Original title: Self-driving travel market is hot, consumer demand upgrade (theme)
New Insights on China's Self-driving Tour Market (Subtopic)
Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters Huang Shubo, Wang Xuebing, Jiang Tong, Jiang Jing
Under the sound of the whistle, in the setting of colorful balls in the sky, a convoy of 50 RVs and 30 self-driving cars set off from Lujiawan Camp in Arshan City, Xing'an League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to start the journey through the Daxing'an Ridge.
On September 2, during the 2023 China (Aershan) Tourism Conference, the departure ceremony of the "Thousands of Cars" self-driving tour through the Daxing'an Ridge was held.
In recent years, as a new way of tourism and lifestyle, self-driving travel has become a new highlight, new fashion and new blue ocean of modern tourism. As one of the major activities of this tourism conference, the "thousands of cars" self-driving tour through the Daxing'an Ridge has attracted attention in the Chinese self-driving tour market.
How is self-driving travel developing in China? What are the new growth points? What are the challenges? Our reporter looks at the current situation and development of China's self-driving tour market from the 2023 China (Alshan) Tourism Conference.
Self-driving tours are "popular out of the circle" and have become the main choice for national tourism
At the Lujiawan Hot Spring Resort Camp in Arshan City, the autumn footsteps are gradually approaching, the sunset is setting, the evening breeze is gentle, and self-driving tourists are leisurely cooking and cleaning their cars.
In the camp, Mr. Yang from Dalian set out from his hometown more than 50 days ago and drove all the way from Dandong, Mohe and Hulunbuir to Aershan, "Before traveling with a travel agency, it was difficult to deeply feel the beauty of nature, so we chose to travel by car after retirement." ”
The rise of self-driving tours on the mainland began in the 90s of the 20th century. On the one hand, the level of national income has increased, highway facilities and tourism services have been continuously improved, and cars are increasingly entering households; On the other hand, as holidays increased, people's consumption concepts also changed, and they began to try to drive themselves to the vicinity of the city or further afield.
Before 2000, the form of self-driving tours was mainly arranged by tourists to tour around the city or day trips, and the number of tourists increased steadily year by year. Since 2001, the form of group self-driving tours has emerged, and the number of self-driving tours and individual self-driving tours organized by travel agencies, automobile clubs and other institutions has grown rapidly; After 2008, self-driving tours showed explosive growth; Since 2017, the number of self-driving tourists in the country has accounted for more than 60% of the number of domestic tourists for five consecutive years, and the self-driving tour market has entered a growth period.
"Especially since 2020, the way most people behave in travel has changed." Liu Hanqi, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of the China Tourism Car and Boat Association, said, "Travelers have a stronger demand for independent travel, self-drive tours, and caravan camping tours. ”
The data shows that self-driving travel has become the main choice for national tourism. According to the Report on the Development of Self-driving, Caravan and Camping Tourism in China (2022-2023), the number of self-driving tourists in China accounted for 74.8% of the total number of domestic trips in 2022. According to the "2023 Summer Car Rental Self-driving Tour Report" recently released by Ctrip, the number of domestic car rental self-driving orders this summer increased by more than 80% year-on-year, an increase of 352% over the same period in 2019. In the past five years, the self-driving travel market has ushered in the most prosperous summer.
The "industry integration" of self-driving tours leads the diversified development of the tourism market
According to the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, after information retrieval with "camping", "RV" and "self-driving tour" as keywords, it is sorted out and categorized, and since the first piece of information in 2012 to 2022, the compound annual growth rate of "camping", "RV" and "self-driving tour" has reached 157.8%, and the keyword "camping" has achieved a substantial increase in 2022, with a growth rate of 161.0%.
With the gradual prosperity of self-driving tours, the integration of "camping + self-driving" is becoming a new way for the public to relax.
"Enjoying leisure time is what tourism is all about, and camping will be a way of life that is close to normal." At the 7th Heilongjiang Self-driving Camping Conference held in June, Yu Yang, executive vice president of the Heilongjiang Self-driving Tour and Camping Association, said that the camping economy is opening up a new direction in the tourism market.
Travelers are increasingly demanding privacy, security, flexibility, etc., which has also made motorhome self-driving travel a new trend in self-driving travel.
Yang Songbai, general manager of SAIC RV Life Home, believes that the domestic RV market has broad prospects and potential needs to be further tapped.
"Motorhomes have more space than SUVs and can meet most of the needs of life on long journeys." Mr. Zhao and his wife from Beijing first chose SUVs when they first traveled by car, and after retirement, their travel needs further increased, and they bought RVs, and in recent years, they have driven RVs to almost every corner of China.
Self-driving tours are "gaining momentum", and we hope that the supporting facilities will be improved to help green development
With the increasing popularity of personalized and flexible self-driving travel experiences, how to change the "flow" of tourists into "retention" in scenic spots and campsites is the challenge of developing self-driving tours.
Compared with traditional group travel, the demand for parking spaces in scenic spots by self-driving tourists has increased significantly, and congestion caused by insufficient parking spaces on roads near scenic spots is common during holidays and tourist seasons, and the "dilemma" situation greatly affects tourists' travel experience.
"If a region wants to develop self-driving tours, it must not only provide services for people, but also provide security for cars." Liu Hanqi said, "The camp infrastructure should include water and electricity supply equipment, sewage treatment facilities, vehicle washing, etc., and properly provide vehicle maintenance services, which will help attract self-driving tourists to the station." ”
Many so-called exquisite "campsites" and "check-in places" still have the same equipment, activities and posing problems, and many newly established camping enterprises may be closed down due to lack of necessary campsite operation experience, professional knowledge and financial resources.
According to the report provided by the China Tourism Research Institute, the mainland resort industry started late, relevant industrial policies are relatively scattered, and support needs to be improved, such as self-driving, RV, camping construction, etc., although some policies have been introduced, but the detailed implementation still needs to be further strengthened.
The development of self-driving tours also poses challenges to attraction management and environmental protection. "As a camper, garbage is collected frequently, the camp does not leave traces, flowers and plants in the wild, forest fire prevention, let green become the background color of tourism." This is the initiative issued by the 2023 China (Arshan) Tourism Conference to self-driving caravans and self-driving tour enthusiasts.
"Green development is an inevitable requirement for China's modernization of the tourism industry." Tang Xiaoyun, vice president of China Tourism Research Institute, said that for the tourism industry, to practice the idea of green development and promote the practice of green tourism, it is necessary to comprehensively upgrade all aspects from development concepts, policy planning, resource utilization, product and format building, development momentum and development model transformation, and embark on a civilized development path of production development, rich life and good ecology.
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph