A song from Chengdu revived a closed-down pub.

The day before Mawei Post Station officially opened, all the leaders from various parties arrived.

Wei Zhirang busied himself with greetings and tidying up officials from the cultural and tourism system who had come from all over the country.

Dinner was arranged in the village canteen, with a large pot of stew served as a continuous feast, and more than a dozen tables were set up in a lively atmosphere.

During the meal, Zhou Haiyang saw Qin Shen and said, "Qin kid, come on, let's drink!"

Qin Shen shook his head repeatedly, holding his teacup high with a pained expression: "Director Zhou, please forgive me! I've quit drinking, I really have!"

After the meal, Wei Zhiran called Su Fan to a private room in a teahouse.

Qi Tongwei, Zhou Haiyang, and Chen Fushui were already seated inside.

Several maps and a printed draft cooperation agreement were spread out on the coffee table.

Su Fan sensed something was off as soon as he entered the room; this wasn't casual conversation, but serious business.

Seeing this, Su Fan took a step back towards the door and said, "Distinguished leaders, I'm not an expert on such confidential topics, so I won't interfere."

Qi Tongwei said, "You have to be here. We called you here to hear your opinion."

Su Fan quickly waved his hand: "What do I know about cultural tourism planning? Wouldn't it be embarrassing to show off my limited knowledge in front of experts like you?"

Qi Tongwei didn't let him leave: "Alright, stop being modest. Without you, where would we get all those achievements? We'll take your opinions seriously."

"But……"

Before Su Fan could say anything more, Qi Tongwei interrupted, "Why are you being so modest? Do we have to beg you to stay?"

Having said that, Su Fan stopped refusing and obediently found a seat on the far side.

Qi Tongwei cleared his throat and said, "We had a preliminary discussion about the four-province collaboration before. My idea is to connect the high-quality scenic spots in Sichuan, Harbin, and Fujian to create a large tourism loop connecting the east, west, north, south, and central regions. Specifically, the four provinces will open up their tourist sources to each other, jointly promote tourism, and gradually achieve ticket interoperability and data sharing."

Zhou Haiyang speaks frankly: "As you all know, winter is the peak season and summer is relatively slow. My idea is to attract tourists from the Northeast to the South in the summer and send tourists from the South to the North in the winter, so that the four seasons complement each other and the peak and off-peak seasons offset each other."

Chen Fushui adjusted his glasses and said, "Fujian Province's advantages are its coastal resorts and World Cultural Heritage sites, such as Wuyishan, Tulou, and Gulangyu, which are very attractive to inland tourists. However, Fujian Province also has obvious problems: it is far away and transportation costs are high. If the four provinces work together, could we offer some package deals on high-speed rail and flights? For example, buying a Fujian Province package ticket and getting a ticket to Shaanxi Province for free, or cross-provincial transportation subsidies."

……

The four people shared their opinions, discussing everything from route design to joint marketing, from data sharing to complaint handling, using a series of technical terms, showing that they had all done their homework.

After Wei Zhirang finished speaking, he turned to Su Fan, who had remained silent, and asked, "Xiao Fan, what do you think of our plan?"

Su Fan said, "What the leaders said was very professional, and I don't have much to add. However, I have a small question I'd like to ask the leaders: how are the profits divided when customers are exchanged between the four provinces?"

The teahouse fell silent for a moment.

Su Fan continued, "For example, Sichuan Province directed 100,000 visitors to Qin Province this year, while Qin Province only directed 50,000 visitors to Sichuan Province. How do we calculate this difference of 50,000 visitors? Did Sichuan Province suffer a loss, or did Qin Province benefit? Even if everyone doesn't care about the gains and losses of a single city or region, the data changes every year. If Sichuan Province loses money this year, will it adjust its strategy and reduce the number of visitors next year? If every province is afraid of suffering a loss and is unwilling to send more visitors out, then the so-called collaboration will soon become just empty words."

The group looked at each other, and no one responded for a moment.

This is indeed a tricky question. They had been discussing how to do it, but they had overlooked who would benefit.

Those who have been in the system for a long time know that the distribution of benefits is the most sensitive and the easiest part to break down cooperation.

Qi Tongwei coughed lightly: "Since you've brought it up, tell me your opinion first."

This time, Su Fan didn't mince words and said directly, "I have an immature idea for everyone's reference: we could create a customer referral points pool."

Several people looked at him at the same time, signaling him to continue.

Su Fan explained, "Each province deposits a certain number of tourist quotas at the beginning of the year. For example, Sichuan Province deposits 100,000, Shaanxi Province deposits 80,000, Harbin deposits 60,000, and Fujian Province deposits 60,000. Throughout the year, the quota is consumed based on how many tourists you bring to other provinces, and the quota is increased based on how many tourists other provinces bring to you. At the end of the year, provinces with a surplus of quotas can sell the surplus to provinces with insufficient quotas, or convert it into GG resources or joint marketing quotas for the next year. In this way, provinces that bring in more tourists do not lose out, and provinces that bring in fewer tourists do not gain anything for nothing. Everyone has a fair account."

Chen Fushui's eyes lit up behind his glasses, and he couldn't help but ask, "How is this quota priced? Who decides?"

Su Fan said, "Pricing is not set by any one company. Instead, a coordination group jointly established by the four provinces will negotiate and determine a guiding price at the beginning of each year based on the actual traffic and market expectations of the previous year. There is no upper limit or lower limit; it is completely market-driven. The company with the strongest ability to attract traffic will earn more quotas, while the company with weaker product appeal will have to pay for other companies' quotas. This process of survival of the fittest forces each province to improve its scenic spots and services."

Zhou Haiyang tapped the table, his voice filled with excitement: "This is great! It can both motivate people and create healthy competition. I support it!"

Qi Tongwei didn't rush to give a response. After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "How can we guarantee the accuracy of the data? What if someone falsifies the visitor numbers?"

Su Fan said, "This requires technical means. We need to build a data sharing platform where all scenic spot ticket sales, hotel check-in, and travel agency group tour data are uploaded to the blockchain in real time and cannot be tampered with. If any province tries to manipulate the data, we can find out by comparing the data of the other three provinces. At the same time, we can also introduce a third-party auditing agency to conduct random audits every year. Whoever commits fraud will lose their quota qualification for the following year and will have to pay a penalty to the other three provinces."

Wei Zhirang really wanted to agree with this proposal wholeheartedly.

He knew all too well that Su Fan's mechanism was not just for the four provinces to work together, but also for laying the groundwork for his tourism platform.

Once the data, quotas, and settlements of each province are all running on Su Fan's platform, the platform becomes the central nervous system of the entire linkage system.

However, he didn't point it out; he simply picked up his teacup and smiled slightly.

Qi Tongwei had naturally thought of this as well. He put down his teacup and asked, "Shouldn't we bring in that platform you mentioned last time?"

Zhou Haiyang and Chen Fushui looked at each other, completely bewildered by what they were talking about.

Su Fan had only mentioned the travel platform to Wei Zhiran and Qi Tongwei.