On December 20th, in the Small Commodity City of Lanshan District, Linyi City, red lanterns hung high in front of the merchants’ shops, filling the air with festive cheer ahead of the holiday season. In a cultural and creative handmade shop, various themed paper cuts and handmade gift boxes were selling well. The owner, Wang Guifang, shared that over her 30 years in business, she has continuously sought innovation and change alongside market developments, gradually expanding her shop’s offerings from simple educational supplies to a richer collection of artistic cultural products.

“In recent years, with the rise of national trendy culture, more and more visitors have come. We have set up an experience area where tired visitors can take a break and enjoy the charm of traditional culture,” Wang Guifang said.

The shift towards a “younger” demographic has become a sales engine for many market merchants. Linyi Import Commodity City is dedicated to creating an international cultural tourism complex, encompassing an ocean-themed park, an import wholesale distribution center, and a cross-border e-commerce industrial park. By leveraging its strategic layout, the complex connects shopping, entertainment, and tourism, transforming the mall’s layout into an appealing route for visitors.

“If visitors are short on time and find it inconvenient to carry items, they can use the Lanhua Cross-Border Purchase app to shop online. The app offers 130,000 products, providing a wider variety at lower prices. Purchased items can be shipped through multiple channels, conveniently delivered to visitors via express mail—both economical and convenient,” said Wang Baohui, deputy manager of Lanhua Duty-Free Store.

Factors are gathering inside and outside the scenic area, accelerating the integration of business formats. The business circle surrounding Linyi Import Commodity City features tourism resources such as the Calligraphy Sage Pavilion, art galleries, calligraphy squares, and water bus services. The commercial and cultural elements of the market intersect with tourism factors, actively exploring resources to create deep linkages among different business formats, forming a rich atmosphere for the integration of commerce and cultural tourism.

In recent years, Lanshan District has adhered to the development philosophy of “using commerce to support culture, invigorating tourism through culture, and promoting commerce through tourism,” organically combining traditional wholesale markets with cultural tourism elements to endow the market with cultural tourism attributes. By developing tourism routes, products, and services according to 3A standards and above, the district aims to create a regional tourism shopping destination and new tourism hotspots, achieving an integrated model of commerce and cultural tourism, promoting a dual upgrade of the market and cultural tourism, and enabling the mall to break through its previous boundaries.