As a city of world heritage, Quanzhou has frequently trended in recent years, with its urban popularity consistently ranking among the highest nationwide.
Behind this popularity lies steadily rising cultural tourism figures. Last year, Quanzhou received 112 million visitor trips, generating total tourism spending of 134.83 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, the city's visitor arrivals grew 6.6% year on year, while total tourism expenditure rose 8% year on year, with both total volume and growth rate continuing to rank among the top in the province.
Cultural tourism has become another industry sector in Quanzhou to surpass the hundred-billion-yuan mark, following nine major manufacturing clusters including textiles and apparel, footwear, and machinery and equipment. How did this world heritage city complete the leap from a "traffic gateway" to a "hundred-billion-yuan industry"? The answer lies in the deep integration of "cultural tourism plus all industries."
Strengthening the foundation for sustained cultural tourism growth
On September 25, the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 7:30 p.m., the inheritance edition of the puppet show "The Orphan of Zhao," which had its premiere on the 15th, once again took the stage at the Quanzhou Puppet Theater, with the 480-seat venue completely full.
Looking at the packed audience, Lin Fengjin, head of the Quanzhou Puppet Troupe, recalled the situation just a few years ago: before 2019, the same theater often could not fill even half its seats, with annual ticket revenue of only several hundred thousand yuan.
In 2021, "Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China" was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and Quanzhou's cultural tourism rapidly heated up. Facing the influx of visitors, the Quanzhou Puppet Troupe launched special performances of classic excerpts and carefully staged pieces such as "Zhong Kui Gets Drunk" and "The Little Monk Descends the Mountain."
"These excerpted plays are short, highly technical, and feature little singing or recitation, allowing visitors to quickly appreciate the charm of Quanzhou puppet theater," Lin Fengjin said. In 2023, the troupe's annual performances increased to more than 400, and ticket revenue soared to 10 million yuan. Today, the troupe performs over 1,000 times a year, with public welfare low-price ticket revenue exceeding 20 million yuan, driving consumption of over 1.8 billion yuan.
"The popularity of marionette puppet theater is both accidental and inevitable," Lin Fengjin acknowledged. The accidental part lies in the enormous traffic brought by successful World Heritage inscription, while the inevitable part lies in the fact that marionette puppet theater has more than 1,300 years of history, hundreds of traditional plays, and world-leading manipulation techniques.
After puppet theater went viral, the troupe revived traditional full-length productions such as "The Orphan of Zhao" and "Flooding Jinshan Temple," created original excerpted plays including "Writing Through the World," "Puppet Rhymes of the Tea Ceremony," and "Flower Hairpin Market," and prepared to produce the puppet drama "Marco Polo." Cultural inheritance and tourism popularity have thus formed a virtuous cycle.
In the view of industry insiders, the foundation of Quanzhou's cultural tourism does not rely on "traffic luck," but on the systematic protection and creative transformation of world heritage cultural resources. Quanzhou has 22 World Heritage sites, nearly 1,000 cultural relic protection units at various levels, and more than 700 intangible cultural heritage items at various levels. Grounded in a thousand-year cultural lineage, Quanzhou uses the dual empowerment of "World Heritage carriers plus living intangible cultural heritage" to let culture permeate its streets and alleys.
Located in Huaxiang, Licheng, Quanzhou Huajianfu Hotel was converted from the former headquarters building of Fujian Provincial No. 5 Construction Group. The broth for the breakfast satay noodles comes from a time-honored brand, the fruit is pickled fruit supplied by a local 30-year-old shop, and the aromatherapy is Dehua porcelain flowers shaped like coral trees... "We cooperate with eight intangible cultural heritage inheritors to offer experience courses such as flower hairpin making, paper carving, and flower lanterns, making culture perceptible and inheritance sustainable," introduced hotel manager Cai Helin.
The hotel also launched "Huaxiang Strolls," with professionally certified staff serving as "local life guides," leading guests free of charge deep into Huaxiang to talk about old stories of Liuyuan, the changes of the Catholic church, and the intangible cultural heritage of the arts and crafts cooperative.
When culture silently seeps into the urban fabric and becomes a life that can be touched, felt, and taken away, Quanzhou's cultural tourism prosperity and its "hundred-billion-yuan industry" naturally follow.
"Cultural tourism plus" breaks down industry boundaries
On September 25, the Quanzhou Food Culture Museum opened for trial operation, and the permanent exhibition "Eating at the Table: Quanzhou People's Food and Life World" opened at the same time. Quanzhou cuisine once again drew attention from all sides.
As a "City of Gastronomy" recognized by UNESCO, Quanzhou has dozens of traditional food-related techniques such as misua paste, runbing wrappers, Quanzhou braised snacks, garlic branches, and misua rice noodle twists, which have been included in intangible cultural heritage lists at various levels. In addition, Quanzhou not only has the imperial banquets of Song Dynasty maritime silk road prayer ceremonies, but also rich and diverse "one county, one table of dishes" in different styles.
Quanzhou Hotel, as a long-established star-rated hotel, hosts Licheng's "Coral Tree Banquet." Chen Hengxi, executive chef of the hotel's Wenling Chinese restaurant, led his team to select 22 dishes corresponding to 22 World Heritage sites, with the past, present, and future of Quanzhou's maritime trade as the main thread. "We hope to use one table of dishes to clearly explain Quanzhou's culture, ingredients, and techniques," Chen Hengxi said.
In July this year, Licheng launched the construction of the core area of the "City of Gastronomy," striving to exceed 3 billion yuan in food industry scale by 2029, with more than 100 time-honored brands and famous World Heritage flavor shops, and more than five distinctive food streets built.
Against the backdrop of "cultural tourism plus," Quanzhou has recoded industrial resources such as food, agriculture, sports, and performing arts, allowing all industries to provide rich scenes for cultural tourism that can be seen, played with, and consumed.
In Changqing Town, Anxi County, a single Chinese yam has extended into a full industrial chain of cultivation, processing, wellness, and educational tourism. Shange Chinese yam, a nationally recognized geographical indication agricultural product, is the pillar product of Shange Village in Changqing Town. "Annual sales of Shange Chinese yam series products reach more than 80 million yuan, with deep-processed products accounting for 70%," introduced Chen Zhuyi, chairman of the Shange Chinese Yam Professional Cooperative.
How else can the value of Chinese yam be extended? By using Shange Village's sound ecology and industrial foundation to develop agriculture-tourism integration. In July last year, Shange Yunding Holiday Resort opened to guests. The resort has 21 scenic-view rooms and supporting facilities such as a Chinese yam-themed restaurant, a cultural exhibition center, and a parent-child farming experience area. Since then, Shange Chinese yam in Changqing Town has formed a full industrial chain pattern of "cultivation plus processing plus sales plus cultural tourism," with annual output value exceeding 250 million yuan.
"Cultural tourism plus all industries" has reopened industrial boundaries, giving solid support to Quanzhou's "hundred-billion-yuan industry" in cultural tourism.
Turning cultural tourism traffic into incremental growth across industries
On September 24, the "Come to Quanzhou and Be the Protagonist" opera cultural and creative market landed at Quanzhou Confucian Temple Square. The market brought together 61 quality stalls covering museums, intangible cultural heritage, and local cultural creative products. Nanyin records, puppet refrigerator magnets, luminous drip beasts, and other cultural creative products bearing Quanzhou's imprint attracted many residents and tourists to shop.
Tourists rush to the ancient city because of World Heritage, and then bring brand recognition and consumption momentum back to all industries. As traffic spills over from scenic spots to factories, neighborhoods, and hotels, cultural tourism is shifting from a "ticket economy" to industrial incremental growth.
The Septwolves Men's Clothing Museum is located in Jinjing Town, Jinjiang. "This museum cost nearly 200 million yuan to renovate. Here visitors can learn about the development history of men's clothing and also see the complete process of a piece of men's clothing from fabric testing and pattern design to finished product off the line," said Jiang Shuilian, curator of the museum. This is a strategic upgrade of the brand from "selling products" to "telling culture."
"At present, the Septwolves Men's Clothing Museum receives more than 300,000 visitors annually on average, with educational tourism groups accounting for about 35%," Jiang Shuilian said. The company uses a route of "museum-craft workshop-life store" to build a complete "experience-consumption" loop: first understand the brand, then identify with its value, and consumption naturally occurs.
It launched the themed activity "Follow Brands to Travel in Quanzhou," deepened "one county, one product" distinctive industries such as footwear and apparel, tea, incense, porcelain, and stone, and released the "Quanzhou Shopping Map" and themed discount routes; on Zhongshan Road's guochao block, more than 50 flagship stores of local brands such as Anta and Hongxing Erke line up row upon row; nearly 100 overseas Chinese residences have been revitalized into cafes, cultural reception halls, and immersive experience venues... In Quanzhou, the traffic brought by tourists is becoming incremental growth for consumption stimulation and industrial upgrading.
The pulling effect of cultural tourism is also extending to broader fields. Horse-year themed IP installations were set up, and the "Six Contracts, Same Wind Horse" gained more than 1.38 billion exposures online, driving growth in surrounding cultural creative sales; theater blind boxes such as "Encountering the World: Because of Coral Tree," the immersive performance "Encountering Quanzhou," and the live-action show "Wind Praying for a Thousand Years" were launched; "Following Film and Television to Travel" was deepened, with the film "Waves of Life" making Shishi and Jinjiang the top choices for "Tasting Southern Fujian," and 18 concerts driving nearly 900 million yuan in consumption... From a blind box to a museum, from a flagship store to a revitalized area of overseas Chinese residences, the deep integration of "cultural tourism plus all industries" makes traffic more than just excitement, but also sediment into long-term momentum for brands and consumption.
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