Recently, Feicheng, Shandong has relied on local cultural and tourism IPs such as the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Dreamy Peach Blossom Spring to jointly innovate with tobacco retail terminals and build an integrated consumption scenario of ‘rural cultural tourism + terminal retail’. Although this practice has not explicitly disclosed the specific time when it occurred, it has already attracted substantive attention from importers in Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and has entered the stage of discussing model adaptability, marking the first time that China’s county-level cultural tourism and trade integration solution has been incorporated into the practical reference system for tourism development in Middle Eastern desert oasis destinations, producing structural impacts on segmented fields such as cross-border cultural tourism service exports, expansion of channels for specialty agricultural products, and overseas expansion of retail terminals.

Event Overview

The tobacco department of Feicheng, Shandong, in coordination with the local government and cultural tourism operators, integrated the resources of the Dreamy Peach Blossom Spring scenic area during the Cherry Blossom Festival, embedding cigarette retail terminals into flower-viewing routes, agri-creative markets, and nighttime light-and-shadow experiences, thereby creating immersive scenarios where visitors can stay, interact, and consume. The relevant model has already prompted proactive contact from importers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and both sides are currently conducting preliminary discussions on its localized transplantation in Middle Eastern desert oasis tourism areas (such as Al Ain in Abu Dhabi and Diriyah in Riyadh).

Which Segmented Industries Will Be Affected

Direct Trade Enterprises

The main source of impact lies in the shift of exported service offerings from a single commodity to “scenario-based solutions.” At present, the focus of Middle Eastern buyers has gone beyond traditional standard-goods trade such as tobacco, alcohol, and food, turning instead to light-asset operational packages that include spatial design, visitor flow management, digital payment integration, and multilingual services. The impact is reflected in the following ways: order formats are evolving from B2B spot-goods transactions to hybrid models combining B2G/B2B + consulting delivery; contract cycles are becoming longer, requiring earlier participation in destination cultural tourism planning; and new demands are being placed on enterprises’ cross-cultural project management capabilities.

Raw Material Procurement Enterprises

Local agricultural products associated with the Cherry Blossom Festival (such as derivative products made from Feicheng peaches, western Shandong flowers and plants, and raw materials for intangible cultural heritage handicrafts) have become high-frequency consumption carriers within the scenarios. During inspections, Middle Eastern buyers specifically asked about fresh fruit cold-chain transportation, the adaptability of drying processes, and pathways for halal certification alignment. The impact is reflected in the following ways: raw material quality standards need to be aligned simultaneously with the requirements of immediacy, portability, and cultural adaptability in Middle Eastern tourism consumption scenarios; demand is rising for small-batch, multi-batch, high-value-added “cultural tourism souvenir gifts,” forcing upstream suppliers to establish flexible supply response mechanisms.

Processing and Manufacturing Enterprises

Equipment and consumables used in the scenarios, such as smart retail terminals, mobile cultural tourism display installations, and environmentally friendly biodegradable packaging, constitute new entry points for manufacturing demand. The Middle Eastern side has clearly expressed interest in outdoor smart terminals that are heat-resistant, dustproof, and low-power-consuming. The impact is reflected in the following ways: existing manufacturing standards aimed at China’s lower-tier domestic markets (such as IP54 protection ratings and 4G connectivity) need to be upgraded to industrial-grade specifications suitable for extreme Middle Eastern climates (such as IP65+ and support for dual-mode satellite positioning); the degree of customization is increasing, placing pressure on the restructuring of standardized product lines.

Supply Chain Service Enterprises

The cross-border replication of cultural tourism consumption scenarios is essentially the localized transfer of “soft service processes.” Logistics service providers need to support complex tasks such as exhibit transportation, temporary display setup, and deployment of multilingual guided-tour systems; compliance service providers need to step in to address non-tariff barriers such as halal certification, Saudi SASO mandatory certification, and UAE ESMA data localization. The impact is reflected in the following ways: the traditional standalone service modules of freight forwarding/customs declaration are becoming ineffective, making it necessary to integrate new service capabilities such as cultural market-entry consulting, compliance review of scenario-related intellectual property, and multi-country tax filing.

Key Points of Attention and Response Measures for Relevant Enterprises or Practitioners

Prudently Assess the Applicable Boundaries of “Model Going Global”

There are significant differences between Middle Eastern desert oasis tourism areas and rural Shandong in terms of infrastructure, visitor composition, religious customs, and other factors. Enterprises should not directly replicate route design or terminal display logic, but should instead focus on transferable core capabilities—such as the “methodology for improving festival traffic conversion rates” and the “high-frequency repeat-purchase incentive model in low-density areas”—and abstract them into knowledge products or training services for export.

Launch Specialized Research on Cultural Tourism Consumption Behavior in the Middle East

At present, the attention of Middle Eastern buyers is still at the concept-verification stage. Enterprises need to work with local travel agencies, hotel groups, and tourism digital platforms to obtain first-hand data such as actual visitor dwell-time distribution, preferences for secondary consumption categories (for example, whether there is a preference for buying local handicrafts over international brands), and payment habits (usage rates of Mada cards and STC Pay), so as to avoid unilateral deductions based on domestic experience.

Build a Cooperation Structure of “Light Assets + Heavy Services”

The Middle Eastern side is more inclined to introduce Chinese models through entrusted operations, revenue sharing, or franchise authorization, rather than through heavy-asset investment. Enterprises should sort out in advance modular service units that can be output (such as festival IP planning, terminal visual SI systems, and multilingual employee service training packages), and formulate supporting service personnel deployment plans that comply with the labor laws of GCC countries.

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

显然，此案例表明一种结构性转变：中国县域文旅创新已不再仅仅是国内消费升级，而是正成为新兴旅游经济体可输出的软性基础设施。分析显示，其核心价值不在于复制物理空间，而在于转移延长游客停留时间和优化消费结构的系统性方法——而这些能力在后疫情时代全球旅游复苏中正变得愈发稀缺。然而，此类模式在缺乏中国乡村振兴政策中常见的本地治理支持或补贴机制的情况下，能否持续，仍存在不确定性。

Conclusion

The value of Feicheng, Shandong’s practice does not lie in providing a cultural tourism template that can be directly copied, but in revealing a new path: a county-level consumption ecosystem that uses terminals as touchpoints, festivals as engines, and data as links has the potential for cross-cultural transfer. What is currently more worthy of attention is whether this model of “small scenarios, strong connections, rapid iteration” can complete a redefinition of value in the Middle Eastern market, where institutional environments, consumer habits, and infrastructure differ greatly, rather than simply achieving physical replication.

Information Source Notes

This information is compiled from public reports on the official website of the Shandong Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company), the Feicheng Municipal People’s Government’s 2024 spring cultural tourism activity bulletin, and minutes of on-site exchanges with Middle Eastern buyers (information sources to be continuously monitored: progress on the draft 2024 Oasis Tourism Development White Paper of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, and updates to the UAE Ministry of Economy’s detailed rules on market access revisions for foreign cultural tourism operators).