Chapter 686: Vigorously Promote

Once Ren Xiagou left, these people lost their backbone.

In the past they relied on Ren Xiagou's support from behind, engaging in wrongdoing in the Ancient City—forcing purchases and sales, disturbing the normal business of the Ancient City.

Actually, for a good tourism project development, these shops are also crucial.

If they could operate honestly and not specifically cheat out-of-town tourists, then the tourism project would be considered half-successful.

I can say this: nationwide tourist spots all have the bad habit of cheating tourists.

It's just a matter of degree.

This is one of the drawbacks of our cultural tourism.

Although the state has been cracking down on such behavior, profits are high and money is easy to make, so many shops collude with guides to continually cheat tourists.

I believe anyone who has traveled away from home has experienced being cheated; most choose to remain silent.

There's nothing to be done; outsiders are unfamiliar with the local area.

If mishandled, they would suffer a major loss.

When these bosses saw that, nobody argued anymore.

They were privately discussing whether to continue renting the shops in the Ancient City.

You know, business was already poor; over a whole year they could only cheat a few people.

Moreover, I strongly demanded a rent increase.

Many people then lacked the courage to continue.

As for those bosses who are not running shops, I have no intention of retaining them.

Retaining them would be meaningless.

As long as they operate within the Ancient City, they cannot expect good development.

Altogether there were about one hundred shops, and roughly seventy of them withdrew their leases.

I agreed to the lease terminations; for those not yet expired, I refunded the rent.

Also, each shop received a ten-thousand-yuan renovation compensation.

That left them with nothing to say.

If it were in Zaocheng, I wouldn't need to pay this renovation compensation at all, but in Huaihai City, everything must be handled carefully.

When everyone heard there was also a ten-thousand-yuan renovation subsidy, they had no further objections.

I had Li Jia count the numbers, then had them collect the money and sign contracts in the afternoon.

After signing the contracts, those vacated houses became ours.

Twenty households of shops remained, willing to sign contracts.

I also held a special meeting with these shops,

They stayed and were willing to support me, mainly because their shops on the main thoroughfare could make money.

First, I demanded they operate honestly and absolutely not bully out-of-town tourists; every item must have clear pricing.

The quality of restaurant food must also be improved, and prices must be disclosed.

I emphasized to them that if anyone deliberately engaged in forced buying and selling within the scenic area, or specifically colluded with guides to cheat tourists, and I discovered it,

I would revoke their business rights and also fine them.

As long as they operate honestly, each month I will reward them—that is, gradually refund their increased rent.

They all agreed.

Then I had Li Jia prepare the contracts and have them re-sign.

Since we have no company, they still signed with the Huaihai Cultural Tourism Bureau.

Li Jia wanted me to establish a company specifically,

I considered it; I am merely temporarily helping Zhuang Shi, and I have no intention of long-term development in Huaihai.

So I decided not to set up a company; the rents from those leasing the shops are still paid to the Cultural Tourism Bureau.

I did this also to show Zhuang Shi.

We don't care about this small amount of money.

Because over seventy shops left, the Ancient City suddenly became empty.

We still need to attract merchants.

Regarding merchant recruitment, Li Jia wanted to promote locally.

I disagreed; locals are like that, and recruiting them would just bring back the same old bosses—what's the point?

I thought of Ruan Wei.

He is a southerner, and southerners are very skilled at business.

I now need his support.

I privately sought out Ruan Wei to discuss.

Ruan Wei readily agreed,

He could guarantee that some small bosses from the south would come to invest.

Because his family has influence in the south.

As soon as he issues a call, people will immediately come to invest in shops.

I had Ruan Wei gather some southern small bosses to come invest.

That way the shops in the Ancient City won't remain empty,

As for the remaining shops, I am confident I can lease them all out,

As long as the current shops make money, then everything can be easily discussed.

By then, we will raise the price to over one hundred yuan per square meter, and require a lease of more than three years to operate.

Of course, it's still not enough now; the visitor flow of Ancient City is still not enough,

The shops that remain have not yet made money.

I need to promote.

I had Yang Tao contact all photography enthusiasts in Huaihai City to come to Ancient City for photography and online promotion.

Moreover, we will give gifts to any newlyweds who take wedding photos in Ancient City.

Huaihai City's radio and television stations broadcast Ancient City's promotional information 24 hours a day, rolling continuously.

Promote that our tickets are free.

Thus, the number of people coming from within Huaihai City gradually increased.

In managing Ancient City, we adopt a safety-oriented management.

Ding Li leads over ten security guards, patrolling daily; any disputes or problems are handed to them for handling.

Matters inside Ancient City will never be interfered with by outsiders.

Shi Yong's work is to supervise shop honesty and business practices,

Every day he goes to the shops to look and inquire about consumption conditions.

Shi Jinhe's task is to expand part of Ancient City.

Because the first phase invested by Zhuang Shi originally was a half-finished project.

Many places were built only halfway before construction stopped.

Moreover, the shops inside Ancient City also have poor building quality; all these need people to work on.

I had Shi Jinhe lead a group to repair Ancient City, mainly to learn ancient building construction.

This ancient architecture still differs from modern architecture.

Seeing our enthusiasm, Zhuang Shi specially arranged for ancient architecture experts from Huaihai University to come to Ancient City to guide us in study and learning.

I had Shi Jinhe study imitation ancient architecture properly; where could one find such an opportunity to learn.

I am making preparations for future matters.

After just a short week, Ancient City underwent a great change.

The most obvious change is that the visitor flow inside Ancient City increased.

Coming here, people can not only play but also enjoy high-quality service; for Huaihai residents, this is a good thing.

I think the promotional effort is still insufficient,

I had Li Jia specially contact tour guides nationwide,

to have her get in touch with these guides.

To think of every way to bring out-of-town tourists in to spend money.

Perhaps Huaihai City's Ancient City has a bad reputation, scaring off outsiders; many tourists are unwilling to come.

Therefore, for a place, once its reputation is ruined, it is very difficult to recover.

Building a good reputation takes many years, but destroying it takes only a few minutes.

Relying solely on consumption by Huaihai City residents is limited; once the novelty wears off, they are unwilling to come.

Moreover, Ancient City lacks attractions; it mainly has an ancient road, two Ming-Qing buildings, half of an ancient city wall, and the rest are modern imitation ancient structures.

Currently, we can barely maintain these shops; they are still far from the scale I desire.

I still need to think of ways to keep increasing the visitor flow within Ancient City.

Only by making the current shops extremely profitable can we attract more people to invest in shops.

Ruan Wei introduced over twenty specialty shops from the south,

Adding the original twenty-odd shops, there are only over fifty shops in total.

This is merely the amount of a small street's shops,

Such an amount is still far from enough for an Ancient City invested with over a hundred million.

I want it to make money, to make money in a short time.

Need to have all the shops in Ancient City rented out.

As long as this is done, let Zhuang Shi see my capability,

to lighten Zhuang Shi's burden, and make Zhuang Shi willing to invest in our tourism project in Xue County.