On October 6, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the cultural and tourism market situation during the 2023 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays. It is estimated that during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in 2023, the number of domestic tourism trips nationwide will be 826 million, an increase of 71.3% year-on-year on a comparable caliber and 4.1% on a comparable caliber compared with 2019; The domestic tourism revenue reached 753.43 billion yuan, an increase of 129.5% year-on-year on a comparable basis, and an increase of 1.5% over 2019 on a comparable basis. The national holiday market is stable and orderly, the supply of cultural and tourism products is abundant, and the recovery momentum of the cultural and tourism industry is strong.
This year's Double Festival holiday is called the "hottest" Golden Week, what are the characteristics of the market? What are the new trends to watch for? The reporter made observations and analysis from the following aspects.
Outbound travel returns
Compared with the past three years, the biggest feature of this year's National Day Golden Week is the return of outbound travel.
Coinciding with the first National Day Golden Week after the resumption of outbound group travel, the outbound travel market has gradually returned with the announcement of the list of countries for outbound group travel before and after, coupled with the adjustment of visa policies and the increase in international routes.
According to the data of Guangzhou Tour, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa and other sectors performed better, and the medium- and long-term tour groups of 7-15 days accounted for more than 60% of the total number of tour groups, parent-child products suitable for family travel, same-age travel products for young and middle-aged people without children, "soft customization" family group products for small group travel, and personalized routes such as high-end private and cruise ships have gained their own fans, and the differentiated outbound travel needs of different customer groups have been satisfied, as the main force of travel. Families generally prefer high-quality in-depth experiences.
OTA platforms are keenly aware of the outbound free travel market. "There is a big opportunity this year that the scale of the free travel category that I am operating is expanding. This is very evident this year, with more focused outbound travel, less group tours, and more and more independent travel. Li Tao, general manager of Anran Travel in New Zealand, said its business at Fliggy's store was "hot". For the New Zealand glacier hike alone, the activity company added 5 times of inventory, and it was still fully booked early, and 90% of the orders came from Chinese tourists.
Different from the group tour, where all itineraries are arranged by tour groups, consumers' requirements for itinerary freedom and personalization are rising rapidly. The data shows that outbound tourists are more willing to make their own strategies and book several local attractions separately, such as snorkeling and helicopter sightseeing.
On the Fliggy platform, during this year's "November", the scale of performance of overseas local play services increased by nearly 9 times compared with last year, among which, the performance scale of Maldives, Luxembourg, French Polynesia, Argentina, Egypt, Kenya and other destinations showed several times increase on the basis of 2019. The sales rate of merchants operating overseas local play services also exceeded the same period in 2019.
Tuniu said that destinations such as the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Turkey, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Kenya have become the "dark horses" in the outbound travel market during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival National Day holiday, and the number of orders for group tours to destinations on the platform has increased significantly.
According to Ctrip's data, outbound travel orders increased by more than 8 times year-on-year during the November period. From the perspective of air ticket booking data, the post-90s group is still the "main force" among outbound passengers, accounting for nearly 30%. The post-00s generation has the fastest growth rate, accounting for the same proportion as the post-80s generation, reaching 22%. During the May Day period, popular air ticket destinations were still concentrated in Hong Kong, Macao and Asian countries, with cross-continental long-term destinations such as Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, Russia, the United Kingdom and France growing the fastest compared with the May Day period.
The new supply of domestic "3C" tourism is out of the circle
This year's "Eleventh", the "3C" tourism, represented by Citywalk, Countryside tourism, and Integration of Culture and Tourism, has become the three aspects of tourists to discover a beautiful China.
Citywalk integrates streetscape architecture, natural landscapes, dining and entertainment, shopping malls, etc. in the city, showing the texture and charm of modern cities. Ctrip data shows that during the November period, Citywalk searches increased by more than 7 times year-on-year. Tianjin along the Haihe River, Shenyang European Style Street, Shanghai Xuhui Riverside Avenue, Beijing Hutong Autumn Watching, Guangzhou Laoxiguan and so on have become popular choices.
Countryside tourism relies on the results of beautiful countryside and green mountains, and more and more people are entering rural China. According to Ctrip's data, after eight consecutive weeks of growth in the summer, rural tourism still maintained rapid growth, and the number of rural tour hotel orders nationwide increased by nearly 1 times year-on-year, and more than 4 times compared with the same period in 2019. It is worth mentioning that among the rural tourism population, the post-90s generation accounts for 30%, becoming the fastest growing consumer group. The countryside in Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, Huangshan and other surrounding areas has become a popular rural destination.
Culture and Tourism's travel industry megatrends are particularly pronounced during this year's November Golden Week. Multiple cultural tourism "packages" such as tourism + music, + culture, + food, + live performances have become landmarks, driving tourism to slow down and calm down. According to Ctrip's data, during the National Day Golden Week, the search volume of music festivals and performances increased by more than 4 times and 3 times respectively year-on-year. Popular performances include Yellow Emperor's Ancient Love, Hangzhou Songcheng, Guangzhou Chimelong International Circus, Only the Dream of Red Mansions, Drama Phantom City, "Long Hate Song" and so on.
The Hangzhou Asian Games has attracted much attention on this year's "Eleventh Day". The six cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Jinhua, Huzhou, Wenzhou and Shaoxing, which hosted the Asian Games, also attracted tourists from Tiannanhai and North because of this sports event. On the Fliggy platform, the number of room nights booked by hotels and homestays in the "Six Asian Cities" increased by more than 60% compared with 2019 during November this year.
In addition, driven by the Asian Games, many people choose to arrange a sports-themed tour in this cool early autumn. Fliggy data shows that in the past month, the popularity of the gameplay of many sports on the platform has increased significantly. Among them, the search popularity of "skiing" keywords increased by nearly 60% year-on-year, the search popularity of "mountaineering" keywords increased by more than 1 times year-on-year, and the search popularity of "sailing" keywords increased by more than 1.2 times year-on-year.
Fragmentation, quality, sinking, acceleration
During the Mid-Autumn Festival National Day holiday, the fragmentation, sinking and quality of the tourism market were further accelerated.
From the perspective of user needs, Generation Z, which pays attention to social networking, sharing and personalized expression, has gradually become a new force in tourism, driving the rise of a variety of emerging tourism products such as camping, travel photography, catching the sea, music festivals and various theme tours, and promoting more diversified tourism supply. According to Ctrip's data, travel auction orders for the November holiday increased by more than 1 times year-on-year, and search popularity increased by more than 2 times year-on-year.
From the perspective of users' travel methods, independent travel, private groups, car rental and self-driving tours are more popular. According to Ctrip's data, during November this year, orders for independent travel and private groups increased by more than 2 times year-on-year, and orders for rental cars and self-driving cars increased by more than 1 times year-on-year.
Sinking is that in addition to popular destinations, more and more "small places" and "niche destinations" have begun to become popular. Behind this is people's desire to avoid "people following the crowd", as well as the differentiation and refinement of tourism products, which trigger tourists to travel less and less and more diversified. According to Ctrip's hot list, Xing'an Meng in Inner Mongolia, Sanming in Fujian, Jincheng in Shanxi, Xuancheng in Anhui, Ganzhou in Jiangxi, Ningde in Fujian, Mianyang in Sichuan, Quanzhou in Fujian, etc., are the "reverse tour" destinations worth visiting.
Quality means that tourists pay more attention to travel experience and feelings, and catering, accommodation, health and safety during travel are all key factors affecting user experience and evaluation. Tourism consumption is changing from "cost-effective" to "heart-to-price ratio", and is willing to spend more money for a better mood. According to Ctrip's data, during the November period, the per capita consumption of group tours increased by 80% year-on-year.
As the last public holiday in the second half of the year, the Golden Week is an important engine to further promote the development of the tourism industry. The tourism industry has a long link and involves many links, which has obvious driving effects on catering, accommodation, transportation and other industries, and is an important means to promote consumption and economic growth.
The favorable policy has also injected a shot in the arm for the development of the tourism industry. During the November holiday, the General Office of the State Council issued Several Measures on Releasing the Potential of Tourism Consumption and Promoting the High-quality Development of Tourism (hereinafter referred to as "Several Measures"), proposing 30 work measures in five aspects, including increasing the supply of high-quality tourism products and services and strengthening inbound tourism. Immediately afterwards, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Immigration Administration announced the implementation of regional visa-free entry policies, including 15-day visa-free entry for Shanghai foreign tour groups and 30-day visa-free entry for 59 countries in Hainan.
Industry insiders said that the favorable policies will further accelerate the high-quality development of the domestic tourism industry, especially the development of inbound and outbound tourism business. After the recovery of domestic tourism accelerates and basically recovers to the level of the same period in 2019, with the resumption of international flights and the optimization of visa policies, the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists will extend to outbound travel, and China will also attract more and more international tourists to China.
Source: South+