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Travel agencies
More and more "refined" and "fine"?
◎ Reporter Liu Qing Correspondent Wu Shuang
With the implementation of immigration facilitation measures, China's tourism is more closely connected with the world.
Under the current diversified and personalized tourism demand, major tourism companies have also begun to launch new products. Following the return of the first giant panda "Fu Bao" born naturally in South Korea to China, a number of Korean travel agencies have launched giant panda-themed routes while the iron is hot, hoping to attract more Korean tourists to Sichuan by taking advantage of the popularity of giant pandas. Hanatour, a well-known travel agency in South Korea, launched the "Chengdu Panda Package Tour" on May 12, and it is understood that about 150 people have made reservations for the product four days after it was launched, and it is expected to attract 500 Korean tourists to Sichuan every month during the peak season.
As the travel market gradually heats up, multiple entrants have increased their travel agency business, while OTAs and travel agencies have also begun to change their identities and businesses. So, what is the development trend of the future travel agency?
The consumer group is no longer single
Let the product category become more and more
It is reported that not long ago, Zhongxin Tourism released the "Zhongxin Manufacturing 2.0" theme products, which have more than 500 routes, more than 90% of which are exclusive products. Among them, more than 200 high-quality lines have been launched on the domestic product side, including Xinjiang trains, Gansu Qinghai special trains and other exclusive products in the market; On the outbound product side, its theme products have launched more than 300 outbound quality routes, and cooperated with overseas destinations to carry out official certified tour guide museum lectures and in-depth humanistic explanations.
At the same time, Wang Zhenyue, product director of Zhongxin Tourism Group Retail Company, said that the "Zhongxin Manufacturing 2.0" series of products all adopt a unified price for the whole group, protect the rights and interests of tourists with the policy of buying expensive and refunding the difference, and promote the optimization and upgrading of the overall product through the quality upgrade of detailed rules and services such as meals, cars, and hotels. In terms of value-added services, "Zhongxin Manufacturing 2.0" products also provide free airport pick-up service, free cancellation insurance and other services. In addition, Zhongxin Manufacturing also provides travel planning services for tourists in the next 3-5 years.
In addition, the old routes, which are familiar to domestic tourists, have also been reborn with the blessing of "new gameplay". Lingnan Group's Guangzhou Travel said that the company's "May Day" domestic travel products include airplanes, bullet trains, and RV travel, and the product categories include regular group tours, theme packages, one family, small groups, and light travel, and the number of days is concentrated in 4-5 days; The travel days of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao products are basically 1-3 days, which are divided into "water" series of hot springs, beach tour products and green and low-carbon products, with rich travel choices.
In the past April, Guangxi Tourism Development Group launched 10 unique "Burning March 3 Extreme New Gameplay" route products for the theme project of "March 3" in Guangxi, covering Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Beihai, Qinzhou and other places, providing tourists with more diversified and personalized travel choices.
The Anhui meteorological department combines the traditional culture of the 24 solar terms with meteorological culture and tourism activities, and plans and launches a series of products of "traveling in Anhui with the solar terms" according to the seasonal characteristics of the 24 solar terms.
It can be found that travel agencies have begun to work hard in various subdivisions, and tourism products are becoming more and more "fine". The changes in tourism products reflect the replacement and upgrading of consumer demand, and providing tourism products with deep participation, strong experience and high personalization has become the key to attracting tourists. How to stand out in the fierce market competition is a difficult problem for major travel agencies, so the emergence of these "new menus" is easy to understand.
Create more premiums
The first step is to build trust with consumers
According to the data, as of December 31, 2023, the total number of travel agencies in the country was 56,275, while in the fourth quarter of 2023, the national travel agencies organized 36,453,300 domestic tourism organizations, and on average, each travel agency only solicited 647 passengers in Q4 in terms of domestic tourism organizations.
The situation of the market is: on the one hand, many traditional travel agencies lament that there is no group to pick up and no one to collect, and those travel agencies that are set up by Internet celebrity tour guides have won hemp; On the other hand, when the old tourism companies have closed down, many new cross-border players are thriving in the tourism market, and the situation is very "polar".
In addition to traditional tourism companies and OTAs, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Kuaishou and even luxury goods are all making cross-border tourism products, and the variety of tourism products is becoming richer and richer. This makes traditional travel agencies that stick to their original business ideas, resource endowments, and business models even more "sad".
These new trends are gradually moving away from the core competitiveness of traditional travel agencies, and it is urgent for travel agencies to find new survival rules to adapt to the new cycle. After completing the product upgrade, the next problem is how to accurately target the target customer group, use high-quality content to help them make travel consumption decisions, and provide WYSIWYG gameplay and products that increasingly generate more "premium".
In fact, the current customized routes, boutique groups and other forms have been the result of travel agencies trying to transform, but travel agencies can do more than that. Offline travel agencies may become carriers of various formats such as travel photography, chartered cars, and catering, creating more premiums for consumers and better transforming into a travel service.
Guided tours may be one of the important breakthroughs. An experienced and well-serviced tour guide can attract more tourists to place orders.
With the rapid recovery of the inbound tourism market, the contradiction between talent supply and demand has emerged, and it is urgent to fill the talent gap.
In addition, a transparent pricing system is also key to building trust, and travel agencies can publish the prices and services included on all travel products on their official websites, so that customers can know before booking. Travel agencies provide follow-up services from the moment a customer books a travel product. At the same time, establish an efficient customer service system, such as 24-hour online customer service, to ensure that customers can be solved in a timely manner when they encounter problems.
"Fine" requires tourism products
It has cultural added value
It is undeniable that the influx of new tourism formats has had a direct impact on traditional travel agencies. Compared to the past, consumers are no longer looking at the situation and are gravitating towards deeper experiences. For example, after arriving in Singapore, many young people will come to the city walk directly with a mobile phone in hand, combining modern and traditional culture, wandering around various places such as Chinatown and Little India, and at the same time, they will discover some new experiences in different ways and even AR methods.
It can be noted that tour groups are more in the form of small package groups, which are characterized by niche and high-quality. This shows that whoever can provide personalized and high-quality products that meet the market demand will be able to take the lead in the competition.
Not long ago, the 2024 Chun'an County All-for-One Tourism Marketing Incentive Policy Release and Qiandao Lake Sports Therapy and Recuperation Conference was successfully held in Hangzhou. This is a key work of Chun'an County to accelerate the off-season breakthrough of the tourism industry and promote the soaring tourism popularity of "May Day".
Xu Min, president of Hangzhou Travel Agency Industry Association, analyzed that local travel agencies have begun to tap the advantageous resources of Chun'an County in addition to the "lake", including but not limited to natural scenery, history and culture, intangible cultural heritage, folk customs, etc., and strive to integrate these unique elements into products. In view of the off-season, it is also necessary to strengthen the synergy and cooperation with various sectors of business such as recuperation, domestic short-term travel, weekend vacation travel, etc., and launch more products that meet market demand and consumer preferences.
He said that "fine" must focus on a certain destination or a certain category, and the products provided are not simply based on price to win, but to be exquisite, quality, and have high cultural added value.
Whether travel agencies want to or not, the era of travel agencies in the traditional sense is about to become history, and the era of broader and more promising travel services is begining. For the industry, reflection, precipitation and rebirth will become inevitable.
END
For details, see the 10th edition of the 2123 issue of "Jiangnan Travel Daily".
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