"Although the tourism market has recovered in the past two years, the cost of repeated epidemics is quite large; although tourism enterprises are in a deep cold state, we must also see the resilience of tourism industry practitioners, suppliers and producers, who are still trying to stick to and adapt." On January 12, the China Tourism Association organized a symposium for some entrepreneurs and experts. At the meeting, Duan Qiang, president of the China Tourism Association, spoke to the voice of tourists struggling to move forward in the face of adversity.
Entrepreneurs and experts with certain influence in the tourism industry spoke at the meeting, studied the industry situation, and put forward suggestions and countermeasures to overcome the difficulties and challenges brought about by the epidemic.
New Century Senpo Holiday Park Courtesy of New Century Tourism
Moving forward in the face of adversity
The epidemic continues to fluctuate, superimposed on the macroeconomic downturn, and tourism enterprises are struggling. "First of all, let the company survive." At the symposium, entrepreneurs said one after another.
Wang Yu, vice president of the China Tourism Association and vice chairman of Chunqiu Group, said that in the face of the severe test of the epidemic, tourists have actively fulfilled their responsibilities. When the epidemic struck, the Spring and Autumn Group responded to the call of the relevant departments and unconditionally withdrew from the group for refund at the first time. In the past two years, the cumulative amount of refunds has reached 4.132 billion yuan. At the same time, Spring and Autumn Group has produced detailed epidemic prevention guidelines that require employees to strictly implement them. Since 2020, Spring Group has served more than 40 million tourists, and not a single guest or employee has been infected during the trip. In 2021, in the face of many difficulties, Chunqiu Group still actively innovated and changed, developed more local tourism products, and let more citizens and tourists understand the historical style and modern style of Shanghai. Nowadays, the "micro-tour Shanghai" series of products launched by Spring and Autumn Tourism has been updated to the sixth generation, through the form of "sightseeing car + micro-tourism", the characteristic buildings of Shanghai will be transformed into tourism resources, enrich the variety of products, and improve the attractiveness of tourists.
In 2021, the epidemic situation is frequent, and the peak tourism seasons such as the Spring Festival, summer vacation and National Day are affected, resulting in a decline in the performance of most tourism enterprises. Under the same caliber, the operating income of more than 400 hotels operated by New Century Tourism Group increased by 8% over the same period in 2020, but the profit margin was not optimistic, and only two New Century Senbo Resorts achieved profitability.
"As a company, we have to go all out to overcome difficulties." Chen Miaolin, vice president of China Tourism Association and founder of New Century Tourism Group, introduced. At present, the parent-child market is relatively hot, and New Century has launched a series of parent-child vacation products, of which the Market of New Century Senbo Resort Park featuring "Parent-child Paradise + Parent-child Hotel" has a good response. However, the more than 400 hotels in The New Century camp are mainly business hotels, and it is impossible to transform them all. In this regard, New Century tried to launch the urban micro-resort hotel system, transforming some high-end business hotels in the city into urban micro-resort hotels, and is currently in the process of testing the water. "Doing a good job in brand promotion and further refining the service is also what we are doing, and we hope to achieve good results." Chen Miaolin said.
Chen Xianghong, vice president of the China Tourism Association, chairman and president of Dingdu Group Co., Ltd., said that in the two years affected by the epidemic, the overall situation of Wuzhen Scenic Area and Gubei Water Town Scenic Area is "four reductions" and "four increases": the number of tourists decreases, the income of scenic spots decreases, the income of employees decreases, and confidence decreases; costs increase, liabilities increase, loan difficulties increase, and the difficulty of stabilizing employees increases.
Chen Xianghong said that enterprises should increase innovation efforts and innovate in the industrial chain. The recovery of the tourism industry is not a simple recovery, but a recovery in change. Under the influence of the epidemic, tourists' travel methods, choices, consumption methods, etc. are changing, so we must adjust our products according to the changes in the way tourists travel and consume. "Last year, we began to use the hotel's equipment and technology to provide housekeeping services for high-income families, provide door-to-door catering and training services for large enterprises, export some employees to other enterprises, sign labor contracts between enterprises, settle settlements, and pay wages by the original enterprises, and find ways to increase employee income." Without innovation, there is no way out; without innovation, it is impossible to adapt to the changes in the tourism industry after the epidemic. ”
Looking back on 2021, Wu Guoping, deputy supervisor of the China Tourism Association, honorary chairman of Wuxi Lingshan Cultural Tourism Group, and chairman of Wuxi Nianhuawan Cultural Investment and Development Co., Ltd., said: "We have moved forward in the ups and downs, explored and moved forward in the continuous shutdown and restart, and have gone through an extraordinary year. This year, we have kept our hearts, built up confidence, overcome the sense of danger and panic, and believe that we will eventually keep the clouds open and see the moon. ”
It is precisely because of the unremitting efforts of tourists that in the "2021 Tourism Economy Operation Analysis and 2022 Development Forecast" released by the China Tourism Research Institute, it can be seen that the tourism economy in 2021 will generally show a ladder-shaped recovery trend.
Try to break through
In Duan Qiang's view, the labor-intensive and highly relevant characteristics of the tourism industry determine that it is a barometer of China's economy, and it is necessary to pay special attention to social issues such as employees' income and employment. At the same time, the current and future demand and supply of tourism will usher in major adjustments, tourism methods will undergo major changes, and the traditional tourism industry may undergo subversive changes. Tourism is a way of life, the core definition is consumption, feeling, experience, not just the flow of people.
How can tourism companies break through?
Wu Guoping said that the transformation of tourism enterprises cannot be delayed. The tourism industry itself has long-standing mismatch between supply and demand, structural imbalances and investment inefficiencies, which have been amplified by the impact of the epidemic. "In the past year, we have resolutely implemented the epidemic prevention and control measures of governments at all levels, maintained the talent team, explored the road of transformation and development, guided the asset-heavy scenic spots to carry out 'combination of light and heavy, cross-border integration', continuously cultivated internal strength, and maintained a good development trend."
Kang Guoming, vice president of the China Tourism Association, believes that the tourism industry is one of the industries affected by the epidemic earlier, larger and deeper, and the epidemic has affected the industry for two years, even if the epidemic ends in the future, the tourism market will not be able to return to its former appearance. At present, the pace of social development is slowing down and the momentum of economic development is weakening, which has brought new challenges to the development of the industry and needs to be positioned with new ideas. He suggested that after the impact of the epidemic, the development of the industry should change from epitaxial to connotative. From the product point of view, it is necessary to provide products that make consumers feel happy, and the negative emotions they generate at work and in life are resolved through high-quality travel. Tourism is not only to serve the rich and idle people, but also to provide services around people's rigid needs. For example, let the tourism and education industry, sports industry, health care industry combined, provide corresponding products by age group, improve product quality: for teenagers, provide quality study travel products; for young and middle-aged people, provide products that focus on healthy lifestyles; for retirement groups, provide health care products based on health care. In addition, tourism enterprises can also make more articles around rural revitalization, talent revitalization, cultural revitalization, and industrial revitalization, such as organizing more urban teenagers to go to rural areas to understand the national conditions, and organizing more rural teenagers to touch the pulse of modern social development in big cities.
Wuxi Nianhuawan Scenic Area Provided by the scenic spot
"The industry should attach great importance to the important role of the tourism industry in stimulating consumer demand. The operation of the tourism industry involves many industries, and the driving effect on the economy is obvious, and the stimulus effect on the economy is fast and the effect is good. Wang Yu suggested that the relevant departments can formulate relevant plans to accelerate the development of the tourism industry, including how to develop under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, and the development of the global tourism industry after the recovery of the post-epidemic period. At the same time, some policies to stimulate tourism consumption should be introduced to accelerate the recovery of the industry.
In Chen Xianghong's view, tourism is an industry that enriches the people, and the tourism industry is a leading industry that drives economic development. The villagers around the scenic spot rely on the scenic spot to benefit, so that the people have money to earn. Scenic spots should first ensure epidemic prevention, be responsible for tourists and employees, second, protect brands, third, protect assets, intermittently shut down and open scenic spots to maintain the normal state of assets, and fourth, maintain stability. Enterprises should take the initiative to adapt to the market, adapt to market changes with a fast and half-beat speed, and optimize business methods and products. After the epidemic, tourists pay more attention to family affection, scenic spots should transform and develop, and think about how to improve tourism consumption, rather than focusing on traffic.
"Tourism is essentially about providing visitors with an off-site, heterogeneous lifestyle that is based on immersion in the culture of the destination." Chen Xianghong suggested that scenic spots should be oriented to young people, grasp the post-00s, post-05 and other consumer groups; to carry out diversified development, online and offline integration, not stuck to traditional culture, non-genetic inheritance, launch more musicals, art activities, cultural activities, etc.; to improve service quality. "This year, we plan to implement digitalization in scenic spots, implant chips in the hotel linen, and tourists can scan the code to understand the replacement information of the linen."
"The difficulties in the tourism industry are temporary, and our confidence is more important than gold." Wu Guoping thinks.
Looking forward to the bailout
"Under the new pattern of double circulation, tourism consumption and tourism investment are an important part of the strategy of expanding domestic demand, and also an important force in building a new development pattern." From the historical experience, every time the tourism industry encounters a crisis, it needs the government, the market, the industry and other parties to promote the recovery and revitalization. Wu Guoping said.
Chen Miaolin said frankly that in 2022, tourism enterprises are still facing challenges. On the one hand, in addition to the impact of the epidemic, the current downward pressure on the economy has increased, and since November last year, tourism consumption has shown signs of a significant reduction; on the other hand, hotel operations have encountered greater challenges. At present, the national hotel debt ratio is 75%. It is worth noting that in 2020, the return on assets of hotels nationwide will be 4.2%, and it is estimated to be below 4% in 2021. However, this is already lower than the average bank's annual lending rate to private enterprises. From this point of view, a large number of hotels will not be able to make ends meet due to bank loans, which is likely to cause many hotels to choose to close their doors, especially some small hotels held by real estate companies. In order to reduce the loss and related costs, some hotels choose to temporarily close down and reopen after the impact of the epidemic has passed, but even so, they also need to bear part of the cost of equipment operation.
"We hope that the relevant government departments can increase their care and support for enterprises and enhance the confidence of tourism enterprises." Chen Miaolin said that in 2020, the government introduced a number of support policies, such as exemption and deferral of social security funds, real estate tax reduction and other policy-based tax incentives, so that New Century Hotel received 130 million yuan of government subsidies. In 2021, financial support measures in some places have been cancelled, and enterprises are feeling pressure. "In fact, after the company obtains government support, a considerable part of the funds are used to pay employee salaries, which invisibly retains talents." It is hoped that the relevant departments in various localities can continue to implement measures such as social security exemption and deferral of payment, tax incentives, etc., to help enterprises survive the difficulties. ”
What kind of bailout policies do enterprises need?
Wang Yu said that the relevant departments can continue and improve the bailout policy of the tourism industry, including medium-term bank loans, bond issuance and credit enhancement and other financial support, continue to issue bailout subsidies, job stabilization subsidies, etc., and can also learn from some foreign practices. For example, the French tourism industry has set up a solidarity fund, which allows eligible tourism SMEs or self-employed persons to apply for subsidies and waive various rental fees; the Spanish government provides special loan guarantees specifically for the liquidity needs of tourism and other industries affected by the epidemic.
"The bailout policy should ensure the accuracy of the policy and ensure the bailout of the most important product end of the tourism industry and the asset-heavy industry." Chen Xianghong suggested that the focus of the bailout is to reduce the burden, otherwise the tourism industry will be overwhelmed in the face of relatively heavy taxes; the second is to protect the interests of tourism practitioners and improve the social security fund and labor contracts; the third is to ensure that key projects, including unfinished projects and key development projects, are larger and larger in increments and solve problems in development; the fourth is to support online channel providers and travel agencies, encourage more people to make tourism consumption, and guide government agencies and enterprise employees to implement the annual leave system.
Several industry players unanimously said that the epidemic prevention and control measures in various places can be more accurate, effective and more sustainable, meet people's expectations for a better life through tourism when conditions permit, better promote sustainable economic and social development, strengthen corporate confidence, encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to find the right market positioning, innovate tourism products, create profit models, and achieve their own transformation and iteration. At the same time, it is recommended that all localities implement unified epidemic prevention management based on big data.
"Precise prevention and control, not one-size-fits-all." It is recommended to gradually open up all kinds of tourism business in low-risk areas. Especially after the Spring Festival, on the basis of epidemic prevention and control, we will create a market environment conducive to medium- and long-distance tourism consumption, continue to release and encourage travel, and improve consumer market expectations. "The appeal of a tourism entrepreneur resonates.
In 2022, the epidemic will continue to be the biggest uncertainty affecting the recovery of the tourism industry, but the "2021 Tourism Economy Operation Analysis and 2022 Development Forecast" pointed out that the upward recovery process of the tourism industry will not stop.
"The continuation of the bailout policy and the normalization of epidemic prevention and control have become hot topics of concern for enterprises. We must believe that the future is bright, the economic development will get better and better, and the tourism industry will be able to tide over the difficulties. Duan Qiang said. (Chief reporter of this newspaper, Wang Wei, trainee reporter Tang Bernong; Editor: Yang Shuo)
Original Title: "Moving Forward in DifficultIes, Confidence Is More Important Than Gold- Tourism Industry Leaders Talk About Recovery, Breakthrough and Transformation"