China News Service, Weishan, Shandong, September 27 (Reporters Zhao Xiao and Wang Feng) It is the golden autumn, the Shandong section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is full of autumn waves, and the cruise ships are "renewed". "Hospitable Shandong Canal No. 1" (referred to as "Canal No. 1") made its maiden voyage at the red ferry port of Nanyang Ancient Town, Weishan County, Jining City on the 27th. Using cruise ships such as "Confucius" and "Qilu" as carriers, it connects cultural tourism resources such as wetlands, docks, scenic spots, and neighborhoods along the line, making the thousand-year-old canal culture come alive in a "flowing experience."
Currently, Shandong is deeply advancing the "Jiaolu No. 1" project and has successively created a number of benchmark products such as "Qilu No. 1", "Peninsula No. 1" and "Dahe No. 1". The "Canal No. 1" that has launched this time has added a new member to the "Jiaolu No. 1" project and will promote the transformation of the Millennium Grand Canal from a "golden waterway" in history into a "cultural tourism show belt" in the new era.
"Canal No. 1" has opened the first batch of 8 tourist routes, covering Nanyang Ancient Town, Weishan Island, Tengzhou Honghe Wetland, Dongping Lake and other areas, and provides multiple leisure formats such as wetland sightseeing, ancient town sightseeing, lake area island hopping, and ecological research. The reporter took the "Qilu" cruise ship that day and saw that performances such as Sichuan Opera Face Changing and Immortal Picking Beans were performed one after another, attracting passengers to watch and cheer. The cabin interior has been transformed from a single passenger space in the past into a "flowing cultural living room".
As one of the first tourists to test ride on the "Canal No. 1", Li Shuai from Qingdao was cracking eggs on the boat with his friends. "The new ship is very smooth and comfortable, and the cabin experience is rich, which fills up the free time during the journey."
"We are responsible for designing and building the main ships of the 'Confucius' and 'Qilu'. The upgraded cruise ships have low noise, spacious space and comfortable seats. Tourists can watch intangible cultural heritage performances and taste local snacks during the voyage." Cao Zheng, chairman of Jining Nansihu Cultural Tourism Industry Development Co., Ltd., told reporters that in the past, tourists who wanted to travel from downtown Jining to Nanyang Ancient Town had to drive to Xidukou Pier and then transfer to a cruise ship. After the opening of "Canal No. 1", tourists can directly take a boat to the ancient town at Guozhuang Port Pier in Jining City, reducing the hassle of transferring.
While "Canal No. 1" is building its main ship, it has also launched two new smart cruise ships, "Linglong" and "Lotus Xuan". "The 'Linglong' cruise ship is a fully autonomous cruise ship with functions such as intelligent obstacle avoidance and automatic return." Zhang Boya, business manager of the business department of Shandong Xinneng Shipping Co., Ltd., said that the "Lotus Pavilion" uses a fully transparent glass cabin, which is suitable for high-end business receptions or small gatherings of relatives and friends, bringing tourists a new experience of "traveling in the middle of a painting".
In the past, canal culture was mostly presented in static forms in museums, sites and exhibitions, but "Canal No. 1" allows the context to truly "flow".
Liu Fenglai, deputy director of the Jining Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that the newly operated cruise ship has changed from a mere means of transportation to a cultural tourism experience itself. The operator provides professional explanations on the ship, introduces local intangible cultural heritage performances, carries out popular leisure and entertainment projects, and integrates the interior and exterior decoration of the ship and the dock environment, so that tourists can immerse themselves in the cultural charm of the canal from boarding the ship to sightseeing ashore.
In order to drive cultural tourism consumption along the line, "Canal No. 1" has also linked up with more than 50 A-level scenic spots, hotels, and B&Bs along the line to launch different levels of discounts such as ticket exemptions and accommodation discounts, and innovatively built a new integrated cultural tourism consumption model of "ship tickets + scenic spots + accommodation + cultural creativity + study" to create a canal cultural tourism consumption ecosystem with global linkage, resource sharing, and mutual benefit.
Liu Shaohua, deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said in his speech that "Canal No. 1" adheres to government guidance and market operation, and will be promoted in stages and gradually connected to build a "1+N" product system. In the next step, Shandong will continue to expand and optimize the canal-themed routes, deepen cross-regional cooperation among provinces and cities along the route, connect the river and the sea with the Grand Canal carrying the cultural heritage of Confucius, and create a Grand Canal cultural tourism belt with international influence.
According to the mid- and long-term plan, "Canal No. 1" will deepen the collaborative linkage of Jining, Tai'an, Zaozhuang and other cities along the line, connect the golden tourist waterway in the Shandong section of the Grand Canal, and at the same time take advantage of Weishan County's location advantage adjacent to Jiangsu to promote inter-provincial canal tourism cooperation between Jining Weishan and Xuzhou Pei County, and build a Lusu Canal cultural tourism belt.
