5G-powered smart tourism spurs rural revitalization

Multiple regions in China have developed smart tourism by leveraging 5G and other technologies in recent years, injecting strong impetus into the country's rural revitalization drive.

Villagers in traditional costumes perform in Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village, a tourist site about the Miao ethnic group in Leishan county, southwest China's Guizhou Province. [Photo/Wu Xianyan]

Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village, a tourist site about the Miao ethnic group in Leishan county, southwest China's Guizhou Province, has explored 5G-powered smart tourism, enabling tourists to experience the culture of the Miao ethnic group with a pair of mixed reality goggles.

Luo Longbao, head of the marketing department of the company that manages the tourist site, said the Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village built a 5G platform that allows tourists to check the real-time map of the village and search for parking space, introduces scenic spots and recommends routes.

During this year's Spring Festival holiday, the Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village received 142,000 visits, up 482.01 percent year on year, with tourism revenue reaching 140 million yuan ($19.8 million), a year-on-year increase of 532.53 percent.

Better 5G signal coverage and the in-depth integration of 5G with technologies including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, big data, and edge computing have given a leg up to China's rural revitalization. Smart tourism is a typical scenario of advancing rural revitalization through intelligent means.

The Zhujiajiao ancient town in Qingpu district, Shanghai. [Photo/Wang Gang]

Yucun village in east China's Zhejiang Province, recognized among the Best Tourism Villages by the World Tourism Organization, has presented its picturesque scenery to the outside world through the 5G network. Villagers advertise their agricultural products and B&B hotels through livestreams, expanding sales channels and increasing their incomes.

"With my 5G mobile phone, I can hold a livestream anytime and anywhere," said Bao Qingqing, a villager who helps her family sell local specialties via livestreams during her spare time.

Data showed that more than 400 scenic areas in Guizhou have been covered by 5G networks. The province has built 84,300 5G base stations, with all townships and over 50 percent of administrative villages having access to 5G services.

Shanghai has established 29 digital scenic areas and comprehensively improved 5G networks in rural areas.

5G networks have covered all key townships and towns in Zhejiang. It is expected that by 2025, 5G signals will be available in all county seats, townships and towns, and key administrative villages in the province, and more than 60 percent of its A-class scenic spots will become smart tourism destinations.

China will focus on improving 5G signal coverage in key rural tourism villages and towns, as well as areas with rich rural tourism resources, according to a recent notice on promoting the collaborative and innovative development of 5G technology and smart tourism issued by the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The country will advance the digital transformation of rural tourism resources and products based on 5G technology, explore new application models such as the 5G plus rural culture, and build a batch of 5G intelligent tourism model villages and towns to facilitate rural revitalization.

Chinese regions' active development of 5G smart tourism is beneficial to gaining successful practices that can be promoted, and will further boost rural revitalization, according to Pan Feng, deputy director of the Research Center for Radio Management under the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.