Livestreaming boosts travel consumption amid COVID head winds

I was taken aback when the Huzhou Giraffe Manor in Zhejiang province was packed with people feeding birds and taking photos of raccoons in the mid-August summer afternoon heat (38 degrees Celsius).

The ecological park has had a bumpy start: it premiered in late January, just days after the COVID-19 contagion set off a national alert and led to a social distancing policy that confined people to homes for months.

But with China largely flattening the COVID curve since late March, the resort saw such a dramatic bounce-back in tourist numbers that an empty suite at a seemingly prohibitive price tag of 3,000 yuan ($439.5) per night became hard to get.

Many visitors, often two parents with a kid, drive all the way from the neighboring Shanghai and Jiangsu province, the operator of the facility told me. "They are keen to escape the hectic urban life and embrace the green."

So is the Miaoxi Homestay, a three-story villa, set in central area of the rural part of Huzhou. Surrounded by woodlands and plantations, it offers seven spacious bedrooms and a shared swimming pool, some with sala and sun loungers.

As the owner Xiao Yin told me, rooms are always fully booked two weeks in advance, as people have much to see and do in this authentic part of the erstwhile kingdom, and enjoy some form of tranquillity away from the tourist crowds.

One thing is for sure: As the Chinese government doubles down on its commitment to build a green future and preserve the environment as much as possible, so are Chinese tourists growing in sophistication from simply sightseeing to desiring places that offer natural scenery and family-friendly locales.

According to a report on travel website Booking last year, some 70 percent of travelers said they would be more likely to seek a destination or book an accommodation if they know it features eco-friendliness. Meanwhile, more travelers are visiting overlooked places that are just as attractive but not yet overrun with tourists.

But I've been pondering how these once little-known, if not wellhidden, destinations have become sought-after darlings for avid travelers. Both owners point to one channel: livestreaming.

They all follow a similar pattern: internet celebrities occasionally run into the parks, post some personal photos, conduct livestreaming sessions by walking spectators through the facility, and bang－they become "internet celebrity destinations "themselves.

Even my two-hour tour there was filled with people holding selfie-sticks and taking short videos or doing livestreaming.

Local governments across China are taking the marketing platform seriously, with livestreaming becoming a central plank, driving massive consumption campaigns to reinvigorate consumption following the COVID blow.

From Shanghai to Hangzhou to even smaller cities like Huzhou, livestreaming shows work around the clock in the virtual world, and they have been proven effective in introducing viewers to a variety of special merchandise, catering options and tourist attractions through vivid, on-site storytelling, and most important of all, drive sales.

My only question though is that if you are on a minimalist retreat yearning for nothing but the bare essentials to get close to the nature, isn't the whole livestreaming endeavor somewhat at odds with your digital "detox" effort?