During this year's November Golden Week, the tourism market is hot. According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of domestic tourism trips was 826 million, and the domestic tourism revenue reached 753.43 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 129.5%.
On social platforms, there were a large number of posts about "National Day group travel partners" in early September, "chartered trip, looking for a partner, 2-4 people", "not poor travel, A money sneaking, looking for a travel partner, limited to girls".
"Travel companionship" is a trip with strangers. In the process of screening "travel partners", some important points are often mentioned, such as eating habits, consumption levels, lifestyle, etc., and many people even look at MBTI personality test results.
Some respondents said that on the one hand, they are looking for travel partners, on the one hand, to save travel costs, on the other hand, to be able to "form groups efficiently", and some to fight against atomized life.
A photo taken by a traveler when he traveled with a travel partner. Source: Provided by interviewee
[1] There is a clear sense of boundary between "travel partners"
During the just-concluded "Eleventh" holiday, 25-year-old Ms. Yi and her travel partner enjoyed the sunset over Pingtan Island in Fujian Province.
Ms. Yi is a professional voice actress and her partner is a girl working in Beijing with a quiet personality. Before this trip, the two did not know each other.
Ms. Yi posted a post on social platforms "National Day looking for a partner", indicating the need to find a person of the same sex of the same age. She mentioned that finding a partner is to save money, especially during the National Day holiday, and the cost of accommodation in many hotels has increased a lot.
This is also Ms. Yi's second time looking for a travel partner. The first time was her trip to Inner Mongolia, the travel partner was cheerful, and the whole trip was very pleasant.
Compared with traveling with family and friends in the past, "travel companionship" has become a new type of travel method, and searching for travel tips on social platforms will also appear a large number of posts and messages about "finding a travel partner".
There are tons of posts on social platforms about "finding a travel partner". Source: Screenshot
Xiao Lu swiped the post of "National Day Travel Partner" on social platforms, "I think it's very interesting and feasible, so I posted a note." ”
Xiao Lu, 20 years old this year, is studying at university in Zhejiang, and she tried to find a "travel partner" for the first time during the National Day holiday. There are also some practical reasons for finding a travel partner - she has few friends to travel with, including one who volunteers at the Asian Games.
She listed some requirements for travel companionship: women, preferably peers and female college students. "In this way, our consumption level and three views will not be too different, and the communication during travel will be smoother."
A lot of private messages and comments poured in, and Xiao Lu quickly found 3 partners. During the National Day holiday, they spent 5 days together, visiting the Tang Dynasty City that never sleeps, the Bell and Drum Tower, doing Hanfu makeup, and taking many photos.
"This is my first solo trip, or a long door, it can be said that it was a reckless departure, and looking back, I was lucky to meet these three girls."
Because of the different living habits and travel concepts, Xiao Lu chose to set out alone in some travel items. She went to visit the Shaanxi History Museum, climbed the north peak of Mount Hua, and spent a day and a half alone.
In Xiao Lu's view, there is a clear sense of boundary between "travel partners", who only know rough basic information about each other and rarely ask about personal privacy. Even after spending a day and a half alone, she felt at ease. Because she doesn't have to accommodate the other party's itinerary and living habits, she can go where she wants. But for friends and family, the introvert makes it difficult for her to say no.
"It is likely that only this journey is accompanied by a travel partner, everyone comes from all over the world, and finally returns to the original track, and there is a feeling of meeting and disappearing in the sea of people." Xiao Lu said.
[2] Finding a partner is like "opening a blind box"
Not all the process of finding a partner is smooth, and many people think that the process of finding a "travel partner" is like opening a blind box.
Ms. Guo, a college student in Guangzhou, started looking for a partner a week in advance, hoping that the partner would share a common destination and be cheerful.
Many people wrote back to her, and she also set up a group, but in the end, this trip was still yellow. "Everyone had some differences on budget, date, destination, I felt more tired, but I chose to go home on National Day."
The relationship between travel partners is more fragile than with family and friends, and it is not uncommon to "be pigeons". Some interviewees mentioned that once, she had already decided on a travel plan with her partner, but she was suddenly deleted as a friend and had to find it again.
Negative incidents about "travel companions" are also emerging. According to media reports, some tourists lost a deposit of 3,000 yuan because they credulously trusted "travel partners" to book hotel rooms together, and some "travel partners" posts involved pornography, in the name of finding a partner, they were actually doing yellow business.
Hou Yu (pseudonym) posted a post titled "Travel Online Dating Partners, Beware of Such People", recounting the bad experience of his friends and companions traveling.
In May this year, she found three partners to go to Macau together, the itinerary was decided, and later her friends wanted to join, so she decided to find another partner to travel to Macau. His friend shared a travel group QR code, and the partner entered the WeChat group, because the two interacted more and the itinerary was more consistent, so they agreed to be a partner.
"Because accommodation in Macao is more expensive, girls feel a little unsafe to go alone, so they tend to go to social platforms to find a partner, share the cost of the team together, and take photos together."
Photo of Hou Yu during a trip to Macau. Source: Provided by interviewee
Hou Yu mentioned that in the process of traveling, friends are reduced to "tool people". The partner asked his friend to book a room, take a taxi to navigate and take pictures, "feeling like an accompanying assistant". Later, when she arrived at the entertainment city, the partner played until midnight, and persuaded her friends to play with her, while inquiring about her friends' privacy.
"She also took my friend to meet her local male friend, who was older, and my friend felt something was wrong and got rid of the person the next day."
Later, when choosing a "travel partner", Hou Yu would be more cautious. For example, she will add the other party's WeChat to "turn the circle of friends through" and observe their consumption views and lifestyles. If Moments doesn't post content or is only visible for three days, don't consider finding her a match. Before confirming her trip, she will also ask to verify each other's identities and start a video chat to "verify that she is the person on her ID." ”
When Hou Yu later went to the Chengdu Giant Panda Base, he formed another partner, and the girl also had a very good personality, and now greets each other on weekdays. "I prefer the kind of companionship that only goes to one attraction, because many people have different concepts, and if it includes food, clothing, housing and transportation, it is indeed easy to have contradictions."
Xiao Lu felt the same way. She hopes that the "travel companion" model can still maintain its niche status quo, and will not become popular and popular, "At present, the companions I contact are still relatively simple, and I can feel that everyone wants to find someone to travel with, and after becoming more and more popular, travel companions will breed more scams." ”
[3] Travel companionship may become a new trend
Although most people will find travel companions "incomprehensible" and "unreliable", Ms. Qiu, 28, believes that travel companions will become popular in the future. "Partnering socially" has become a new social trend among the young people around her.
Partnering is connected by interest, giving practical value and offline companionship. "Because it's hard to make up the time of friends around me now. The advantage of the tie is that the time of the trip is determined first, and the travel plan and destination are the same, so it is easier to form a group. ”
Travel companions have become a big choice for her travel.
In the past three months, Ms. Qiu has traveled with her five times. The first time she looked for a travel partner was in July this year, when her nephew's college entrance examination ended, and she also had a long vacation and wanted to take her nephew on a trip to Xinjiang. But most of my friends are working and it's hard to make time. Considering the cost of chartered cars, she began to look for a partner on social platforms.
Ms. Qiu has her own fixed requirements for matching: same-sex; About the same age; More purposeful, will not hesitate, "for example, if you want to go here today and want to go there tomorrow, it is easy to change your mind, and this is not much considered." ”
In August this year, Ms. Qiu formed 7 partners and chartered 2 cars to travel to Hulunbuir together.
Ms. Qiu photographed the Erguna River. Source: Provided by interviewee
Traveling with a partner, Ms. Qiu believes, is also a kind of breaking circle. Ms. Qiu remembers that the companionship included bank staff, police officers, university teachers and an international friend from Malaysia. "Our professions are very differentiated, and when we chat, we can learn a lot about the poor information of the industry, and we can share interesting things with each other."
For safety reasons, Ms. Qiu will do the whole travel planning by herself, such as the phone number of the local car rental master, accommodation arrangements, "so that there are no unknown links or contacts." ”
After the trip, Ms. Qiu set up a group, pulled all her partners into the group, talked about the travel places she wanted to go in the future, and praised each other in the circle of friends. Because her partners come from all over the world, Ms. Qiu has hardly met them in private, and it is difficult for them to intersect with each other in life.
But when the next trip comes, "we can fly from all over the world to the destination of the trip." ”
Reporter: Wan Xuan
Source: Nine Pai News