Dragon Boat Festival tourism market is expected to pick up
Our reporter Pan Fuda
The recovery of tourism has ushered in heavy positive policies. On May 31, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice that, for the first time, the administrative unit of the “fuse” policy for inter-provincial tourism was adjusted from provinces (districts, cities) to counties (cities, districts, flags) and districts (counties) of municipalities directly under the Central Government. Many places responded positively, and successively announced the resumption of local inter-provincial tourism business.
With the national epidemic under effective control, the tourism industry is showing a trend of accelerating recovery. Many scenic spots have launched free tickets or preferential activities, and the tourism industry in Beijing, Shanghai and other places has resumed work and production in an orderly manner. This Dragon Boat Festival holiday will become a key node in the recovery of the tourism industry.
The scope of “fuse” for cross-provincial tours ushered in adjustment
On May 31, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the “Notice on Strengthening the Scientific and Accurate Implementation of the “Fuse-off” Mechanism for Inter-provincial Tourism in Epidemic Prevention and Control,” and attached the fourth edition of “Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic of Travel Agencies”. The suspension and resumption of tours are clearly handed over to the local cultural and tourism departments for notification. After the release of the new policy, Henan, Hunan, Guizhou, Zhejiang and other places successively announced the resumption of inter-provincial tourism business.
From the perspective of tourism industry insiders, the launch of the fourth edition of the “Guide” marks a major change in the “circuit breaker” mechanism of inter-provincial tourism, and it is developing in a more scientific and precise direction. This is also a series of economic stabilization policies recently issued by the State Council. important manifestation of the industry.
Tourists’ long-held enthusiasm for travel has now been released. According to data from Tuniu.com, users in Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Xi’an, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Dalian, Tianjin, Harbin, Changsha and other places have high demand for cross-provincial and long-term travel. As of May 31, among the users who booked the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, 25% of them chose domestic long-term trips.
According to Ctrip data, compared with the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday and the Qingming holiday, inter-provincial team travel has recovered to more than 55% half a month earlier. In the context of a significantly shortened travel decision-making cycle for tourists, inter-provincial group travel still has great potential for recovery. It is expected that the overall transaction volume of inter-provincial group travel during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday will exceed that of the Qingming holiday.
More than 300 scenic spots across the country have reduced prices or free tickets
Tourists can not only go further, but also spend less. Summer is the traditional peak season for tourism, and scenic spots usually implement higher peak season prices, but this summer, according to industry statistics, more than 300 scenic spots across the country have reduced prices or exempted tickets.
Yesterday, the Gubei Water Town Scenic Spot in Beijing was officially reopened, and a one-month free-ticket tour was launched for children aged 14 and under; the Huashan Scenic Spot in Shaanxi announced that it will implement a ticket-free policy for tourists across the country from June 1 to June 30. (Except domestic high-risk areas and local epidemic areas); Qingdao announced on the same day that from June 1 to December 31, 11 new state-owned A-level tourist attractions will be open to tourists free of charge.
Shanghai announced the gradual reopening of cultural and tourism venues. Outdoor scenic spots will be opened in an orderly manner from June 1. At present, about 40 scenic spots such as Oriental Pearl, Century Park, and Chenshan Botanical Garden have announced their opening to welcome guests. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower will be open throughout June. Free preferential treatment for children under 1.4 meters (inclusive).
In addition, from June 1st to September 30th, the first ticket of state-owned A-level tourist attractions in Shandong Province will be discounted by no less than 50%; the Office of the Tourism Working Committee of the Zhangjiajie Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China announced that a series of tourism will be implemented in the summer of 2022. preferential policies.
Price reduction or even free scenic spots is not a new thing. In recent years, domestic scenic spots have experienced many rounds of price reductions. The National Development and Reform Commission has repeatedly issued documents requesting all localities to promote the reduction of ticket prices, so as to benefit the people and encourage the development of the tourism industry. Since the epidemic, in order to stimulate tourists to travel, more scenic spots have joined the price reduction wave.
The new policy promotes the tourism industry to accelerate the resumption of work and production
The resumption of work and production is becoming a key word in the recent domestic tourism industry. Beijing Happy Valley Scenic Spot was officially reopened on May 31. The number of tourists in a single day will be controlled at 50% of the maximum capacity of the scenic spot, adhering to the “no reservations, no tourism” universal reservation mechanism; Gubei Water Town, Badaling Great Wall, Dragon Qingxia, Beijing Wildlife Park and other well-known scenic spots have resumed business.
The trend of travel recovery is also reflected in air ticket bookings. According to Ctrip FlightAI data, air ticket bookings in the past two weeks have increased by nearly 20% compared with the previous two weeks, and the air tickets for the Dragon Boat Festival will usher in a small search peak in mid-May.
According to the travel and entertainment big data released by Mafengwo recently, in the past week, the search popularity of “Where to play on the Dragon Boat Festival” has more than doubled, and the average search popularity of “playing with water” in various places has increased by more than 66%. Tourists tend to choose nearby ancient towns to experience folk culture, or come for a short outdoor leisure experience. The popularity of tourism around the Sichuan-Chongqing region continued to lead the country after the “May 1st”, and the popularity of “tours around the Dragon Boat Festival in Chengdu” increased by as much as 133%.
In addition, the beautiful scenery and unique township scenic spots around the city also attract more tourists. “Choose a B&B to live in the scenery” is a popular choice for Dragon Boat Festival holiday travel.
“Dragon Boat Festival travel has ushered in some recovery, and the new policy of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has strengthened the confidence of the accelerated recovery of tourism in various places.” Xie Xiaoqing, a senior researcher at Ctrip Research Institute, believes that with the arrival of the high school entrance examination and the approaching summer vacation, there are many more parent-child tours, summer tours, graduation tours, etc. The demand for similar travel will further promote the heating up of the tourism market.