"In fact, since Macheng discovered that a large area of ancient rhododendrons was backward, Macheng registered the brand of' Rhododendron City' and determined the strategic policy of building a Rhododendron City and building a strong city with rhododendron cultural brands. Now you can see that the urban construction of (Macheng) is also committed to highlighting the cuckoo brand, and projects such as Rhododendron Avenue, Rhododendron Square and Rhododendron Expo are in full swing. " Sun Mou 'an said that since 2007, especially in 2009, the local authorities have paid attention to marketing planning, adopted golden ideas to carry out tourism creative marketing, and paid attention to the pulling effect of brand attractions, especially Guifeng Mountain attractions, and adopted the following specific measures:
With the influence of festivals. In 2008, the first China Macheng Rhododendron Cultural Tourism Festival was successfully held, and slogans such as "Red Rhododendron, Beautiful Macheng" and "April Day on Earth, Look at Macheng Rhododendron" swept the country overnight; In 2009, the 2009 China Rhododendron City Tourism Conference in Macheng was successfully held, and it was selected into the Guinness Book of World Records, with a constant momentum. At present, the second China Macheng Rhododendron Cultural Tourism Festival (20 10) is being actively planned. On the basis of the first one, it will highlight local characteristics and constantly promote "making a name for itself through festivals".
With the help of the fashion appeal of stars. In 2007, Cao was hired as the image ambassador of Macheng, and then he planned a Du Fu Fairy Selection and Distribution Competition held in Wuhan. In 2008, the first Du Fu Festival was supported by a large number of popular stars at the "Happy China" party, which not only promoted Macheng culture, but also promoted Macheng tourism, and continuously amplified Du Fu's brand effect.
The authority and credibility of experts and media. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and internationally renowned rhododendron experts have made authoritative evaluations of "a national must, rare in the world" and "Macheng Rhododendron is the best in the world", and the brand of Macheng Rhododendron has been directly enlarged to the whole world; In 2008, CCTV and other authoritative TV stations were invited to join the first Rhododendron Festival. The report on the vigorous development of Rhododendron tourism in Macheng in Happy China Charming Macheng and News Network made the Rhododendron in Macheng start to stir the whole country.
With the spread and influence of culture and advertising. Hire the famous composer Wang Yuanping to create "Rhododendron Macheng" to facilitate folk singing; Invite famous artists from inside and outside the province to Macheng to collect folk songs and hold a photo contest in conjunction with the Provincial Photographers Association; Set up Guifeng Mountain Folk Art Troupe to perform on tour; Editing and publishing a number of audio-visual books for external publicity and promotion, focusing on advertising marketing in Wuhan, Huangzhou, Huangshi and other places. At the same time, combining with car body advertisements, internet, television, newspapers and periodicals, it set off a shock wave of marketing tourism. On the basis of "April day on earth, Macheng sees azaleas", it took advantage of the trend and played the slogan of "sunny day in June, Guifeng Mountain is a summer resort". After the azaleas, Guifeng Mountain traveled.
Sun Mou 'an looks confident. "With the current development speed of Macheng, it is not difficult to achieve the set goals."
With a total length of 460 kilometers, it passes through seven counties and cities such as Hong 'an, Macheng and Huangmei, and the Macheng section of Dabie Mountain red tourist highway connecting the three major tourist areas along the route, including red relics, green ecology and Zen culture, has been started, and it is expected that the highway will be opened. In terms of tourist reception, there is a four-star hotel and five three-star hotels under construction in this city. In 20 10, there was another four-star hotel and more than three three-star hotels.
It is reported that the Guifeng Mountain Scenic Area and Macheng Martyrs Cemetery in this city have been officially awarded the national 4A-level scenic spots, among which Tianjing Mountain drifting focusing on Guifeng Mountain Scenic Area has been successfully opened and the National Geopark has been successfully declared.
Macheng is an old revolutionary base area with relatively poor economy and rich tourism resources. In the past, the tourism products in this city were relatively simple and poor, and the tourism resources were not well developed and utilized. Vigorously develop tourism, so that Guifeng Mountain, a little-known scenic spot, has suddenly become a national 4A-level tourist attraction. Li Kaishou said: "The azaleas in Macheng used to be in the boudoir, but now they can be said to be rushing up the mountain to watch. We mainly played three cards in the development of rhododendron tourism, which brought such considerable popularity and benefits. "
◆ Play the deep development and excavation card.
How to turn resource advantage into tourism advantage and tourism advantage into economic advantage? In 2007, Macheng Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government discovered the bright spots of rhododendron through investigation and decided to develop and protect the tourism brand of rhododendron. In June+10/October of the same year, Macheng invited forestry experts from Chinese Academy of Sciences to Guifeng Mountain for field investigation, demonstration and sampling identification, and solemnly announced that Macheng had an original ecological community of 1 10,000 mu of ancient rhododendron (azalea). Among them, the ancient rhododendron community in Guifeng Mountain covers an area of 654.38+ 10,000 mu, and most of the trees are over 300 years old. Its large area, age, high density, beautiful colors, pure varieties and good preservation are extremely rare and of great development value. Experts from Wuhan Institute of Botany, Huazhong Agricultural University and Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences were invited to Macheng for field investigation and identification.
In order to promote and publicize the brand of rhododendron, Macheng successfully held the first China Macheng Rhododendron Cultural Tourism Festival in April 2008, and invited CCTV's Happy China Tour to help out. Previously, Cao, the first county of Macheng, was hired as the image spokesperson of Macheng, which caused strong repercussions in the national media. The city also held an audition for "Macheng Rhododendron Fairy" and created the theme song "Macheng Rhododendron Red", which made the rhododendrons in Macheng famous all over the world, and the slogan "Look at the rhododendrons in Macheng in April" resounded throughout the country.
◆ Play the cuckoo city distribution card.
On April 16, 2009, the China Rhododendron City Tourism Conference in Macheng was held in the Rhododendron Square in Guifeng Mountain, attended by leaders of Hubei Provincial Tourism Bureau and Shanghai Millennium Monument Headquarters, experts from Kunming Institute of Botany, heads of China Pacific Insurance Company, numerous media reporters and representatives of nearly 100 travel agencies in the province. The leaders and guests attending the meeting climbed Guifeng Mountain, the longest mountain in China, with great interest, and swam in the sea of 10,000 mu of azaleas, enjoying the infinite charm of the azaleas king. Professor Guan Kaiyun, an international authoritative expert on rhododendron, said: "The rhododendron in Macheng is a natural community with the most concentrated distribution, the purest stand structure, the largest population area, the oldest tree age, the best preservation, the most beautiful plant type and the most magnificent landscape I have ever seen, which is an eye-opener and a miracle of the world. It can really be said that the rhododendrons in Macheng are the best in the world. " At the meeting, the kiness headquarters of Shanghai World issued a certificate to Macheng, and recognized the Rhododendron Sea in Guifeng Mountain Scenic Area of Macheng as the largest original ecological ancient Rhododendron community in China. At the same time, it insured 9.6 million yuan for the cuckoo king in Guifeng Mountain.
The Rhododendron King in Guifeng Mountain is the largest Rhododendron in the Rhododendron Sea and the largest Rhododendron ever discovered in the world, with a tree age of over 300 years. It is amazing that 56 trunks grow on a stump at the same time, which is very spectacular. Insuring the Rhododendron King for 9.6 million yuan means that 56 ethnic groups growing on 9.6 million square kilometers of the motherland are connected by blood. Subsequently, Macheng Municipal People's Congress passed a resolution to list rhododendrons as city flowers, and then Rhododendron Square, Rhododendron Avenue and Rhododendron Hotel came into being.
◆ Play the international expert appraisal card
20 10 From April 25th to May10, Macheng held the second China Macheng Rhododendron Cultural Tourism Festival. During the festival, 12 theme activities such as attracting investment, local art exhibitions, international symposium on rhododendrons, and Macheng singing competition are colorful. It is particularly noteworthy that more than 60 experts from New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Norway, Japan, Nepal and China attended the International Symposium on Rhododendron in Macheng, China, and conducted on-the-spot scientific investigation and academic research on Rhododendron in Macheng. On April 28th, international experts on rhododendron concluded that "the rhododendron in Macheng, Hubei Province is the largest, most concentrated, oldest and most magnificent rhododendron community in the world", and they suggested that Macheng declare the rhododendron in Guifeng Mountain as a world natural heritage.
Through the promotion of festivals and the authoritative release of experts, the rhododendron brand in Macheng is getting louder and louder. Macheng * * * received 2.2 million tourists, achieving a comprehensive tourism income of nearly 654.38 billion yuan. There are more than 300 farmhouses in the city, with more than 2,000 direct employees and an annual income of 6,543,800 yuan. Guifengshan Village in Guifengshan Scenic Area has built a folk street relying on the scenic spot, and the income of each hotel exceeds 30,000 yuan. Yang Yao, Mayor of Macheng City, said that they will intensify the upgrading and transformation of scenic spots and strive to build Macheng into an excellent tourist destination in China, a service base in Wuhan City Circle and a tourist gateway city in Dabie Mountain.