Livestreaming vital for revival of tourism industry

It's 10 am, and Xie Guixiang, director of the publicity department of Wulingyuan district in Zhangjiajie, a top scenic spot in Hunan province, logged onto a livestreaming platform to promote the agricultural products from her hometown.

Within 10 minutes after the session started, 70,000 viewers flooded into the chat room. The entire livestreaming promotion ends with total sales of 270,000 yuan ($39,420) that day, selling characteristic products like Se-rich rice, kudzuvine root powder, handmade silver bracelets, berry tea and brocades.

Xie never thought that livestreaming, a word she never understood last year, could have such a positive impact on her hometown's development. Ever since the scenic spot attempted to apply livestreaming to tourism promotion, the region's tourism industry has been rapidly picking up from the hit caused by the epidemic.