How to understand the popularity of "’Southern Potato’ Braving Harbin"?

Chart data source: Internet open data.

Data sources include: news websites, forums/post bars, Weibo, WeChat, mobile clients, etc.

Data time range: 0: 00 on December 1, 2023-15: 00 on January 2, 2024.

This winter, Harbin has become a popular tourist destination, and the video of southerners traveling to Harbin on the network platform has also become a trend. At the same time, topics such as "Southern small potatoes flooded into Harbin’s bath shop and were full", "Southern small potatoes ventured into Harbin", "Southerners began to set the table when they came to Northeast China’s frozen pears", "Everything in Harbin was dug out" and "Southern small potatoes were held by Northeast aunt and tied with scarves" have been listed in Weibo hot search for many times. According to Ctrip’s latest "Report", the number of off-site customers in Harbin accounted for 75% during the New Year holiday, and the number of travel orders for the three-day holiday rose by 158% year-on-year. However, from the feedback of public opinion, there are also hidden worries behind the booming tourism in Harbin. The "refund" storm in the world of ice and snow and the soaring prices in Xuexiang have also caused more controversy in the public opinion field. Based on the analysis of the recent popular tourism network in Harbin, this paper summarizes the excellent and advanced experience of online celebrity as a tourist city, and brings relevant enlightenment to other cultural tourism areas.

I. Overview of dissemination

1, the trend of public opinion

From December 1, 2023 to 15: 00 on January 2, 2024, a total of 2,609,179 articles were disseminated. Judging from the trend of public opinion, since December, the topic of "Harbin tourism" has been on the rise. Among them, there were obvious fluctuations on December 20 and December 31. According to the analysis, on December 20th, influenced by the refund event of "Ice and Snow World", the public opinion of that day fluctuated. On December 31st, many people participated in the discussion of topics such as "Ten thousand people dancing in the world of ice and snow in Harbin", "Small potatoes from the south attacked Harbin" and "Big Brother from Northeast China coaxed small potatoes from the south with his voice between his arms".

                                               Analysis of public opinion trend

2. Distribution of media platforms

From the distribution of media platforms, short video has become the main communication platform, accounting for 69.63%, among which there are a large number of users sharing Harbin tourism-related matters in Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker. Secondly, news platforms accounted for 16.63%, and mainstream media and self-media reported and discussed the phenomena related to Harbin tourism fever. Weibo platform accounts for 8.36%, and topics such as "Small potatoes from the south brave Harbin", "Frozen pears in Northeast China begin to set the table when southerners come" and "Everything good in Harbin is dug out" have attracted more attention. There is a small amount of information distribution on platforms such as APP, WeChat and forums.

                                               Media platform distribution

3. Cloud image of hot words

                                                Cloud map of hot words

Second, the analysis of the reasons for the popularity

1. Beijing Winter Olympics ignites the enthusiasm of the masses for ice and snow sports.

The successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics has greatly promoted people’s love for ice and snow sports. Thanks to the charm of all kinds of ice and snow sports in the Winter Olympics, skiing, curling and other ice and snow sports are no longer limited to northern cities, and ice and snow sports and ice and snow culture have also been enthusiastically sought after by young people in the south. The atmosphere of ice and snow sports in Harbin, the "Ice City", is extremely hot. It has not only hosted many winter sports games with world influence, but also has the largest outdoor ice rink in Asia and other excellent sports environment, and its tourism resources and service quality are guaranteed by word of mouth. According to relevant data, Harbin Ice and Snow World not only ranked first in ice and snow attractions during the New Year holiday, but also ranked among the top three national hot spots on the first day of the holiday. The winter of 2023 is the first complete ice and snow season in the post-Winter Olympics era, and the charm of ice and snow sports is fully displayed in Harbin.

2. Northeast characteristic culture is closely combined with high-quality tourism resources.

Harbin, as a typical city in Northeast China, on the one hand, has a prominent culture in Northeast China. After winter, the theme of ice sculpture, world of ice and snow is distinctive, which is attractive to people who have lived in the south for a long time. Its unique entertainment culture in Northeast China, such as bathing culture integrating bathing and rubbing, restaurant buffet, games and steaming sauna, and catering culture focusing on northeast specialties, has also become another important project that must be experienced to attract southern people to travel to Harbin. On the other hand, Harbin is also a famous cultural city with a long history, rich in tourism resources, and its buildings are a combination of Chinese and western, such as the famous Hagia Sophia Church, Nikolai Church, Russian wooden house and other buildings with rich historical background. To sum up, the northeast characteristic culture is closely combined with the local high-quality tourism resources in Harbin, and together they build the basic framework for the popularity of winter tourism in Harbin.

3. Outstanding humanistic feelings

In this round of Harbin tourism boom, in addition to the effective supervision of government departments, the enthusiasm and all-round service of local people have become an important reason for Harbin tourism to continue to be hot. The openness and enthusiasm of Harbin people are highly praised by public opinion. Considering foreign tourists, Harbin has set up a series of warm measures, such as "setting frozen pears", "free car transfer" and "tourist warm station" In addition, the sincere and enthusiastic "New Year thank-you letter to tourists and friends at home and abroad" issued by the local government also received unanimous praise from netizens. The above matters reflect the harmonious atmosphere of Harbin city and build a civilized and friendly city image.

4. Diversified publicity

The popularity of Harbin tourism network is closely related to diversified and three-dimensional publicity work. Judging from the feedback from public opinion, there are mainly the following aspects: First, the subject of publicity is diversified. In this publicity, local official departments, local residents and foreign tourists participated in the communication. The official department mainly publicizes local cultural tourism activities, market supervision and other fields, and at the same time releases the latest official information in the public opinion field in time, so that tourists can receive the information at the first time. Local residents mainly publicize local cultural tourism resources, showing the friendly atmosphere of local hospitality. At the same time, he ridiculed "different treatment" and showed Harbin’s hospitality with humorous expressions. Foreign tourists are more likely to share their experiences and punch cards in Harbin, and provide all kinds of experience stickers for other tourists who want to play, helping Harbin tourism-related information to become popular in the network. Second, the publicity platform is diversified. The popularity of Harbin tourism has been greatly boosted by the publicity of several key websites and platforms such as Tik Tok, Weibo and Xiaohongshu. In the above platform, hot words such as "Erbin" and "Little Potato" have been formed, and hot stalks have been constantly circulating, attracting more traffic and exposure for Harbin tourism. Third, the content of publicity is diversified. This publicity is not limited to the promotion of local tourist attractions, but also the humanistic care and service guarantee of local cities in Harbin has become the focus of public opinion. At the same time, the urban history of Harbin and the cultural differences between the north and the south have also been hotly discussed. The above measures have opened a window for the continuous spread of the popularity of "Harbin Tourism".

5. Handle negative public opinion properly and respond positively to tourists’ demands.

Judging from the relevant media reports, the popularity of Harbin tourism originated from the "Ice and Snow World" refund storm on December 18th. The local cultural tourism department intervened in the disposal for the first time, and the leaders of the Cultural Tourism Bureau rushed to the scene of the Ice and Snow World for supervision at the first time, and confirmed that they would actively refund the tickets to the tourists on the first day of opening the park. At the same time, the snow and ice world scenic spot in the center of the storm also issued an open letter to apologize to the tourists and put forward specific rectification measures. Just as the Zibo Cultural Tourism Bureau released a letter to tourists and friends after the Zibo barbecue became popular in the early stage, the relevant government departments later released a letter to the people of the whole city, which raised the city’s "temperature" in a kind and simple language, called on citizens to take action, and also brought tourists a "warm winter" experience. Boosting the enthusiasm and hospitality of Harbin and its people, the reliable image of the government has also been continuously improved in the process of communication. In addition, local government departments also actively responded to tourists’ needs and improved tourism supporting facilities. In addition to the subway, the world of ice and snow to Sun Island ferry tickets free, but also vigorously rectify the local taxi violations, the phenomenon of arbitrary price increases in popular scenic spots, from quick to severe punishment of passenger smuggling behavior, to a great extent, to curb the negative impact of major public opinion on the development of Harbin cultural tourism.

Third, experience and enlightenment

1, learn from excellent experience, tap their outstanding advantages.

From the Zibo barbecue to the "Ice and Snow World" refund storm to Harbin tourism, we can see that the local tourism culture has always been the driving force to support the sustainable development of local cultural tourism. On the one hand, relevant departments can focus on local excellent traditional culture, dig deep into local characteristic cultural industries, including food, and grasp outstanding advantages; Grasp the "pulse" of mainstream culture and the direction of publicity, and create an industrial cultural brand with unique local characteristics. On the other hand, we can learn from the rich experience of online celebrity, which has become a popular tourist city in the early stage, and we should pay attention to learning from the excellent government propaganda experience of other regions. For some publicity notices concerning the interests of the masses, we should avoid "red tape" and "fooling literature", pay attention to the coexistence of warmth and humanization, and be closer to people’s lives.

2. Improve the construction of basic supporting service facilities and do a good job in highlighting risk management.

As the foundation of tourism culture, whether the supporting facilities and services related to tourism in cities and scenic spots are in place directly determines the first impression of tourists. On the basis of the original mechanism, the relevant government departments continue to strengthen the supervision of the consumer market, especially the cultural tourism industry, and strengthen the handling of illegal acts; On the other hand, we should also ensure the continuous optimization of the corresponding supporting services at the grassroots level. At the same time, we can improve the shortcomings in grassroots work, and if necessary, we can issue questionnaires to solicit opinions from citizens or tourists. In addition, it should also be noted that once the city is "popular" and blessed by "flow", the flaws or problems in local subtleties will be infinitely magnified by public opinion, and negative public opinion will have a negative impact on the credibility of local government departments and the image of the city. Therefore, the relevant cities should actively learn from the excellent handling experience of other cities in the face of sudden public opinion and traffic concern, and express the greatest respect for tourists and citizens with a correct attitude and positive publicity.

3, urge the "flow" to "reserve" and attach importance to the long-term governance of local industries.

The traffic caused by short-term explosion of an industry is difficult to play a fundamental role in the long-term development of the overall urban economy. In order to ensure the smooth transformation of the local short-term high-exposure and high-traffic cultural tourism industry, it is necessary for multiple departments to work together to integrate the short-term traffic into other local fields and support the long-term development of the local economy. On the one hand, we can take the short-term explosion of the industry as an opportunity to spread the dividends it brings to the surrounding industries it extends. At the same time, we can use this business card to seek urban development and transformation, expand the new "track" of urban economic development, actively introduce new energy, technology, Internet and other emerging industries to settle in, and multi-industry integration will promote the long-term development of the local economy; On the other hand, we will vigorously improve the local business environment, put preferential policies into practice, and attract more enterprises to invest. In addition, we need to pay attention to talent introduction, innovation and mechanism improvement, and carry out a series of support measures such as training and financing services for college graduates and young talents who come to start businesses, so that talents can come and stay.