Group Photo of M.U.S.T. Team “Nan Jiao Hai Yun” and their Instructor (From Left: Dr. Liu Chao, Li Zilan, Luo Kaizhong, Li Shanshan, Zhu Haotian, and Chen Ruijun)
The team from the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Macau University of Science and Technology won the first prize (the only first prize in the national final for the part of Metaverse + Cultural Tourism Project Planning) at the National University Student Hainan Free Trade Port Tourism Innovation Competition held in Haikou City on June 4, 2023. Nearly 3,000 participants took part in this competition, including students from prestigious universities such as Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Fudan University, and Nankai University. The FHTM team "Nan Jiao Hai Yun" stood out from 566 participating teams from universities across the country and entered the national finals. They won the championship in the fierce competition among the top 12 teams in the finals with the highest overall score and received unanimous approval from the panel composed of leaders and well-known experts from the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, the Tourism Education Branch of the China Tourism Association, Hainan University, and Hainan Provincial Tourism Investment Group Co., Ltd. The participating members included five Year-2 undergraduate students majoring in International Tourism Management: Li Shanshan, Chen Ruijun, Li Zilan, Luo Kaizhong, and Zhu Xiaotian, with Assistant Professor Dr. Liu Chao as their supervisor. Dr. Liu Chao also won one of the only two Best Instructor Awards in the competition.
Award-wining Photo (the First Prize): Representatives of M.U.S.T. Team “Nan Jiao Hai Yun”, Li Zilan and Li Shanshan
Award-wining Photo (Best Instructor Awards): Assistant Professor Dr. Liu Chao
The competition was co-organized by the Tourism Education Branch of the China Tourism Association, Hainan University, and Hainan Provincial Tourism Investment Development Co., Ltd. Guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important directive to “accelerate the construction of a world-influential free trade port with Chinese characteristics,” the competition was designed for university students as the target market. It combined the project materials provided by Hainan Provincial Tourism Investment Development Co., Ltd., and focused on two parts: “Metaverse + Cultural Tourism Project Planning” and “Cultural and Creative Visual Product Design” for creative design and planning of tourism products.
Our University's team, “Nan Jiao Hai Yun,” participated in the “Metaverse + Cultural Tourism Project Planning” part, creating a new era camping tourism destination themed around “Rainforest Outlook: Supernatural Starry Camping Space.” Located in Wuzhishan, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, the project combines metaverse technology with traditional tropical rainforest camping, focusing on the Generation Z demographic represented by university students. The plan fully grasps the local tourism resources and metaverse technology features, jointly developing a coordinated development area centered on the metaverse starry camping experience, featuring metaverse rainforest science education centers, metaverse alternate dimension spaces, and metaverse tropical rainforest folk culture experience zones.
Furthermore, the team fully explored Hainan's unique rare species, creating four virtual IP images based on animals and anthropomorphizing them, infusing new vitality and meaning into rainforest camping tourism. The project design caters to the current development trend of metaverse technology. It effectively promotes the multi-dimensional development of Wuzhishan tourism, achieving a close connection between emerging technology, ecological rainforest, interesting camping, folk culture, and tourism. This project will help promote the innovative development of the cultural tourism industry in the new era, accelerate digital transformation, upgrade the digital cultural tourism ecosystem, expedite the development of the digital economy in the tourism industry, and form a new type of cultural tourism industry model with “Metaverse +.”
After the competition, the planning proposal was successfully adopted by the Hainan Provincial Tourism Investment Development Co., Ltd., and plans are underway to implement it in the future, further contributing to the development of Hainan Province’s tourism economy. The competition fully demonstrated the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management’s strong emphasis on combining curriculum knowledge with practical application in teaching philosophy. It also highlighted the high competitiveness of our teachers and students among various well-known institutions. FHTM will continue to encourage students to actively participate in various competitions and events and remain committed to cultivating outstanding talents who integrate theory and practice.
Team “Nan Jiao Hai Yun” in Their Final Presentation
Group Photo of National Finals
