On the Joint Development of Tourism Economy and Culture in the Era of Big Data〔*〕

Zhou Xin

(Nanjing Institute of Tourism，Nanjing Jiangsu 211100)

Ⅰ．The development and connotation of cultural tourism

1．The origin and development of tourism

Originated from the ancient merchants’bu siness activities，tourism is a kind of ancient social behavior．It is the sum of all the relationships and phenomenon in the course of people’s non－locating travelling for seeking spiritual pleasure．There are many great travelers and their stories at home and abroad in the history，such as Phoenician traders at sea，Magellan’s global adventure，Confucius travelling through all the kingdoms，Xu Xiake and his travel notes，Zhang Qian to the west regions and Zheng He’s voyage to the Atlantic．〔1〕According to different purposes，tourism can be divided into several categories，such as entertainment，business，religion and mutual assis-tance，including time and distance．In the sightseeing activities，it is bound to turn out a series of services，such as catering，transportation，accommodation，shopping，entertainment，etc．In a continuous line of tourism activities，the economic exchanges are generated and the tourism economy is emerged and promoted．

2．The cultural connotation of tourism economy

Tourism economy reflects various economic relations and activities between tourists and managers for benefit exchange in the condition of market economy．With the continuous development of the national economy and people’s living standards，tourism is not only a new concept and way of life，but has become an important pillar industry in stimulating domestic demand and promoting economic growth．Since the traditional，simple sightseeing tourism with extensive content can not meet people’s growing spiritual needs，cultural quality and connotation gradually become the critical factors holding back the development of tourism．World Tourism Organization defines cultural tourism as travelling when people want to know about each other’s life and thoughts．

The new concept of cultural tourism influences and changes the direction and development of tourism at a high pace．In the tourism activities，tourists can feel the natural scenery，visit the historical monuments and appreciate art and culture to get mental enjoyment and spiritual mold combining their individual ideas and tastes．Through the design and developing of tourism products featuring cultural quality and color，managers try to attract more tourists．〔2〕Cultural tourism has inherited the essence of the current cultural achievements，including the collision of different values and concepts，which has a distinctive character of nationality，locality and diversity，as well as some mystique and artistic quality．

3．The development of cultural tourism industry

Cultural tourism has brought about considerable economic benefits for local places by offering platforms for tourists to experience the local customs and culture，to learn the local history and to visit historical sites and natural scenery．From the hot battle of celebrity hometowns in recent years，we can see the importance of brand effect for the development of cultural tourism．Sichuan tourism，represented by Bashu culture，Jiangxi tourism，represented by red spirit，Tibet tourism，featuring a religious pilgrimage，and a series of theme tourism，such as folk custom tour，folk art tour，red tourism and harmonious urban and rural tour，make national cultural tourism industry prosperous．

Ⅱ．The value and strategic changes in the era of big data

1．The development and connotation of big data

Data collection and processing has been a difficult problem in human society．With the development of human civilization and the explosion of data，the ability of data processing is challenged．At the end of the 19th century，A-mericans Hellmann－Hollerith invented electric card recognition machine，creating a milestone in the new technology of data processing．Britain developed a programmable electronic computer for large－scale data processing in World War II．With the advent of Internet，crystal chips，super computers and micro processing equipment，data processing capabilities achieved a leap forward development and announced the era of big data．〔3〕

Big data is a large amount of data sets generated by expressing the volume or analyzing web search index．With the characteristics of diversity，large capacity and easy－obtaining，it can be used for automatic analysis based on specific algorithms to realize data－based demonstration and prediction．The essence of big data is a new information technology revolution．With great market value and perdition value，it can improve the value of commercial information and the accuracy and rationality of decision making for enterprises．Via more data acquisition methods and paths，the ability of data controlling and managing and competitive advantage can be greatly improved．

2．The business value of big data

Information competition is very important in modern business，and information flow is critical to the development of electronic commerce．From data generation and storage to the analysis and sharing of information，different needs link together to explore the effective value of big data．With the rapid development of electronic commerce，the scale of data processing is rapidly growing，and the requirements for processing power are also increasing．It’s necessary for enterprises to analyze comprehensive data related to clients and avoid making haste decisions．Only in this way，they can grasp the market trend accurately and attract the customers effectively．

Effective analysis of data processing can provide incremental value to bring real economic benefits for enterprises．By providing high quality products and services which meet the requirements of market，they can obtain consumers’acceptance and recognition，so as to promote the virtuous circle between enterprises and consumers．Developing and utilizing big data as well as establishing effective platforms for consumers’interaction may help to grasp the positioning of products accurately，determine reasonable marketing methods，and improve the marketing competitiveness，brand effect and profits．

3．The strategic change in the economic development

The development of big data industry is very important to improve the competitiveness of enterprises and promote the process of economy，which is full of opportunities and challenges．With the deepening of the concept of sustainable development，a new resource is formed by collecting and analyzing data effectively to dig out a lot of knowledge and information．Greater e-conomic and social value will be generated with the rapid development and efficiency．Statistics show that big data has brought about more than two hundred billion pounds for the U nited Kingdom;in the U nited States，it has brought a 60% profit growth for American manufacturing industry．〔4〕By breaking information barriers between different industries and sectors and achieving cross－border integration of information，big data improves the effective communication between enterprises and users，enhances the business scope of enterprises，promotes the generation of derivatives，and optimizes the real economy．

Ⅲ．The joint developing model of tourism economy and culture

1．Joint development under the environment of ecological tourism

With the growth of mass tourism，it is inevitable to give a certain impact on the ecological environment．In order to promote the environmental protection and realize the sustainable development of the tourism industry，the concept of ecotourism came into being．With the pursuit of protecting environment，it tries best to avoid the impact on the local folk culture，ensure the high satisfaction of tourists，and maximize the economic benefits of local residents．〔5〕Natural scenery，historical sites，folk culture and other resources are the basis for the development of tourism industry．The original，plain natural reserve，with less impact and damage of human，has a function of ecological adjustment．Therefore，both managers and local residents or tourists should establish a strong sense of environmental protection．Protecting ecological environment must be emphasized to realize the sustainable development of tourism and environment．

A tourist destination needs not only a variety of tourism resources to attract tourists，but a complete set of traffic conditions and tourism facilities，as well as sufficient tourists，including a large number of economic activities and interests．Tourism resources are not all natural or historical legacy，which must be developed by investing funds and human resources to meet the basic needs of tourism activities and attract the tourists．What’s more，sophisticated transportation network and facilities are critical and need more economic investment．The ultimate purpose of all the preparations is to attract tourists and make them consuming according to their own economic situations and interest，so as to achieve economic benefits．The development of tourism has greatly promoted local economy and related industries，and offers more employment opportunities for local residents，which is conducive to poverty alleviation and narrowing the gap of regional development．

Different regions and different customs create different folk culture，as an individual is growing up in a specific cultural atmosphere．Historical heritage，ethnic culture，tourism facilities and scenic constructions，containing deep specific cultural connotations，all have become material carriers reflecting cultural differences．In essence，tourism is a part of culture，and is a means and tool to create and enrich culture．〔6〕In a certain degree，culture determines the quality and taste of the tourism products，and influences its attractiveness and sustainable development．Culture is the soul of tourism．U nique，different culture has a strong attraction for tourists，which implies a huge economic potential．Culture can improve the quality of people，cultivate the sentiment，stimulate the pride of residents and the protection of tourism culture，and promote the improvement of local culture．As the leading industry of the third industry，the tourism industry contains a wealth of cultural feature when creating huge economic value．

2．The development of ethnic culture

In China，the regions in which ethnic minorities live have a profound and unique national culture，while the economic development is in the lower position，so it is beneficial to develop local tourism industry．The development of ethnic culture can effectively improve the local economic growth and the living conditions of local residents，and promote the prosperity of ethnic culture．Based on ethnic culture in a specific region，tourism products and services can be produced by using modern methods．Tourists may experience enjoyment in the process of consumption and achieve a win－win situation of both economy and culture．

Ethnic culture often contains a certain religious characteristics reflecting in a number of unique architectures which have a strong appeal to tourists．At the same time，unique ethnic costumes，food and beverage can greatly promote the consumption of tourists．In addition，some spectacular ethnic festivals，sports，drama and dance performances can attract more people to go travelling．Ethnic culture promotes the prosperity of local tourism and plays a key role in local economic development．Meanwhile，it changes the local industrial structure and improves the living standard of residents．〔7〕A-long with economic development，mental culture of local residents is improved as well as the quality of humanity and management skills．A virtuous circle is formed via strengthening the protection and rejuvenation of culture at a higher starting point．

With the development of economy and the improvement of people’s spiritual and cultural needs，people’s pursuit of the quality of spiritual pleasure and enjoyment is increasing．The development of cultural industry raises people’s aesthetic psychology and standards．Sufficient time and disposable income has become the driving force for people to travel to pursue unforgettable experience．At the same time，feeling different culture，tourists may play a positive role in promoting cultural exchange by doing activities such as lodging，sightseeing，entertaining，shopping and so on．The new cultural achievements are created continuously and tourists’cultivation and taste are upgraded．

3．Strengthening the cultural and economic interaction

To a certain extent，the tourism activity itself belongs to a cultural cate-gory，and the whole process runs through all kinds of cultural attributes．Tourists may meet the curiosity，enrich the spiritual world，and get the cultural influence via appreciating，exchanging and thinking．The motivation of travel lies in experiencing local customs，visiting places of historic interest and scenic beauty．High－quality tourism culture is able to attract more tourists to bring excellent economic benefits．So，in the development of tourism culture，one principle should be kept in mind of protecting the natural environment and human resources．The capacity of the reception should be under reasonable control to achieve sustainable development of tourism economy and culture．〔8〕

The advantages of scale and benefit are always the pursuit of tourism industry．Economic output value needs accurate positioning，reasonable designing，and integrating cultural benefits into the existing tourism resources．It’s primary to establish a sound mechanism for the interaction between tourism economy and culture，with the aid of design and promotion of tourism products，to strengthen the communication and interaction between the upstream and downstream industries，and to form the overall planning and coordination．Different products and services can be provided according to different regions and different groups．The meeting point of tourism products and cultural products is actively explored through increasing the scale of exchange and cooperation，to improve the overall image of the local tourism industry and economic benefits．

Ⅳ．Developing competitiveness of big data

1．The basic content and data collection

To evaluate the development of a regional tourism industry，the following must be considered including tourism products，cultural projects，business operators and tourists，restaurants，transportation，accommodation and other travel expenses and benefits，sales and profits of special cultural products，and the promotion of employment and other industries．Investigation can be determined by interviewing local operators and visitors．Methods such as questionnaire，interview，observation and sampling can be adopted to obtain the basic situation of operation management，basic data statistics，traffic conditions，operating profits，as well as dynamic change trend to grasp the overall development of local tourism industry．

2．Building a reasonable economic benefit analysis model

The total income of tourism is derived from the sum of the local consumption，which is divided into two parts:direct income and indirect income．Different tourism services and corresponding products are provided to pursue economic benefits，usually including restaurants，hotels，scenic spots，transportation，travel agents，and souvenirs．The establishment of reasonable economic benefit analysis model can help to analyze and test the basic data collected to examine each department’s income，expenditure and economic benefits，measure the proportion of their share，as well as the total economic benefits in the local economy，the proportion of total income，the contribution to economic growth and individual income．〔9〕

It’s critical to know the source of tourists，distribution of their gender，age，occupation and cultural differences，tourism motivation，the level of consumption and orientation，their preferences of products and satisfaction of the tourism，and their views and suggestions．The evaluation of the operation of various departments can be convincible with data in the survey．Practical data－based solutions can be found to overcome the existing shortcomings．New growth points can be explored by conforming to the trend of tourism market and catering to the tourists’needs and preferences．

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