Strategies for Organizing Recreational Tourism Routes to Create Attractiveness for Tourist Attractions in Mi Le City DOI:

Abstract

Background and Aim: During the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, China's tourism industry entered a new stage of development, and the industry is facing the latest requirements of high-quality development. To adapt to the development of the industry, the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Mi Le City has also put forward a series of policies and measures for the development of the local tourism industry, but it has not yet achieved any obvious development results. The research aims of this paper are (1) to study the current situation of the recreational tourist attractions in Mi Le City; (2) to develop the strategies for organizing recreational tourism routes to create attractiveness for tourist attractions in Mi Le City; (3) to validate the feasibility of the strategies for organizing recreational tourism routes to create attractiveness for tourist attractions in Mi Le City.

Materials and Methods: This study adopts the R&D research method, which collects data through the documentary analysis method, inquiry method, and interview method. The main research tools applied to this study are a questionnaire and an interview form. The author first conducted a questionnaire survey on 400 tourists traveling to Mi Le City to collect relevant quantitative data, and then conducted interviews with the managers and relevant staff of the ten major tourist attractions in Mi Le City, residents around the attractions, relevant staff of the Mi Le City Tourism Bureau, the managers of the Mi Le City Tourism Company, and the local tour guides to collect relevant qualitative data. The author then carried out a descriptive statistical analysis on the quantitative data, a content analysis on the qualitative data, a SWOT analysis to integrate the quantitative and qualitative data, a TOWS matrix to suggest pertinent strategies, and a Connoisseurship session with nine experts to evaluate the strategies.

Results: The results of the study found that: (1) the situation of recreational tourism in Mi Le City has 10 strengths, 9 weaknesses, 6 opportunities and 8 threats, which are mainly manifested in the fact that Mi Le City has rich natural landscapes and complete infrastructures, but there is still room for improvement in terms of ticket prices, souvenirs, service quality and transport; (2) In response to the analysis of the current situation of recreational tourism in Mi Le City, this study proposes 6 SO strategies, 7 ST strategies, 6 WO strategies, and 7 WT strategies, which cover such aspects as digging out tourism resources, promoting the construction of a smart city, strengthening the linkage of attractions, regulating ticket prices, exploring local culture and improving infrastructures;(3) The experts involved in the connoisseurship agreed that these strategies have high feasibility and are in line with the current development needs of recreational tourism in Mi Le City, and except for a few strategies that need to be merged, the final result is 4 SO Strategies, 3 ST Strategies, 3 WO Strategies and 5 WT Strategies, which are recommended to be implemented on a priority basis, including upgrading the quality of publicity and services, developing new tourism routes, optimising traffic management, promoting large-scale events, developing high-quality souvenirs and solving the problem of parking during peak periods.

Conclusion: In general, Mi Le City possesses abundant tourism resources and holds significant potential for the development of recreational tourism. However, these resources have not yet been fully developed and effectively utilized. If the relevant development strategies proposed in this study can be implemented, it is expected to further enhance the attractiveness of the tourist attractions in Mi Le City and promote the sustainable development of the regional tourism industry.