Text | Feng Lu lectured on the law
Edit | Feng Lu lectured on the law
In the just-concluded May Day holiday, the national cultural tourism market once again ushered in a grand occasion. According to the statistics of the Culture and Tourism Data Center, the number of domestic tourists in the country reached 295 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%.
Since the beginning of this year, the cultural tourism market across the country has been out of the circle one after another, Harbin in Heilongjiang, Luoyang in Henan, Tianshui in Gansu Province, and Zibo in Shandong Province that is now popular, it is no wonder that 2024 is called the year of cultural tourism.
However, unlike the booming domestic cultural tourism market, the international cultural tourism market has encountered a cold period, and even on January 19, 2024, Bloomberg even released a report.
The report pointed out that the "disappearance" of Chinese tourists "caused" a $130 billion loss to the global tourism industry, which is ridiculous. In order to win back Chinese tourists, countries around the world have also given many preferential policies.
On May 4, Shangguan News reported that Cuba announced visa-free access for Chinese tourists.
On May 5, Jimu News also reported that a huge Chinese flag has been hung on the streets of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, to welcome Chinese tourists.
So, why is the international cultural tourism market experiencing a cold period, and how do Chinese tourists manage the Western economy?
The West dumps the blame on Chinese tourists
On January 19 this year, a reporter from Bloomberg released a video in which he wrote: The global tourism industry has lost 130 billion yuan because of the decline in Chinese tourists.
Echoing this is Bloomberg's photograph of the empty streets of the United States, which said that Chinese tourists, who were once the largest consumer group of overseas travelers, have now "disappeared", causing losses to the world's tourism industry.
This remark is also quite ridiculous. In the past few years, when Chinese tourists were keen to travel overseas, some Western media outlets were trying to smear Chinese tourists.
Saying that Chinese tourists are not qualified, littering, spitting, and even some countries have specially customized warning signs with Chinese markings, the intention is quite obvious.
In recent years, due to the epidemic and other reasons, the number of Chinese tourists has dropped sharply, but I didn't expect these countries to be the first to break the defense.
It's no wonder that many netizens commented under the video: Your foreign media publish negative news about China every day, and now that Chinese tourists are not going, you are putting the blame for the economic downturn on China's head?
In fact, everyone knows that the economic downturn in European and American countries in recent years is because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. On the one hand, European and American countries have provided Ukraine with up to 100 billion yuan in military aid.
On the other hand, due to the economic blockade imposed by the European Union on Russia, there has been an extremely serious energy crisis, and at the same time, the United States has begun to cut the EU's leeks by selling oil and gas at high prices.
These two reasons are the main reasons for the economic downturn in the EU in recent years. So why do European and American countries put this big pot on the heads of Chinese tourists? Why are Chinese tourists not keen on traveling abroad?
Times have changed
In fact, the attitude of the West towards Chinese tourists is extremely complicated, on the one hand, they smear Chinese tourists everywhere and publish a lot of negative news about China.
On the other hand, they have to admit that Chinese tourists do drive their country's economic growth.
For example, at the beginning of 2024, Bloomberg said that Chinese tourists cost the global tourism industry $130 billion in 2023, and the total revenue of the global tourism industry in that year was only 5.54 trillion yuan.
Especially for Thailand, which regards tourism as a pillar industry of the country, Chinese tourists are really important. So why are Chinese tourists no longer keen to travel abroad? There are three main reasons for this.
The first reason is the very real economic problem, although the epidemic has passed, the impact of the epidemic has not been completely eliminated.
And the impact of the epidemic is directly reflected in the economy, to put it simply, people have no money in their pockets, so they naturally have no heart to travel abroad.
The second point is that Chinese tourists have opened their eyes to the world, especially young Chinese people, who are generally more educated and will no longer be fooled by the superficial illusion of prosperity in Europe and the United States.
In particular, some Chinese tourists have also debunked the veil of European and American countries after traveling abroad, such as the streets of Paris are full of garbage, the Seine River is seriously polluted, and rats are swarming.
On the other hand, since Western countries do not welcome Chinese tourists, then we don't have to go on the pole, whoever likes to go, we don't go anyway.
The third point is the development of China's domestic tourism industry in recent years, especially the improvement of infrastructure.
If you want to see the exotic customs, go to Harbin, if you want to experience the happiness of eating seafood in coastal cities, then go to Qingdao, Hainan, Guangdong and other cities, if you want to feel the charm of Chinese culture, then go to Luoyang, Henan, Xi'an, Shaanxi......
In a word, China is vast and can meet the travel needs of a considerable number of Chinese tourists, so why go abroad to endure the eyes of others?
Therefore, if Western countries still want to attract Chinese tourists, it is better to have a correct attitude and learn from Serbia. After all, for the Chinese, national interests always take precedence over personal interests.
Information sources:
Chinese tourists "disappeared", the global loss of 130 billion, the US media complained: China's money is hard to earn——2024-02-20 11:14·Jinzhong Political Science and Law.
295 million domestic tourists traveled on May Day, and the total cost of domestic tourists was 166.89 billion yuan——2024-05-06 12:37·Red Star News.
The streets of the Serbian capital have been hung with Chinese flags, Vučić: I can't describe how happy I am.——2024-05-06 11:53·Jimu News.