New momentum of “Internet + Culture and Tourism”

The alternation between dry and monsoon seasons causes zebras to migrate in groups. African lions hide in the grass to gaze at their prey. The night falls, and the spacious prairie returns to serenity...In the theme usic of "Walk into Africa" at Shanghai Museum of Natural History, exploding sound effects, changing lights, high-definition dynamic images and over 200 lifelike animal specimen immerse the audiences into the scene, as if they were a part of the prairie.

When Shanghai Museum of Natural History opened in 2015, digitalized immersive experiences are not common in the country. Nowadays, accompanied by the substantial progress of technologies, immersive experiences have become a trend in the industries of artistic performances, tourism, and on-location entertainment. They bring new experiences to tourists and audiences, and are nourishment for the mind during the time when people are combating the pandemic.

Especially since last year, when epidemic prevention and control became an everyday reality, digitalized culture and tourism projects greatly enriched people's lives. Different regional museums launched thousands of online exhibitions, many A-level scenic areas opened up online touring. “Live-streaming on the Cloud”, “Exhibitions on the Cloud”, “Travelling on the Cloud” sprung up exuberantly, user scale and users' average daily viewing time steadily increased, which became new growth points in economic development during the epidemic.

Accompanied by the rapid development of "Internet + Culture and Tourism", virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), big data and other modern information technologies are integrating with the culture and tourism industry. This greatly enriched the contents of immersive cultural and tourism experiences.

An official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stated that, in the first three quarters of 2020, our nation’s emerging cultural activities achieved an operating income of 2.12 trillion yuan in 16 different sectors. This was a 21.9% rise from the same period last year, which demonstrated the immense development potential of the emerging field.

According to the official, in the future, the culture and tourism industry will further use digitalized methods and immersive displays to fully explore culture and tourism resources - to enhance the application of VR, AI, 5g, 4K/7k ultrahigh definition, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), and other technologies in the cultural tourism industry, to propel the transition of real scenic contents into immersive contents, to enrich virtual experiences. In addition, it will push for the integration of immersive field and culture and tourism, and expand its use in the urban complex, in cultural centers, and in scenic areas.

Industry analysis indicates that, to let audiences and tourists “feel personally on the scene” cannot be done without the help of technological and cultural elements. Lou Jiajun, a professor from East China Normal University, thinks that the foundation of importing digitalized technology is to construct the bridge to integrate culture and travel, to let the public cultivate their national identity in high-quality culture and tourism experiences, to feel the happiness of life, and to reach the unity of social and economic benefits.

Contributed by Xu Junjie, Chen Aiping, reporters of Xinhua News Media Agency Beijing Branch

Translated by Zhang Junye