The "14th Five-Year Plan" industry development plan points out the direction - to reshape the tourism industry driven by innovation

Affected by the repeated outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and prevention and control policies, the performance of the tourism market in 2021 is weak, and the "retaliatory growth" expected by the market has not arrived, and the development of the industry urgently needs to boost confidence.

A few days ago, the "14th Five-Year Plan" Tourism Development Plan was announced, which scientifically judged the new situation and new challenges faced by mass tourism in the "14th Five-Year Plan" period when it entered the stage of comprehensive development, centered on the theme of promoting the high-quality development of tourism, and took the growing needs of the people for a better life as the fundamental purpose, pointing out the way forward for accelerating the construction of a tourism power.

"The Plan reflects the great importance attached by the Party Central Committee and the State Council to the tourism industry, which is undoubtedly the biggest policy benefit at this stage for the tourism industry that is experiencing the most arduous challenges, the longest recovery and the most profound changes." Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Research Institute, said.

Usher in the era of mass tourism

"The outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic is the biggest influencing factor in the development of tourism in the past two years and the first half of the 14th Five-Year Plan, but overall, the tourism industry is still in a period of strategic opportunities for high-quality development." Dai Bin said.

With the continuous improvement of residents' income level, tourism consumption has become an important part of mainland residents' consumption. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the mainland travels more than 4 times a year, and tourism has become the just need for a better life for the people of a well-off society.

"The per capita GDP of the mainland has exceeded 12,000 US dollars, and the proportion of people's consumption at the spiritual, cultural and leisure levels will continue to rise, and the scale of the tourism market and social value will be good for a long time." Deng Ning, deputy dean of the School of Tourism Science at Beijing Second Chinese University, said that this is a solid market foundation for achieving high-quality development of tourism.

During the epidemic period, micro-tourism and micro-vacation have become hot words in the industry and an important direction for market player innovation. During the Spring Festival holiday in the Year of the Tiger, the popularity of local tours and peripheral tours has not decreased. "The willingness to grow, the consumption to upgrade and the sinking market are the confidence of the tourism industry to recover, and the driving force for achieving high-quality development." Dai Bin said.

According to the "Planning", during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the mainland will fully enter the era of mass tourism. This not only means that the number of people traveling will be further expanded, the frequency of travel will be further increased, but also means that the people's tourism consumption demand has changed, from low level to high quality and diversification, from focusing on sightseeing to taking into account sightseeing and leisure vacation.

The change in demand has put forward new requirements for the high-quality development of tourism. How to make efforts from the supply side to better meet the consumption demand of mass tourism, so that the effective supply, high-quality supply and flexible supply of tourism are more abundant? The "Planning" clarifies the key tasks of the development of the "14th Five-Year Plan" tourism industry from the aspects of improving the tourism product supply system and expanding the mass tourism consumption system.

"To meet the new demand for mass tourism, we need to have a more perfect foundation and supporting facilities, more attractive consumption scenarios, higher quality product ideas and services, rely on scientific and technological empowerment to bring more new experiences that combine virtual and real, and also need to promote the further integration of cultural tourism to bring consumers richer choices." Dunning said.

"Entering the era of mass tourism in an all-round way, it is necessary to use new ideas and new thinking to integrate tourism elements into more fields, gather more strength, and promote the development of 'tourism +', so as to dock more multi-level and diversified tourism consumption demand." Chen Nan, a professor at the School of Cultural Industry and Tourism Management of Henan University, said.

Shift from factor-driven to innovation-driven

The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the tourism industry, highlighting the importance of innovation for tourism development. Relying on innovative institutional mechanisms and the application of advanced technologies, the management efficiency of the tourism industry has been greatly improved, the mode of operation of tourism enterprises has been adjusted, and new tourism products and services have come into being. In the face of difficulties, innovation has become an important force in reshaping tourism.

"In the past 40 years, the world-renowned achievements of tourism are not entirely the result of resource development and market innovation, but have enjoyed openness and demographic dividends. Even if there is no epidemic, the traditional dividend window will be closed. Scientific and technological innovation, cultural creativity, etc. are replacing traditional natural, historical and human resources and becoming new driving forces for the development of modern tourism. Dai Bin told reporters.

"The Plan will adhere to innovation-driven development as the key task of the development of the '14th Five-Year Plan' tourism industry, marking a major adjustment in the mainland's tourism development mode, that is, from factor-driven to innovation-driven." This is not only a practical problem, but also a theoretical problem, which requires practitioners to think carefully and carefully layout. Zhang Hui, a professor at the Department of Tourism Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, said that in order to achieve high-quality development of the mainland tourism industry, in addition to paying attention to technological innovation, it is especially necessary to pay attention to institutional innovation, starting from the demand side, releasing consumer demand through institutional innovation, and at the same time studying management innovation, and better playing the role of associations, chambers of commerce and other organizations.

"Attaching great importance to innovation-driven is an inherent requirement for the high-quality development of the tourism industry, and the tourism industry urgently needs to change from the primary element drive of resources and capital to the drive of high-tech and high-quality human capital, accelerate the application and popularization of new technologies in the field of tourism, and at the same time use new technologies to transform traditional hotels, scenic spots, restaurants and other formats to empower traditional industries." Dr. Won Jun of the Institute of Strategic Studies of the China Tourism Research Institute said.

"The diversity and comprehensiveness of tourism determines that tourism innovation is a broad concept, including resource utilization, product design, service concept, cross-border integration, consumption scenarios, technology application and many other aspects." Deng Ning said that in general, its core is to use technology, especially the "Internet +" to drive the traditional format of tourism to achieve digital transformation, on the one hand, to create new tourism scenes and experiences, on the other hand, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of each link.

Build a new pattern of national tourism space

"Comprehensively consider the cultural context, geological vein, water vein, transportation trunk line and major national development strategies, coordinate ecological security and tourism development, and build a new pattern of national tourism space of 'dot-like radiation, ribbon-like series, and network coordination' based on the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the Long March, the Yellow River National Cultural Park and the Silk Road Tourism Belt, the Yangtze River International Golden Tourism Belt, the Coastal Golden Tourism Belt, the Beijing-Harbin-Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao High-Speed Railway, the Taihang Mountain-Wuling Mountain, and the Wanli Tea Ceremony." For the first time, the "Planning" has made an overall layout for the development of mainland tourism from a spatial perspective at the national level.

Chen Nan said that the construction of a new pattern of tourism space is the result of comprehensive consideration of major national development strategies such as nature, humanities, ecology, transportation and economy, and the layout of tourism from the national level shows that tourism will play a more important role in future economic and social development. "Tourism will not only play a role in expanding domestic demand and driving economic development, but also contribute more to building a cultural power and displaying a new image of China."

Experts said that optimizing the spatial layout of tourism is a long-term process, from the perspective of the regional scope, it is necessary to improve transportation and other facilities, give play to the radiation and driving role of destinations, and form a linkage development with different characteristics and complementarity; from the urban level, urban and rural planning should fully consider the layout of life and leisure, and realize the refinement and characteristic improvement of tourism.

Deng Ning believes that at present, there is still a regional imbalance in the development of mainland tourism. "The differentiated development positioning of the eastern, central and western regions should be clearer, the regional characteristics and destination types of tourism should be further clarified, and the pattern changes between off-site tourism and leisure tourism around the city after the outbreak of the epidemic need to be paid more attention to." He said that the introduction of the "Plan" will accelerate the construction of a tourism space layout and support system to promote high-quality development in response to existing problems. (Reporter Zhang Xue)

Source: Economic Daily