Recently, Henan Baoquan Tourism Area's social media account released a video, stating that the newly built mountain climbing escalator in Baoquan Scenic Area, which cost 7 million yuan, is now open for free. It offers an automatic mode for climbing and a manual mode, allowing tourists to switch freely for an easy ascent. This news has sparked heated discussions, and the "free opening of Baoquan Mountain Climbing Escalator" has also topped the hot search list.

Wang, a local from Xinxiang City, Henan, told MeiDian, "I had heard about escalators for mountain climbing before, but I didn't expect Baoquan to have one too. Now we have a new place to take the kids!" It is understood that she has already arranged a trip to Baoquan Scenic Area with several friends who also have children, preparing to fully experience it.

1. Many scenic areas have launched new products, not just painless mountain climbing.

In fact, installing elevators on mountains is not news. As early as 2023, a video titled "A scenic area in Zhejiang where you can take an escalator up the mountain" had sparked online discussions. The video showed escalators built between rocks, allowing tourists to enjoy the surrounding scenery while being transported to the top of the mountain. Prior to this, Hangzhou's Thousand Islands Lake Tianyu Scenic Area had already installed a sightseeing elevator, and Nanjing Niushou Mountain in Jiangsu and Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain also offered elevators for climbing.

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This new type of tourism has attracted a lot of consumer attention as soon as it was launched, bringing a huge flow to the scenic areas. Perhaps inspired by "painless mountain climbing," MeiDian observed that many scenic areas have launched unconventional tourism products this year.

For example, Zhejiang Anji Yunshang Grassland Scenic Area, Hebei Shijiazhuang Douwang Ridge Scenic Area, and Tianjin's Trendy Valley have introduced the "Coward's Bungee Jumping." Unlike traditional thrilling bungee jumping projects, this bungee jumping platform is about dozens of meters above the ground. When tourists jump, they are not in free fall but are slowly pulled down by a rope, reaching the soft mat in just a few seconds.

Also, this summer, the "Coward's Rafting" in Mao'ershan, Xin'an County, Guilin, has become popular online. The scenic area introduced that, unlike the thrilling Guizhou rafting, Mao'ershan's rafting does not require a kayak. By wearing a life jacket and a helmet, tourists can lie flat on the river and drift with the water, better feeling the gentleness of the water and the tranquility of the mountains. In addition to bungee jumping and rafting, classic thrilling projects such as roller coasters and跳楼 machines have also appeared in "Coward's Edition," which is slower than the classic version.

2. Why has the "Lying Flat" tourism become popular?

Regarding the popularity of "Coward's Edition" thrilling amusement projects, Han Yuanjun, a deputy researcher at the China Tourism Research Institute, believes that the emergence of these projects is actually an innovation in tourism experience projects. They belong to trendy tourism projects, which are more in line with the lifestyle and consumption habits of Chinese tourists. They meet the tourists' demand for experiencing current trendy tourism projects and also conform to the consumption law of mass tourism. Guo Derong, the chief analyst of MeiDian Research Institute, emphasized that the popularity of "lying flat" tourism actually reflects the profound changes in the current tourism market and social culture. How to understand?

From the market perspective, the trend of personalized and customized tourism is becoming more and more obvious. It can be seen that the modern tourism market is developing towards personalization and customization, and tourists hope to choose their own tourism methods according to their physical fitness, interests, and preferences. "Lying flat" tourism provides more choice space, meeting the needs of tourists who hope to relax rather than challenge themselves. This flexibility allows scenic areas to better segment the market, provide a variety of experience plans, and thus better attract different types of tourists.From the consumer perspective, the pursuit of a relaxed and stress-relieving lifestyle has become a new consumer trend. In recent years, with the rise of the "lying flat" culture, the younger generation, facing intense social competition and work pressure, tends to choose a more relaxed and comfortable way to vacation. Compared to traditional adventurous tourism or high-intensity hiking, young tourists prefer to achieve physical and mental relaxation through travel. "Painless" experiences like escalator mountain climbing or the "coward's version" of bungee jumping perfectly meet their psychological needs for "ease" and "stress-free" in travel. At the same time, the travel needs of family tourism and senior tourists have become more prominent. "Lying flat" tourism is not only favored by young people but also caters to the needs of family and senior tourists. These tourists pay more attention to the comfort and safety of the trip, rather than pursuing physical challenges or thrilling experiences. For example, "coward's version" rafting, slow bungee jumping, and other projects can provide a safe and relaxed experience, allowing the whole family to participate, enhancing the scenic area's appeal to a broader range of people.

From the perspective of scenic area operations, on the one hand, the innovation of diversified tourism products helps scenic areas achieve differentiated competition. In the fierce competition of the tourism market, scenic areas can form a differentiated advantage by launching "lying flat" tourism projects. Traditional adventurous tourism projects are relatively saturated, while the novelty and relaxation of "lying flat" tourism help attract tourists who pursue comfort and low physical consumption. The design of such products not only brings new traffic to the scenic area but also enhances its competitiveness in the market. At the same time, this type of tourism not only lowers the experience threshold, attracting young people who are unwilling to over-consume physically, but also expands the participation of family tourists, senior tourists, and other groups.

On the other hand, the creation of this new type of supporting tourism products also brings great incremental space for scenic area operations. Taking escalator mountain climbing as an example, Qin, the person in charge of Kangli Elevator in Wujiang, Jiangsu, said in an interview with the media that although the cost of building escalators on the mountain is not small, the initial construction investment ranges from several million to tens of millions of yuan, and the subsequent operation also costs a lot, but the economic benefits it brings are considerable. For example, before the construction of the escalator at Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area in Zhangjiajie, Hunan, most tourists relied on the cable car to go up the mountain. The viewing platform at the top of the mountain was small and could not accommodate too many people. During the peak season, they had to wait for one to two hours in line. In addition, Tianmen Mountain is more than 1,000 meters above sea level, and the mountain road ices up and is dangerous, basically in a closed state after November. However, after the construction of the escalator, the speed of tourist flow has increased, greatly improving the tourist capacity, and there is no need to walk on the mountain road. Tourists can also visit in winter, so the business hours of the scenic area have been adjusted to all-year-round. Data shows that before 2014, the annual business volume of Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area was about 250 million yuan; after the escalator was put into use, the number of tourists doubled, and by 2019, the annual business income had reached 1.25 billion yuan.

3. How should scenic areas respond to consumers' "lying flat philosophy"?

As mentioned earlier, many scenic areas have launched various new tourism products to cope with the "lying flat" tourism trend, which is essentially to enhance the scenic area's differentiated competitiveness and operational benefits. Han Yuanjun also said that the innovation of these projects is more extensive for the scenic area operators and can improve the efficiency of project facilities. From the perspective of corporate profits, it is a virtuous cycle and is also conducive to the subsequent development of such projects. So for scenic areas, under this background, they need to adjust and innovate in product design, marketing strategies, and service experiences to meet the needs of a new generation of tourists. Industry insiders summarize the following aspects:

Firstly, start creating innovative interactive leisure experiences. In addition to traditional sightseeing experiences, scenic areas can design more interactive and low-threshold participation projects to meet tourists' "lying flat" needs while allowing them to participate in interactions in a relaxed atmosphere. For example, slow sightseeing, by setting up slow sightseeing routes, tourists can take electric carts or automatic sightseeing vehicles to experience the whole scenic area in a relaxed way. Another example is nature healing projects, which combine the characteristics of the scenic area to launch leisure projects based on natural landscapes, such as forest bathing, lakeside meditation, hot spring relaxation, etc., to meet tourists' needs for physical and mental relaxation.

Secondly, improve the infrastructure and intelligent services of the scenic area. To attract "lying flat" tourists, the scenic area needs to improve the convenience and intelligent level of infrastructure to create a seamless and efficient tourism experience. For example, by using intelligent guidance, electronic tickets, automatic appointments, and other technologies, reduce the physical and time consumption of tourists in the scenic area; increase the use of electric carts, escalators, and other tools inside the scenic area to reduce the walking pressure on tourists, allowing them to visit more easily.

Finally, create social media-friendly content and carry out precise marketing for diverse tourist groups. With the increasing influence of social media on travel choices, scenic areas can attract young people to share and spread by planning content that fits the "lying flat" tourism theme. At the same time, scenic areas should recognize that "lying flat" tourism not only attracts young people but also appeals to family tourists and senior tourists. Therefore, in marketing, different consumer groups can be segmented, and targeted marketing strategies can be adopted.

It is worth noting that "lying flat" tourism focuses on harmonious coexistence with nature. While developing relaxed projects, scenic areas should also consider environmental protection and sustainability. Taking escalator mountain climbing as an example, the construction of automatic escalators will inevitably destroy the original terrain, vegetation, and even ecology of the scenic area, to a certain extent, destroying tourism resources and mountain landscape. This requires that, from the perspective of harmonious development between humans and nature, modern electrical facilities should be built on the basis of protecting the natural ecology. Therefore, when promoting the construction of automatic escalators, mountain scenic areas should not only consider whether the terrain of the scenic area is suitable for construction but also consider whether the construction cost matches the actual revenue of the scenic area.

4. ConclusionTo a certain extent, the demand for tourism consumption is undergoing a transformation from high-intensity adventure to relaxed leisure. Young people are pursuing stress-relieving and comfortable travel methods, and families and senior tourists also tend to choose safer and more relaxed activities. Against this backdrop, scenic areas must promote product innovation, facility upgrades, and precise services to adapt to these new changes.