The Gansu Public Transport Construction Group's subsidiary, Gaofu Group, is actively implementing the philosophy that "everyone is an operator, and everyone is an innovator." Seizing the consumption boom during the May Day holiday, the group has launched a themed event titled "Enjoy Labor Day Together at the Service Area." The initiative focuses on meeting the core needs of drivers and passengers for good food, shopping, entertainment, and convenience. It aims to transform highway service areas from mere rest stops into travel destinations, creating new landmarks along the journey in the Longyuan region that integrate culinary experiences, cultural attractions, trendy activities, and convenient services.
The service areas have undergone upgrades to build a diverse consumption matrix. Guided by the operational strategy of "one festival, one theme; one area, one feature," the initiative leverages the advantages of Silk Road cultural and tourism integration to continuously innovate business models and enhance consumption environments. During the May Day holiday, key service areas such as Lanzhou North, Jiejiazui, Lanzhou South, Wuwei, and Shangwan have set up 271 distinctive outdoor stalls. This creates a multi-dimensional consumption matrix combining basic sales, experiential scenarios, and interactive fun, simultaneously achieving the goals of boosting holiday consumption, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing service quality.
Special consumption scenes like regulated tent markets, trendy food trucks, trunk markets, and local product exhibitions have been established. The group has innovated by promoting convenient consumption models such as "buy and select on the spot, eat and enjoy immediately," enriching product offerings and optimizing the consumer experience. This creates an all-day, multi-format, and immersive leisure consumption atmosphere for travelers.
Cultural elements are deeply integrated to highlight interactive experiences. Based on regional characteristics, the initiative combines festival customs, Gansu's local culture, and Silk Road tourism culture. It innovatively introduces an immersive "strolling the street" experience model, with carefully planned static displays and dynamic interactive activities, turning service areas into "mobile windows" for promoting Longyuan culture.
Static displays are full of ambiance. Core service areas like Lanzhou South, Shangwan, and Jiejiazui have developed distinct themed trendy blocks incorporating local elements such as Yellow River culture and Wei River culture. Special thematic scenes like "100 Ways to Experience Lanzhou" and "Wild Youth Festival" have been created. Supporting features include photo walls, trendy quote walls, specialty cold drink stalls, and popular landscape installations, enhancing visual experiences and creating social media hotspots that showcase the cultural heritage and urban vitality of the Longyuan region.
Dynamic interactions are highly engaging. Relying on nine pairs of service areas including Anmen and Luotang, a "Explore Longyuan • Stamp Collection" activity is being held extensively. Drivers and passengers can collect exclusive commemorative stamps by participating in on-site interactions or making offline purchases, which can be exchanged for holiday-themed gifts. Simultaneously, a #ServiceAreaVibes new media short video campaign has been launched, encouraging travelers to record their journey highlights and share unique service area scenes. Various interactive sessions such as handicraft experiences, specialty tastings, and free samples are available at the markets, allowing travelers to experience Longyuan's distinctive culture up close during their leisure time.
The "Longyuan Flavor Market" serves as a platform to comprehensively upgrade dining services. It brings together specialty foods from across the province, including Longdong noodles, Linxia halal flavors, Hexi melons and fruits, Dingxi wide noodles, Jingning roasted chicken, and Tianshui spicy hot pot, enriching the regional culinary variety. To meet holiday consumption demands, high-value options like discounted dishes, holiday-limited sets, and picnic meals are offered, catering to diverse dietary needs in one stop.
Some service areas have opened their staff canteens to the public, providing affordable meals and expanding dining choices. Operating hours for dining services have been extended, seating layouts optimized, and convenient pickup points added. Complimentary services such as hot water and mung bean soup are regularly provided, ensuring thoughtful travel support and enhancing the happiness and satisfaction of drivers and passengers through considerate measures.