Tourism venue assessment
Jiyao Lou
Student ID 1723906
University of Alberta
RLS 263
CCID: jiyao2
October 31, 2022
Attraction Description:
The Temple Fair(Miaohui in Mandarin) is an annual event held in Beijing. It is a
traditional Chinese event usually held when people celebrate the New Year. The
history of the temple fair can be traced back to ancient time. At the beginning, it was a
religious gathering held by Chinese folk temples to worship Chinese immortals. With
the continuous changes of dynasties, different cultural inputs and cultural
backgrounds made the activities at the temple fair become more and more abundant.
Activities usually included ceremonies at the temple, operas performed on a stage
facing the temple, horse-drawn processions of the image of the god in villages and
cities, performances by musical and ritual troupes, blessings of offerings brought to
the temple by families, and various economic activities. In recent years, the
atmosphere and activities of sacrificial gods in temple fairs have gradually decreased
in favor of more and more traditional activities with Chinese characteristics such as
lion dance, display of traditional snacks and sale of traditional clothes. Today's temple
fairs have changed from serious gatherings in ancient times to happy fairs for people
to celebrate the New Year (Top China Travel, 2004). The temple fairs in Beijing are
the most attractive among all the north Chinese cities, attracting tens of thousands of
tourists to Beijing every year.
Lion Dance
Sugar
painting
Strengths:
I think the two strengths of temple fairs are uniqueness and seasonality. The vast
majority of the performances and food sold at temple fairs are characterized by
traditional Chinese culture. For example, the lion dance is a very Chinese
performance. Many of the traditional snacks at the temple fairs also gain a lot of
popularity, such as the sugar paintings, which are made by drawing the shape or
pattern that the guests want with melted sugar syrup and then handing them over for
consumption. These performances and crafts take a lot of time to learn, and few
young people are willing to learn them nowadays. As a result, these performances and
foods with traditional cultural characteristics are slowly disappearing. And temple
fairs give the opportunity to showcase these traditional cultures, which are
irreplaceable, and this is one of the major reasons why temple fairs attract tourists. On
the other hand, temple fairs are only open during the New Year period every year, so
people need to come to temple fairs at a specific time, which makes them unique.
Weakness:
The weakness of the temple fair I think is its profitability and pollution of the
environment. The temple fair does not have a unified entrance fee, which leads to the
need for all businesses involved in the fair to be self-financing. Almost all
participating businesses are small businesses, if they make little or no profit in the
temple fair, it will greatly discourage them, resulting in fewer and fewer businesses
participating in the temple fair. Most of the vendors in the fair are mainly selling food,
so every year the fair generates a lot of garbage and wasted food.
Opportunity：
As an event with a strong traditional cultural background, I think the temple fair
has a range of possible opportunities. Many of the activities at the temple fair are not
popular with young people, which causes it to lose a large portion of its visitors. I
think the temple fair could recruit a large number of young people to volunteer, and
get more young people to join by using volunteer activities to connect them with
traditional culture and stimulate their interest in it. On the other hand, the temple fair
can cooperate with nearby hotels, since many visitors to the temple fair are not local
people. Partnering with hotels can provide more affordable accommodation and travel
options for visitors to the temple fair.
Threat:
The biggest threat to temple fair is that fewer and fewer people are engaged in
traditional cultural performances and crafts in China, yet those few heirs are not as
good as those older generations in terms of quality of performances and handicrafts.
So temple fairs may face a kind of cultural fault line. Another threat is that the kinds
of performances performed in temple fairs are rather homogeneous and lack
innovation. Over time, visitors to the temple fair will become bored.
Tourism Product Lifecycle
I would place Beijing Temple Fair in the post-stagnation phase which right before
the five possibilities. Looking back at the history of the Beijing Temple Fair, it dates
back 1,000 years, and because of this, it has been a very well established tourist
attraction (China Culture Tour, 2019). It has not become an economic pillar of Beijing,
though, because Beijing is a super city. But it has been a must-see attraction in Beijing
during New Year's Eve by default for both local Beijing residents and foreign tourists.
In recent years, the number of visitors at the temple fair has suffered because of the
epidemic and young people's dislike of traditional culture, but overall it has not had a
particularly serious impact on the fair. I think a lot of what happens next at the temple
fair will depend on the attitude of the government. The Chinese government has
intentionally focused on the importance of traditional culture to the country in the
news this year and has added traditional cultural elements to many of its events. If this
trend is followed, temple festivals will receive very significant benefits and support.
With the country's focus on traditional culture, the quality of Beijing's temple fairs
will further improve, leading to more and more tourists coming to visit. I don't think
there is anything similar to a temple fair that can be a competitor, because during
Chinese New Year, a temple fair is a unique celebration. I think the potential
competition for temple fairs is the large shopping malls with great discounts during
the Spring Festival. Typically, discounts are heavy during the Spring Festival, partly
attracting visitors who would otherwise go to temple fairs.
Improvements to maintain its viability:
1. Branding: As I mentioned earlier in my article, most of the merchants in temple
fairs are small, individual enterprises, so they are basically responsible for their own
profits and losses. I think I would like to combine all the businesses in the temple fair
together to form a trademark of Beijing Temple Fair. In this way, all the products of
the merchants in the temple fair can be labeled with the trademark of Beijing Temple
Fair. Because the Beijing temple Fair is highly recognized by people, the products
labeled with the trademark will be recognized by more consumers and thus get better
sales. In addition, a small ticket, such as 10 RMB, is added to the original temple fair
that does not require tickets. All participating merchants share the ticket income
equally, so that the merchants who attend the fair can have a guaranteed income.
2. Enrich the contents of temple fairs: I have been to many temple fairs, and the
biggest feeling for me is that every year's temple fair has the same things, and rarely
can I see any new things. I think the temple fair can add some new things such as
things from abroad or performances. According to China Internet Information Center,
“The Miaohui in Beijing's Shijingshan District is called Foreign Miaohui because
western culture and food are offered to fair-goers instead of the traditional Chinese
equivalents” (n.a, 2004). This is a great way to enrich the diversity of temple fair
activities, so as to attract more tourists.
3. Temple fair organizers can cooperate with nearby hotels, for example, giving
visitors who stay at the hotel the right of first refusal at the temple fair (since tickets
for some food and performances at the fair are limited). Or visitors to temple fairs can
book hotels at discounted rates.
Reference
Top
China
Travel
(2004).
Beijing
Temple
Fair.
Retrieved
from:
Retrieved
from:
https://www.topchinatravel.com/beijing/beijing-temple-fair.htm
China
Culture
Tour
(2019).
Beijing
Temple
Fair.
https://www.chinaculturetour.com/beijing/beijing-temple-fairs.htm#:~:text=Beijing%
20temple%20fairs%20date%20back,during%20the%20Chinese%20New%20Year.
China Internet Information Center (2004, January 20). A General Introduction to
Miaohui,
Temple
Fairs.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/85304.htm#
Retrieved
from: