A brief analysis of the current situation and countermeasures for the development of tourism paper books

Author: Yang Peiwu

In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology, the "Internet +" model has affected all aspects of social life with its characteristics of large amount of information, strong timeliness, wide coverage, convenient interaction, etc. Paper books have been seriously impacted, especially in the tourism book sector, the book audience is seriously diverted, and the sales of traditional travel guide paper books have suffered a cliff-like decline. According to authoritative open-volume data, the life and leisure sector where tourism books are located, the market accounted for 3.04% in 2018, and fell to 2.37% in 2020.

However, when we analyze the open-volume data of all paper books in recent years, from 2015 to 2019 before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the yard ocean of the mainland paper book market increased from 62.4 billion yuan in 2015 to 102.27 billion yuan in 2019, almost doubling, and the overall retail market has maintained a growth rate of more than 10%. In 2021, under the environment of normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the paper book retail market has also achieved a year-on-year increase of 1.65%, indicating that there is still a relatively stable market for paper books, indicating that the all-media era has both impact and opportunities.

First, the advantages and disadvantages are compared

- Content quality. Traditional tourism paper books have laws and regulations, as well as a set of perfect quality assurance and inspection mechanisms. Since 2016, the State Press and Publication Administration has carried out special work on "quality management" of books, punishing and publicly notifying publishing units with serious quality problems and violations in accordance with laws and regulations. The effective working mechanism ensures the high quality of the content of tourism paper books, and the credibility of tourism paper books is high and has a good reputation.

Some tourism new media information carriers, there is still a lack of strict rules and regulations to regulate their information processing process, in order to be convenient and fast, there is often no strict information release process, or the process implementation is not rigorous enough, it is easy to spread wrong information, or cause ambiguity.

- In terms of presentation form. The presentation carrier of travel paper books is basically paper, and a very small number of travel books use silk, cloth and other carriers, printing text or pictures on the carrier, requiring readers to read through the whole text and extract useful information from it, and it is not easy to form reprocessing. After the information is obtained, it is inconvenient for the reader to re-disseminate the information obtained in the form of a paper book.

In the Internet era, the carrier of presenting information has developed to intelligent terminals, in addition to text and pictures, the presentation method is more audio and video, it is easy to achieve the fragmentation of knowledge, the information carried by it has been refined and deeply processed, which is more conducive to re-dissemination.

- In terms of communication costs. In contrast, travel paper books are not easy to carry, and multimedia travel information can be obtained through smart terminals such as mobile phones, which can be downloaded and used instantly. If you want to pass on the content of travel books to others, the higher the cost, the higher the logistics cost.

In the Internet era, the dissemination of information is very convenient, the cost is very low, as long as you move your fingers, you can send the information out, and the cost is only a little bit of traffic.

- Reading habits. On April 23, 2022, the 19th National Reading Survey released by the China Press and Publication Research Institute showed that the reading advantage of paper books is still obvious, and the per capita reading volume of paper books and 3.30 e-books per capita of adult citizens in mainland China in 2021 is 4.76.

After a long period of development, paper books and readers have a good run-in, forming a deep-rooted reading habit, readers naturally have a sense of affinity for paper books. The feel of travel paper books, the sound of turning pages, and the unique smell of paper and ink constitute a unique reading experience that is difficult to match in multimedia such as e-books.

-- Safety and environmental protection. Travel paper books also have the feature of protecting privacy. Whether the reader has read the book, which tourist spots have been guided by the book, the author of the book and the publisher are uncertain about this information. Tourism information published by new media is different, and the confirmation and tracking of authors, readers and tourists can be achieved by technical means. Paper materials are more conducive to alleviating visual fatigue under the diffuse reflection of light, and the use of terminals to achieve e-book reading and information acquisition is easy to make eye fatigue, which is not conducive to good health. Travel paper books need paper in printing, packaging is needed in the logistics process, and there will be certain losses in the process of transportation, which have a certain impact on environmental protection. New media information does not rely on paper and will not put pressure on environmental protection in this regard.

- Dissemination of feedback. The editing and processing process of travel paper books is very long, generally takes a year or even longer, if it is a series of books or large-scale book projects, it takes longer, the sales time of travel paper books is not short, and the dissemination of travel paper book content information is much slower than the release of tourism network information, and it is more difficult to achieve effective communication between authors and readers.

Online tourism information can be released to multiple readers in a timely manner in the Internet environment, and can even be spread from "point" to "surface", and the speed of this dissemination will increase geometrically under certain conditions. Readers' evaluations of the disseminated information can be fed back to the publisher of the information, so that the reader's sense of participation is stronger, and it is easier to form continuous attention and reader stickiness.

Second, development countermeasures

With the development of society, the improvement of technology and the changes in people's lifestyles, paper books may no longer be the absolute protagonists in the field of communication, but they will not easily die. In order to achieve the high-quality development of books, we also need to do the following points.

The first is to carry forward the fine tradition and strengthen brand building. Book publishing implements a strict system of three reviews and three proofs, and major topics still need to be submitted for review, which are the fine traditions accumulated by the editing work, and are the most basic principles, systems and laws that must be strictly observed in the editing work. Only by creating a well-maintained brand can we be invincible in future publishing, and at the same time, a good brand can also promote the development of publishing houses, such as the "Forbidden City Calendar", the Forbidden City Cultural creation, etc. The development of the Forbidden City Publishing House has embarked on a benign road in recent years.

The second is to enrich the way of presentation and achieve integrated development. According to the "2020-2021 China Digital Publishing Industry Annual Report", in 2020, the annual industrial revenue of the mainland digital publishing industry exceeded one trillion yuan, reaching 1178.167 billion yuan, an increase of 19.23% over the previous year. The new crown pneumonia epidemic has forced the publishing industry to increase the pace of transformation and integration, and the fields of digital education and audiobooks have shown a good momentum of development. The current revolutionary progress of information technology provides opportunities for us to improve the level of editing and publishing of tourism books, such as the "Beautiful Hebei" published by China Tourism Publishing House, by 100 tour guides to tell the relevant stories of 100 tourist attractions in Hebei Province, not seeking a comprehensive introduction to scenic resources, but highlighting the unknown stories and highlights of the scenic spots, with high readability, each story is supported by pictures, audio resources, you can scan the QR code to listen online, you can make people even if they are not in the scenic spot, there is an immersive experience. Publishing houses can try to establish a comprehensive tourism service model that combines tourism paper publications, digital media and offline services to truly achieve industrial integration.

The third is to improve the reading experience and strengthen precision marketing. The travel book market is often associated with the low and high season of tourism, so different books are launched at different times. With the increasingly personalized needs of readers, if travel books want to maintain the market, they must provide a better reading experience, and even provide scene tourism to grasp and maximize the satisfaction of market demand. It is necessary to strengthen precision marketing and distribution. The marketing and promotion of travel books should always run through the entire process of publishing, and special attention should be paid to new media marketing. Now, the role of the Internet, mobile terminals, etc. in marketing promotion is becoming more and more important, and it is necessary to make full use of network platforms such as Weibo, WeChat public account, Toutiao, Douyin, and community to increase the number of readers and sales conversion rate.

(Author Affilications:China Tourism Publishing House Co., Ltd.)