This love letter comes from Yichang, Hubei—known as “the Three Gorges, the Dam, and the People”: On April 27, the global launch event of “Fall in Love with Yichang · Yichang Love Letter,” hosted by the Yichang Three Gorges Tourism New Area Management Committee and the Yichang Municipal Bureau of Tourism, was held at the Yuejiang Cultural Plaza in the Sanyou Cave of the Yichang Three Gorges Tourism New Area. At the event, Yichang unveiled its “Yichang Love Letter” to the world. The “Yichang Love Letter” is an expression of affection from this beautiful tourist city to travelers around the globe, extending an invitation to visitors worldwide in the warm and sincere form of a love letter.
The Yichang Municipal Bureau of Tourism stated that the Yichang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have formulated the “Decision on Accelerating the Transformation and Upgrading of Tourism and Building a Three Gorges International Tourism Destination City.” The release of this love letter, positioned as a global launch, aims to further promote the internationalization of Yichang’s tourism. At the same time, the “Yichang Love Letter” also marks that Yichang’s tourism will develop more deeply and comprehensively in cultural tourism and leisure vacation tourism, shifting from marketing tourism resources to marketing a tourism lifestyle. With the “Yichang Love Letter” as an opportunity, Yichang will open a new chapter in its tourism development.
The “Yichang Love Letter” is written to everyone in the world, showcasing the deep affection and broad benevolence of this renowned tourist city. The “Yichang Love Letter” is jointly written by 4.15 million people in Yichang, brimming with their warmth and sincerity. The “Yichang Love Letter” achieves marketing innovation in the new era of tourism and leads a new trend in the emotional marketing model of the tourism industry. The “Yichang Love Letter”—a different kind of brilliance.
Yichang’s brilliance is not limited to the love letter; it also boasts remarkable tourism resources. Yichang is rich in tourism resources, led by the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges Dam, and also possesses profound cultural heritage from the Ba-Chu and Three Kingdoms periods. The city is home to one UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage item, 56 national and provincial intangible cultural heritage items, 178 national, provincial, and municipal-level cultural heritage protection units, and 747 types of tourism resources. It has built 27 tourism attractions rated 3A or above (including 3 5A-level, 12 4A-level, and 12 3A-level attractions), and five national industrial and agricultural tourism demonstration sites. Currently, Yichang is meticulously developing six premium tourism zones: the Qu Yuan’s Hometown Cultural Tourism Zone, the Zhaojun’s Hometown Cultural Tourism Zone, the Qingjiang Ba-Tu Folk Culture Tourism Resort, the Chaibuxi-Houhe Primitive Ecological Tourism Zone, the Three Kingdoms Culture Experience Tourism Zone, and the Leizu’s Hometown Ecological Tourism Zone, offering higher-quality tourism products and more comprehensive services to welcome domestic and international visitors. In recent years, the Yichang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have placed great importance on the development of the cultural tourism industry, introducing various supportive policies to promote the establishment of an “International Tourism Destination City,” such as the “12th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Tourism in Yichang City,” the “12th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Cultural Undertakings and the Cultural Industry in Yichang City,” and the “Decision on Accelerating the Transformation and Upgrading of Tourism and Building a Three Gorges International Tourism Destination City,” further clarifying development strategies and enriching development measures.
After several years of development, Yichang’s tourism has achieved fruitful results. In 2013, the city’s total tourism revenue reached 26.012 billion yuan. According to planning goals, by 2016, the total tourism revenue will exceed 60 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 32%. By 2020, it aims to become a world-class tourism destination city and an international cultural tourism metropolis.
Looking at the international tourism environment, China became the world’s third-largest tourism destination country in 2011. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has stated that China will become the world’s most popular tourism destination by 2018.
With favorable external market conditions, strong internal policy support, and abundant unique tourism resources, Yichang’s tourism is bound to achieve even greater development, becoming an “international first-class tourism destination city” and a resounding calling card for Chinese tourism shining on the world stage.