to relaxing vacations, we comply with customer needs, optimize products and services, and focus on a two-to-three-day safe vacation environment." The resort area is also becoming more and more popular, and it is now almost full on weekends. ”

The high booking rate of Arcanala Liulihai is a wonderful microcosm of the iterative upgrading of the homestay industry in the new area and the improvement of the overnight stay rate of tourists. Dapeng New Area is the birthplace of B&B in Guangdong Province, and the B&B Town is the most densely populated B&B area in the province. As a representative of non-standardized accommodation, Dapeng B&B has unique characteristics, and has continued to renew with people's growing demand for a better life for more than ten years, including Miyue Shenzhen Santorini Seaview Resort and B&B, which has the characteristic operation model of "B&B + travel photography + housekeeper", and the "Tomeye" series of B&Bs that focus on space aesthetics, have already become "Internet celebrities" with their high appearance and differentiated services. According to the data, during the Spring Festival this year, the new area received 154,600 overnight tourists, a year-on-year increase of 232.47%, of which the reservation rate of Dapeng high-end beauty accommodation reached 90%.

Staying and playing slowly in Dapeng has become a common choice for more and more tourists, and it also reflects the new breakthrough in Dapeng tourism towards high-quality development. In May 2023, the "Haibei Bay Boutique B&B Cluster", which is known for its beautiful scenery, meticulous service and characteristic style, was awarded the first batch of "Cantonese New Trend" hot scenes of Guangdong's new cultural tourism consumption format, and in February 2024, Arcanara Liulihai signed a contract to become one of the seven key projects of rural tourism in the province...... From a "B&B town" to a "boutique B&B cluster", Dapeng's experience and Dapeng brand for the high-quality development of the B&B industry are going out of Shenzhen and spreading in many places, becoming a powerful starting point for promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas.

Promote ecological and humanistic advantages

Dapeng "makes the mountains and seas no longer far away"

Behind the growing popularity and gradual realization of high-quality development of the Dapeng homestay industry, it is inseparable from the help of Shenzhen's unique mountain-sea cultural tourism resources in this "tourism region", as well as the efforts of the new area to promote high-quality development and high-level protection.

The beauty of Dapeng is natural. This is Shenzhen's "special ecological zone", with about half of Shenzhen's coastline and most of the beach, the water quality of the coastal waters is maintained all year round, the forest coverage rate is over 77%, the per capita park green space area ranks in the forefront of the city, and the quality of the ecological environment has reached the international first-class level. There is not only China's first international dark night community, making "stargazing and seawatching" a new fashion lifestyle for more tourists in the Greater Bay Area, but also the only national geological and natural park in Shenzhen, "the most beautiful valley in Shenzhen", "the most beautiful eight coastlines in China" and many other popular tourist attractions that are well-known to the majority of citizens and tourists, such as hiking, coastline crossing, sailing, paddle boarding, etc., which is the famous "international outdoor sports paradise" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The beauty of Dapeng lies in the humanities. There is Shenzhen's first national key cultural relics protection unit - Dapeng City, the 7,000-year-old Xiantouling site records the earliest ancient human civilization in Shenzhen, and has the reputation of "the root of Pengcheng". Hakka culture, Tanjia culture, and coastal defense culture are inclusive, and in the 19 ancient villages with beautiful scenery, many characteristic intangible cultural heritages such as Nanao fishermen's marriage customs, Dongshan fishing songs, and Dapeng Se fans have long been written into the life memory of Dapeng people.

At present, Dapeng New Area is striving to build a benchmark for practice and innovation of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", adheres to the combination of "greening" and "beautification", coordinates and promotes the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses and sands, deeply implements the ecological construction of Lumei Dapeng, strengthens the ecological construction of forestry and the beautification of urban areas in an all-round, all-region and whole-process manner, and builds a new pattern of ecological construction of Lumei Dapeng, so that Dapeng will become an "ideal urban area" for residents and a "poetry and distance" for tourists. "The mountains and seas here are particularly beautiful, the cultural and historical heritage is profound, especially the sea view, which is not inferior to Southeast Asia, and every time I come to vacation, I feel very healing. Referring to her impression of Dapeng, Ms. Lin, who lives in Luohu, Shenzhen, praised, "Dapeng deserves to be 'Shenzhen Peach Blossom Spring', I like it very much!"

Make good use of the "key sub" of cultural tourism

Revitalizing high-quality development "full game of chess"

"Since mid-March, there have been significantly more tourists visiting Dapeng. Li Chao believes that this is related to the continuous improvement of cultural and tourism facilities and the strengthening of marketing and promotion in Dapeng New Area.

In 2023, Dapeng New Area will adhere to the full implementation of the "Millions and Thousands Project" as the number one project to promote high-quality development, make efforts in "planning, policies, projects, and promotion", accelerate the implementation of the "16810" project for high-quality development of tourism, and focus on the "1" goal of building a world-class coastal eco-tourism resort, promote the continuous transformation of "6" key areas such as Longqi International Ecological Resort Bay, empower the strength of "8" cornerstone projects such as Legoland, and accelerate the construction of "10" major infrastructure such as the first phase of rail line 32.

In January this year, the new district clearly proposed that 2024 will be designated as the "year of high-quality development of Dapeng tourism", and it is necessary to vigorously implement the special action to enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of tourism, accelerate the introduction of a three-year action plan for the high-quality development of tourism in the new area, focus on enriching the supply of high-quality tourism products, implement the design and planning of the eastern international tourism resort, accelerate the construction of Legoland and CITIC Jinshawan International Park, and accelerate the construction of Dapeng City, Activate and utilize historical and cultural resources such as Bantianyun, build industrial tourism demonstration sites such as CGN Science and Technology Museum and National Gene Bank, create high-end cafes, bars and other characteristic leisure places, and constantly innovate "event +", "sports +" and "food +" and other formats, strengthen marketing and promotion, and stimulate new vitality of tourism consumption with all-round and three-dimensional publicity and promotion. At the same time, relying on the two 18-kilometer "one ridge and one belt" around Longqi Bay, we will expand new consumption scenarios such as coastal camping and outdoor sports, implement marine activity promotion plans, cultivate and promote special marine leisure activities such as sailing, yachting and cruises, and enhance the influence of brand events such as China Cup Regatta.

The blueprint has been drawn up, and implementation is the key. During this year's Spring Festival, Dapeng New Area took "Seven Days of Extraordinary Dapeng" as the theme, unlocked a variety of new ways to play mountain and sea tourism for citizens and tourists, and cooperated with multiple departments to do a good job of tourism security, and achieved a total of 827,400 tourists during the Spring Festival holiday, a year-on-year increase of 125.27%, and achieved a tourism income of 534 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 149.07% The activity confronted the shortcomings of tourism development, comprehensively sorted out the areas, categories and themes that citizens are concerned about, and widely solicited "tips" to promote the high-quality development of tourism in the new area......

Looking to the future, the new area will clearly anchor the goal of "building the best and world-class coastal eco-tourism resort in the country", take the creation of a "4+1" development theme cultural tourism product system as the starting point, implement the design and planning of the eastern international tourism resort, implement the three-year action plan for the high-quality development of tourism with high standards, and accelerate the construction of major projects such as Legoland and Jinshawan International Park. At the same time, adhere to the market demand-oriented, identify the new trend of cultural tourism consumption, and do a good job in the planning and marketing promotion of activities throughout the year, so that tourists can come here, make the trip worthwhile, and forget to return.

World-class waterfront

Ecotourism resort

Dapeng has about one-half of Shenzhen's coastline and most of the sandy beaches, the water quality of the coastal waters is maintained all year round, the forest coverage rate is over 77%, the per capita park green space area ranks in the forefront of the city, and the quality of the ecological environment has reached the international first-class level. There is not only China's first international dark sky community, making "stargazing and seagazing" a new fashion lifestyle, but also the only national geological and natural park in Shenzhen, "the most beautiful valley in Shenzhen" and many other popular tourist attractions, which is the famous "international outdoor sports paradise" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Text: Chen Xinghua Plate making: Liu Jialin, Zhang Ling, Yang Runxian