Nepal is a charming country, as well as an infinite potential for China and Nepal to work hand in hand in the field of cultural tourism. China and Nepal are connected by mountains and rivers and have a profound and long-standing friendship. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations 70 years ago, exchanges and cooperation in many fields such as politics, economy and culture have been continuously deepened and expanded. In particular, the advancement of the ‘Belt & Road Initiative’ has built a mutually beneficial bridge for China and Nepal. And the upcoming China-Nepal Tourism Year 2025, like a spring breeze, has brought unprecedented new opportunities for cultural and tourism cooperation between the two sides. I believe it will become another brilliant chapter in the history of the friendly relations between the two countries.
As we all know, in recent years, China’s outbound tourism market has been booming, and the footprints of Chinese tourists can be found all over the world. According to data, Nepal received more than one million international tourists throughout 2023. Among them, the number of Chinese tourists exceeded 60,000, ranking third among all countries. In China, the number of outbound tourists is close to 100 million every year. I think there is huge potential for the Chinese outbound tourism market in relation to Nepal that can be tapped. Attracting a significant number of Chinese tourists to Nepal effectively requires a concerted effort by cultural and tourism professionals in both countries. Understanding and addressing the nuances of this endeavour is crucial for success.
When a tourist chooses a country as a travel destination, s/he needs to complete a series of actions such as retrieving and receiving information about the destination, understanding its culture, and then making a travel consumption decision. Among these, social media marketing plays a decisive role in a tourist’s consumption decisions. Data from China demonstrates that social media significantly influences travel decisions, with over 85% of Chinese tourists relying on social media content to shape their travel strategies. Through the collection and analysis of social media data, we have found that the tourism characteristics of Chinese tourists are very distinct. Simplified as it may seem, the combination of picturesque natural scenery, regional cuisines and comprehensive supporting services is no longer sufficient to entice Chinese tourists to engage in travel consumption. They need a powerful reason that can meet their inner spiritual needs in order to make the trip. This trend also coincides very well with the algorithm mechanisms and push models of major social media platforms for tourism content. Speaking of this, the problem has been simplified. As a tourist country, if it wants to promote itself through social media platforms, it must extract the ‘core selling points’ that hit the inner needs of the public.
Here, I have to mention a famous cultural and tourism marketing case with ‘core selling points’. In the southeast of France, there is a place where many couples like to take wedding photos, leaving their happy traces among the vast lavender fields. Yes, this romantic place is Provence. We all know that the red wine in Provence is also very famous, and the painter Vincent van Gogh spent the most creative period of his career here. His famous works ‘Starry Night Over the Rhone’ and ‘The Starry Night’ were both created in Arles, Provence. However, Provence did not fall into the competitive misunderstanding of promoting the red wine industry and as the second hometown of celebrities in cultural and tourism publicity. Instead, it cleverly cut its own advantages and chose a single grass, lavender, as its core competitiveness – ‘romance’.
Through layer-by-layer analysis, Provence has confirmed that relying on the lavender industry, it has extracted ‘romance’ as its core competitiveness. Correspondingly, it has vigorously carried out activities such as romantic trips for couples, honeymoon vacations for newlyweds, the production and sale of romantic lavender products, and even the direct sale of lavender itself on both online and offline media platforms.
Under the guidance of this core competitiveness, Provence has formulated the only strategic direction that conforms to its own development, started to cultivate characteristic industries, opened up a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional industrial chain, and created a modern aesthetic rural industrial cluster with the theme of ‘romance’. In this framework, the natural scenery of the southern part of France, with the mountains and the sea, has become an expensive consumer product. In some regions that are not suitable for growing high-quality grapes, the income from lavender is not at all meagre. Instead, it is happily counting the money. There are also countless female products such as perfumes and essential oils, and output value created is much higher than that of red wine.
Through years of successful marketing and brand building, romantic lavender has become inextricably linked to Provence. It seems that lavender grown anywhere else is perceived as an imitation, lacking the authenticity associated with its Provencal origins. This singular plant has effectively created a unique and romantic global destination.
Similarly, in recent years, South Korea has relied on its world-famous medical beauty industry and extracted ‘becoming beautiful’ as its core selling point, attracting a large number of tourists. If we look at Nepal, the country also has unparalleled advantages. Here, there are beautiful natural environments such as snow-capped mountains and lakes, which are a magnificent picture, bestowed by nature, where people and nature are perfectly integrated; there is a long and mysterious religious culture that allows tourists to feel the sustenance and baptism of their souls in tranquility and at the same time fulfil their dreams and wishes; there is also the unique Nepali oil therapy spa, which can make people’s body, mind and spirit get rid of fatigue and become refreshed; and there is the world-famous handicraft industry, where each handicraft carries memories and stories. The combined energy of all these elements is beyond imagination. Therefore, I think that the core selling point of Nepal’s cultural tourism is – ‘soul healing’.
Currently, China’s healing economy is booming. In the fast-paced modern life, more and more people are eager to relieve stress and heal their souls in various ways. According to statistics, the number of potential healing tourism users in China has reached hundreds of millions. By effectively leveraging the powerful communication channels of social media marketing to accurately promote ‘Nepal’s Soul Healing Journey’ as a core selling point, I believe we can swiftly captivate the attention of Chinese tourists and establish a compelling and dazzling international brand for Nepal’s cultural tourism.
During the China-Nepal Tourism Year 2025, our team will use more than 100 star resources, over 50,000 social media opinion leader resources, and 200 authoritative official media resources in China to empower Nepal’s cultural tourism in all aspects and bring a significant increase in the number of tourists. It is expected that the number of Chinese tourists travelling to Nepal will increase by at least 300%, and the amount of tourism consumption will also rise accordingly. Moreover, we also plan to introduce a social media e-commerce model that conforms to Chinese consumption habits and directly sell Nepal’s unique specialty products to China through social media platforms, further expanding the depth and breadth of the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
Not only that, we also plan to establish a social media marketing college for China in Kathmandu to train professional cultural and tourism social media marketing talents for Nepal. This will not only create a large number of job opportunities and increase income but also fundamentally enhance the sustainable development ability of Nepal’s cultural tourism in Asia and even globally, allowing the charm of Nepal’s cultural tourism to be continuously spread to all parts of the world through the power of social media.
The cooperation prospects between Nepal and China in the tourism field are bright. Let’s work hand in hand under the grand blueprint of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, take advantage of the opportunity of the China-Nepal Tourism Year 2025, fully tap the cultural and tourism treasurers of Nepal, create more wonderful travel experiences for the people of both countries, and write a more colourful chapter of the friendly relations between China and Nepal. Let Nepal’s soul healing journey become a golden bond connecting the people of the two countries.
(Li Meng is in charge of social media marketing at Beijing Orient Landscape and Environment Co. Ltd.)
