Golden Week is one of the most important tourist seasons in China and a good time for people to relax and enjoy life. This year's November Golden Week, due to the superposition of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, attracted a large number of tourists, creating a number of new records in tourism data. However, compared to the huge increase in the number of tourists, the tourism industry seems to have fallen into a relatively light state.
According to the latest data from the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the Golden Week of November this year, the number of domestic tourism trips reached 826 million, a year-on-year increase of 43.2%, and domestic tourism revenue reached 753.43 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61.7%. These figures exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2019, indicating a strong recovery in China's travel market. At the same time, with the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies and the gradual opening of the international tourism market, outbound tourism has also ushered in a spurt of growth. According to Ctrip's report, the overall orders during the "National Day" period increased by nearly 20 times compared with last year. Popular countries to travel abroad include Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, and more.
From these data, it seems that China's tourism industry should be thriving and prosperous. However, if we analyze from all links of the tourism industry chain, we will find many problems and difficulties. First of all, from the supply side, due to the impact of the epidemic, many scenic spots, hotels, catering and other tourism service facilities have suffered heavy losses in 2020, and some have even closed down or transformed. Even if it gradually resumes operations in 2021, it faces problems such as personnel loss, tight funds, and rising operating costs. In addition, due to epidemic prevention and control requirements and safety considerations, many scenic spots have implemented measures such as flow restrictions and reservations, resulting in a decline in supply capacity. For example, during this year's November Golden Week, the Palace Museum in Beijing limited its capacity to 30,000 visitors per day, compared to 80,000 in the same period in 2019.
Secondly, from the demand side, although residents' willingness to travel and consumption power have recovered and improved, there are also many changes and challenges. On the one hand, due to the uncertainty of the epidemic and changes in prevention and control policies, many tourists have chosen short-haul, localized and short-term travel, which means that their demand for tourism products is more flexible and diversified, rather than simply pursuing traditional sightseeing or shopping consumption. On the other hand, due to the development of information technology and social media, many tourists have obtained a large number of destination information and strategies through online platforms before traveling, and can book air tickets, hotels, tickets and other services independently. This reduces their reliance on middlemen or tour guides and increases their requirements for the experience and quality of their tours.
Finally, from the perspective of competition, the competitive landscape of the tourism market has also undergone significant changes due to the acceleration of industry reshuffle and digital transformation due to the epidemic. On the one hand, the head effect is more obvious, some tourism enterprises with larger scale, stronger brands and more abundant funds are more likely to seize market opportunities and expand market share, while some tourism enterprises with smaller scale, weaker brands and tight funds are facing survival pressure and elimination risks. On the other hand, cross-border competition has become more intense, and some non-traditional tourism enterprises or platforms have also begun to enter the tourism market, using their own advantages and resources to provide more personalized, differentiated and innovative tourism products and services. For example, Alibaba's Fliggy platform has launched a "Fantastic Journey" column, which explores travel to niche destinations every week; ByteDance's Douyin platform launched the "Douyin Weekend Tour" campaign, inviting influencers to lead users to experience different weekend travel solutions every week.
To sum up, we can see that compared with the huge increase in the number of tourists, the tourism industry seems to have fallen into a relatively light state, because the epidemic has caused different degrees of impact and changes on all links of the tourism industry chain, resulting in a certain imbalance and mismatch between the supply side, the demand side and the competition side. This also means that for the tourism industry to achieve true recovery and development, it must not only rely on the growth of the number of people, but also focus on improving the quality and efficiency of supply, meeting the diversity and personalization of demand, and coping with fierce competition and rapid change. Only in this way can the tourism industry usher in new opportunities and challenges in the post-epidemic era.
Many scenic spots have the following reasons for limiting flow and making reservations:
· In order to protect the environment and cultural relics of the scenic area, avoid damage caused by too many tourists. For example, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, which contain a large number of precious murals and historical relics, if the number of visitors is not limited, it may lead to excessive temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and other indicators, affecting the preservation of cultural relics.
· In order to prevent and control the epidemic, avoid the gathering of people. Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, many scenic spots have implemented measures such as reservation and flow restrictions to ensure the safety and health of tourists.
· To enhance the experience of visitors, avoid crowds and queues. If the number and time of tourists are not limited, it will lead to overcrowding in the scenic area, affecting the viewing and leisure of tourists.
Of course, capacity restrictions and reservations will also bring some problems, such as difficult to buy tickets, scalpers, tourist complaints, etc. Therefore, scenic spots should reasonably adjust the ticket supply and reservation mechanism according to market demand and actual conditions to provide better tourism services.
In short, the November Golden Week is an important node for China's tourism industry and an important window for Chinese society. From the tourism data of this year's November Golden Week, we can see the strong recovery and huge potential of China's tourism market, and we can also see many problems and difficulties in China's tourism industry. As tourism practitioners and tourism consumers, we should face up to these problems and difficulties, actively seek solutions and improvements, jointly promote the high-quality development of China's tourism industry, and make tourism a beautiful way of people's lives.