Local culture-and-tourism traffic battles — can AI take over from culture and tourism bureau chiefs?

Viral AI drama sparks a new wave of local promotion

A five‑minute AI short drama nicknamed “Snow Mountain Saves Fox” has exploded across Chinese social platforms, and it has been reported that the clip reached roughly 5 billion plays across all platforms. The absurd premise — a swordsman rescues a fox with a roast duck that later comes back to exact revenge — combined with retro filters and rough AI effects spawned hundreds of secondary creations and drew in official accounts such as Tourism Guizhou (旅游贵州), China Post (中国邮政) and People’s Daily (人民日报) to ride the meme. The result: regional promotion that leverages a cultural in‑joke to drive awareness of actual sites, like Bijie’s Hundred‑Mile Azaleas in Guizhou.

From Douyin trends to official feeds

On Douyin (抖音) alone it has been reported that the hashtag #雪山救狐AI二创 attracted over 3.2 billion plays, with more than 1,200 videos passing 100k likes. Tourism Guizhou’s rework kept the drama’s key lines but swapped in local foodstuffs — zhe’ergeng and potato cakes — and redirected viewers to Bijie. Comments under those posts quickly shifted from jokes to practical questions about bloom times and local cuisine, showing how a viral AI artifact can translate into genuine travel interest. Even state media accounts used the format to promote provinces, turning a meme into a low‑cost distribution channel.

Can AI replace the “celebrity” bureau chief?

The provocative question — will AI step into the role that once made culture‑and‑tourism bureau chiefs into online personalities? — is easy to ask and harder to answer. It has been reported that AI video production efficiency has leapt forward: tasks that once took minutes per 10 seconds can now produce a minute of footage in seconds, and claimed per‑minute costs fell from about ¥15,000 in 2024 to roughly ¥1,000 today. Tools from Runway and Pika to a host of domestic alternatives are racing improvements. Yet technical limits remain: stiff expressions, motion artifacts and lifeless AI voiceovers blunt the emotional resonance that tourism marketing depends on. Creative, locally rooted storytelling still matters.

New tech, old truths: product must follow the hype

The bigger lesson for local governments is not whether an AI clip can replace a bureau chief’s cameo, but whether viral attention converts into visits and spending. Officials who doubled down on experience — better service, immersive attractions, and repeatable narratives like Quanzhou’s “Take off your shoes first” campaign — saw sustained visitor growth. AI can amplify reach quickly and cheaply, and it will reshape the publicity arms race, but it will not, on its own, create park benches, tram links or authentic local food. In a geopolitically charged AI race — amid tighter Western controls on advanced chips and models, and rapid domestic development — China’s culture‑and‑tourism teams will likely use AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement for on‑the‑ground work.