Domestic tourism has been liberalized, but Qiu Weidong, vice president of the Zhaoqing Tourism Association and chairman of Jiangnan International Travel Service Co., Ltd., is difficult to be happy when he stands at the door of his own store, "My company has finally survived, but no one knows how difficult the next road is." ”
As one of the first batch of outstanding tourist cities in China, Zhaoqing's most prosperous Times Square Commercial Street is the area with the highest concentration of travel agency stores, and the former 7 travel agencies are now only one in Jiangnan.
Most of the travel agency stores on Times Square's commercial street have been closed
A crisis that I have not seen in 40 years of practice
Zhaoqing Xinghu Scenic Area is the most representative 5A-level scenic spot in the city, Qiu Guoqing, deputy director of the Xinghu Scenic Area Management Bureau, told reporters that in previous years, the number of ticket buyers under normal circumstances was about 1.2 million, and affected by the epidemic, the number of receptions in the first half of the year was 70% less than that of the same period last year, and the income was 65% less. And this happened in April when Zhaoqing people were already allowed to travel to Zhaoqing, when the tourism market was cold? Su Yaozhi, head of the market development section of the bureau, revealed that they had launched the "one-dollar ticket to visit the Star Lake" activity, and the result was that 2,000 tickets still could not be sold out!
Qiu Weidong sighed, "I have been working in the tourism industry for 40 years, and I have never encountered such a big crisis! In March, when chatting with colleagues of the Provincial Tourism Association, they were still very optimistic, thinking that at most 3 months, biting their teeth and passing, no one expected that they were still not optimistic. ”
Qiu Weidong introduced that the 1980s and 1990s was the era of the rise of tourism in Zhaoqing, and as the earliest tourist city in the country to open up, he served as a receptionist for foreign guests. Since then, Zhaoqing, which has good natural conditions, has become a business card of Guangdong tourism together with Conghua Hot Spring, and has cultivated a large number of tourism talents for the whole country. At present, there are more than 4,000 certified tour guides in Zhaoqing, most of whom work in the field.
Zhaoqing Star Lake Scenic Area
Zhou Chunhuai, head of the market management section of the Zhaoqing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism and Sports, introduced that as of the end of 2019, there were 47 travel agencies in Zhaoqing with 3350 employees; 66 scenic spots, with 7500 employees. Tourism has always been the leader of Zhaoqing's tertiary industry.
The epidemic has put the tourism industry into an "ice age", and many people have been unable to sustain it.
Tan Xiaojie, General Manager of China National Travel Service (Zhaoqing) Travel Service Co., Ltd., will be the general manager of China National Travel Service (Zhaoqing) Travel Service Co., Ltd. Half of Zhaoqing's 20 travel agency branches have been closed, and although the tourism industry has not started work for several months and has no income, she and several shareholders still grit their teeth to ensure the basic livelihood of employees, but they can only be sent to more than 900 yuan in January. For employees who need to provide for their families, this is far from enough.
She told reporters that employees who can't stand it? Or peers? They all turned to express delivery, purchasing, e-commerce and other industries, and she also tried to subsidize the meager wages of employees from other ways, such as encouraging employees to sell goods other than tourism products, and she herself took the lead in selling milk powder in the circle of friends.
Also in a dilemma is the travel agency owner Zhan Zhiwen, the chairman of Zhaoqing Cting. Two-thirds of his stores sell agricultural and sideline products, and he even set up a stall in CapitaLand Plaza to sell some cooking oil, souvenirs, etc., although they can't sell for hundreds of yuan a day.
The midstream caravan camp is a new tourism format introduced by the Zhaoqing government in July last year, and it has also suffered a lot of losses in this epidemic. Song Dongling, president of the caravan camp, told reporters, "We bought 41 caravans, originally planned to officially open on New Year's Day, and planted hundreds of cherry blossom trees waiting for the cherry blossom festival. ”
Midstream motorhome campsites are eagerly awaited
Jiang Hongjin, ceo of the caravan camp, said that as a new industry, the caravan used to be the darling of the competition for funds, but the national caravan camp is now closed for 40%.
For the tourism industry, the Spring Festival and "May Day" were originally the golden period for them to solicit customers, and with the postponement of the college entrance examination, the summer vacation was also shortened by one month, and the time left for the tourism industry this year was not much.
The pandemic has changed the way the tourism industry operates
"Despite the difficult times, the government has done its best to keep the basics of tourism." Zhou Chunhuai told reporters that they are also actively helping tourism enterprises tide over the difficulties, issuing awards of 6.19 million yuan, loans of more than 60 million yuan, the first time to return the warranty money, but also to some travel enterprises tax rebates, Tan Xiaojie's company has obtained a tax refund of 200,000 yuan.
Qiu Jianhua, director of the Marketing Department of the Zhaoqing Tourism Development Committee, told reporters that during the epidemic, they also did a lot of infrastructure work that they had not done before, and at the same time cooperated with the donkey mother website to carry goods online, the income was good, and the next step of cooperation with Ctrip was also under discussion.
"This year is a shuffling year, and only companies with strength and ideas can really stay." Song Dongling told reporters, "The epidemic is not all bad, at least some backward industries and models can be eliminated." ”
Tan Xiaojie told reporters that she found that many travel agencies that did not carry out e-commerce business before this have been unable to sustain it, on the other hand, 80% of the group trips are retired elderly, while the young group is more self-driving travel, independent travel, how to seize the young group has become the basis for how to survive in the next decade of travel agencies.
She said that at present, the travel agency's own e-commerce operation platform has been set up, and the sales products from specialties to cross-border goods will become more and more abundant, and live broadcasting will also be carried out in the future.
On July 14, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the resumption of inter-provincial travel, and as soon as the news came out, the tourism industry rekindled hope. Song Dongling said: "The recovery effect is still remarkable; in the past, there were only two or three caravans per day in the base, but now it can be driven to sixteen or seventeen per day."
Qiu Guoqing told reporters that the previous "Happy 100 Star Lake Card" (100 yuan purchase card, with which the card can enter and exit the Star Lake Scenic Area any time a year) for the citizens of Zhaoqing has received a good response, and the next step will be launched to the whole country.
Zhaoqing launched the 100-yuan free travel card
Although inter-provincial tourism has brought hope for the recovery of the industry, Qiu Weidong said that 50% of the industry's profits come from outbound tourism, and in the case of outbound tourism, the survival of tourism is still difficult, and it is actually the most difficult to revitalize people's hearts for tourism, after all, tourism is not just needed.
Tan Xiaojie believes that "the epidemic has changed not only the income of the tourism industry, but also fundamentally changed the mode of operation and the industry ecology, and the traditional mode of local reception and solicitation of customers has been unable to survive, and now it depends on the power of the Internet to survive." Travel agencies are not only doing tourism, but also making themselves into e-commerce in the future, adding young elements such as live broadcasting. ”
Qiu Jianhua is not very optimistic about the claim that the cold winter of the tourism industry has passed: "The reason why many tourism enterprises in the first half of the year can still sustain themselves is that they have relied on the savings of the previous year, and after the epidemic period, they have only gone in and out, and if the epidemic situation is not good in the future, the real severe winter may have just begun."
Xiang Xianjun Intern Li Wan
【Video shooting clip】Li Xiang Xiang Xianjun
【Author】 Xiang Xianjun; Li Yan
Southern Probe
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