Original title: The restart of inbound and outbound tourism is imminent, and the industry actively and rationally responds
Recently, the Comprehensive Team of the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism for Novel Coronavirus Infection issued the “Overall Plan for the Implementation of “Class B and B Control” for Novel Coronavirus Infection” (hereinafter referred to as the “Overall Plan”). The “Overall Plan” proposes that from January 8, 2023, “Class B and B Control” will be implemented for new coronavirus infections. Optimize the management of Chinese and foreign personnel exchanges. Those who come to China should undergo a nucleic acid test 48 hours before their departure, and those with a negative result can come to China. Nucleic acid testing and centralized isolation for all staff after entry will be cancelled. According to the international epidemic situation and various service guarantee capabilities, the outbound travel of Chinese citizens will be resumed in an orderly manner.
On December 27, the National Immigration Administration issued an announcement to optimize immigration management policies and measures from January 8, 2023, to resume the acceptance and approval of ordinary passports for Chinese citizens traveling abroad and visiting friends in an orderly manner, and to resume the processing of mainland residents for travel and business. Hong Kong endorsement. On the same day, the Ministry of Transport made it clear that starting from January 8, 2023, the policy of “Passengers Stop Cargo” for international road transport at highway ports will be adjusted, and international road passenger transport services will be gradually and orderly resumed after the highway ports resume passenger entry and exit services.
As soon as the news came out, the search volume of outbound travel on major OTA platforms increased significantly, and travel agencies quickly followed up the promotion. People in the industry have said that the new policy has pressed the “accelerator button” for the recovery of inbound and outbound tourism, and has raised expectations for future business development.
Policy-driven benefits appear
After the release of the new policy, the number of instantaneous searches related to outbound travel on many OTA platforms increased exponentially. Within half an hour of the release of the new policy, searches for popular overseas destinations on the Ctrip platform increased 10 times year-on-year, and searches for outbound (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) air tickets and overseas hotels reached their peak in three years. According to data from the same journey travel platform, after the release of the new policy, the instantaneous search volume of international air tickets on the entire platform increased by 850%, and the instantaneous search volume of visas increased by 10 times. Searches related to “outbound travel” on the Mafengwo website have increased by 460%. Among them, “visa”, “passport” and “strategy” are the three most searched keywords for tourists intending to go abroad. According to Fliggy data, less than an hour after the release of the new policy, the number of searches for international flights on the platform has increased by more than 8 times, and the search volume for inbound flights has reached its peak since the epidemic.
“The adjustment of the entry-exit policy combined with the demand for travel during the Spring Festival has stimulated the holiday demand of Chinese tourists.” Peng Han, director of the Strategic Research Center of the Ctrip Research Institute, said that with the continuous optimization of the policy, the country’s entry-exit mechanism changes with the times and takes advantage of the trend. This is the result of the country responding to the voices of the people and the industry, and responding to social expectations.
“Data from major OTA platforms show that Chinese people can’t hide their excitement, which will also bring benefits to the rapid recovery of the tourism industry.” Han Yuling, vice president of the Tourism Law Research Institute of Beijing Tourism Society and director of the International Tourism Safety Center of Beijing International Studies University He said that in the next few years, the tourism industry will gradually grow along with the recovery of the national economy and return to the strategic position of a new growth point of the national economy.
Zhang Kexiong, assistant to the general manager of China Tourism Group Travel Service Co., Ltd., said that the new policy will provide great convenience for foreigners entering the country for business, study abroad, family visits, and reunions. “We will communicate with overseas customers as soon as possible to prepare for business launch. At the same time, we will coordinate China Travel Travel’s overseas Chinese visa application service center, cooperate with our country’s embassies and consulates abroad, and implement the country’s further optimization of resumption of work and production. Business, study abroad, family visits, reunions and other policy requirements, do a good job in service guarantee. At present, airlines also need a certain amount of time to increase capacity, and it will take some time for the actual business to resume. We will continue to pay attention to policy changes and make relevant preparations.”
Xu Xiaolei, chief brand officer of CYTS, said that on December 27, CYTS held a meeting to study and deploy domestic and foreign customer partners to restore the tourism product chain and service chain as soon as possible. At the same time, according to the policy arrangements of the industry authorities, CYTS will launch corresponding tourism products as soon as possible. In particular, arrangements will be made for the health protection issues that tourists are concerned about during the trip to ensure that the majority of tourists travel safely and smoothly.
“The new policy opened the ‘faucet’ of inbound and outbound tourism that had been closed for three years. After the news was released, it quickly covered the social groups and circles of friends of travel agencies, and the promotion of outbound tourism products, international cruise products, and visa services surged.” China Travel Agency Association Vice President and Secretary-General Sun Guizhen said that the new policy effectively restores the confidence of both the supply and demand sides of inbound and outbound tourism, and presses the “accelerator button” for the recovery of inbound and outbound tourism. plan.
Maintain a rational and orderly recovery
After the “Overall Plan” was issued, people in the industry said that this is a landmark event for my country to restart the inbound and outbound tourism market and promote international tourism exchanges, and made positive comments on the development expectations. Under the market rules under the new situation, the business recovery will be promoted in a rational and orderly manner.
The relevant person in charge of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism stated that the new policy provides policy guidelines for Liaoning’s cultural and tourism industries to do a good job in inbound and outbound tourism, and opens the window for the recovery of the three pillars of Liaoning’s tourism-hotel industry, scenic spots and travel agencies. It will become an important opportunity to stimulate tourism consumption.
Yang Jinsong, director of the International Research Institute (Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Research Institute) of the China Tourism Academy, said: “The new policy optimizes the management of Chinese and foreign personnel exchanges, which not only effectively protects the lives and health of the people, but also coordinates economic and social development. Whether it is remote Monitoring, entry quarantine, etc., as well as inbound and outbound tourism policies, all reflect reality and controllability.”
Li Xinjian, a member of the “14th Five-Year Plan” Planning Expert Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and a professor at Beijing International Studies University, said that it takes a process from the introduction of policies to the recovery of the market. The long-term stagnation has severely damaged the entire supply chain system of inbound and outbound tourism, especially inbound tourism, and it will take time for the industrial ecology of inbound and outbound tourism to recover.
“The implementation of the new policy means that my country is expected to gradually restore the inbound and outbound tourism market, which will bring benefits to the recovery and revitalization of my country’s consumption-oriented economy.” Xie Chaowu, dean of the Tourism College of Huaqiao University, said that the recovery and development of inbound and outbound tourism still needs some time. time. The new crown infection will also affect the health status of individual tourists and bring challenges to the development of inbound and outbound tourism. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the development of inbound and outbound tourism in an orderly manner with a rational attitude.
“How to activate and integrate resources and channels that are very different from before, how to accurately control the changes in the supply and demand ends of the market in the future, how to compete with the ‘stayers’ who have seized a dominant market position during the epidemic, and how to deal with new entrants , is the primary challenge for travel service providers who are committed to returning to the battlefield of inbound and outbound tourism.” Sun Guizhen said that in the initial stage of the implementation of the new policy, it may be considered to carry out first-hand trials through inbound and outbound group tours to accumulate experience and ensure an orderly and healthy recovery of inbound and outbound tourism . It is also hoped that relevant departments will further optimize visa policies, strengthen support or rewards for honest enterprises, and give full play to the role of key enterprises and industry associations in international tourism exchanges.
Service-oriented and long-term planning
After the “Overall Plan” was issued, people in the industry said that the relevant competent authorities can issue guidelines for inbound and outbound tourism to promote the development of the industry. Enterprises should familiarize themselves with the policies of each tourist destination country as soon as possible, innovate product supply and improve service quality according to market changes, and jointly promote the recovery and development of the tourism industry.
Xu Xiaolei said that it is recommended that industry authorities strengthen market supervision on the one hand, pay special attention to irregular tourism phenomena and uncivilized tourism behaviors, and avoid reducing tourist experience; on the other hand, strengthen marketing and promotion in overseas tourism markets. Its comprehensive advantages will contribute to the high-quality development of China’s tourism market.
Wu Feng, executive general manager of Xinjiang Erdaoqiao Cultural Tourism Group Co., Ltd., said that the current visa policies for Chinese citizens in various tourist destination countries are constantly changing. Tourism psychology and objective needs have also changed. When designing itinerary products, it is necessary to launch more detailed and novel outbound tourism products based on actual conditions.
Yang Jinsong suggested that for inbound and outbound tourism, government departments should pay close attention to the international epidemic situation, consider formulating and issuing inbound and outbound tourism guidelines, timely evaluate various service guarantee capabilities, and conduct stress tests. “Especially in terms of security and emergency assistance for inbound and outbound tourism, it is necessary to make more and more complete work preparations. At the same time, guide the market to invest resources, make up for the shortcomings of service guarantees, actively explore pilot projects first, and actively promote inbound and outbound tourism. Tourism resumed in an orderly manner.”
Li Xinjian suggested that we should focus on promoting the development of inbound tourism through policy innovation and strategic innovation. We need to give more policy support to inbound tourism, and we need to further optimize visa policies and the supply of a friendly environment for inbound tourism. It is even necessary to formulate The special development strategy for inbound tourism clearly proposes a 5-year doubling plan for inbound tourism, and solidly promotes the recovery and breakthrough growth of the inbound tourism market.
Xie Chaowu said that promoting the development of inbound and outbound tourism with high quality should be the basic guide. In the next step, we should strengthen the promotion of international tourism image, reorganize the inbound and outbound tourism market system, reserve inbound and outbound tourism talents, improve the quality of inbound and outbound tourism products, strengthen the security of inbound and outbound tourism, and create favorable conditions for the healthy development of inbound and outbound tourism.
Han Yuling said that tourism operators should make early plans under favorable policies, choose mature and safe destinations in their minds, and resume tourism business within their capacity, in a high-quality and orderly manner, and show a new side of the tourism industry; Always pay attention to the relevant policy changes of countries and tourist destinations, and make emergency plans for new situations; in particular, avoid rushing for quick success, blindly and quickly “supplementary” business development, and prevent “runs” on tourism resources. (Members of the interview team: Zhang Yu, Guo Ziteng, Wei Biao, Xu Xiao, Zhou Fengwen, Wu Yue, Wang Sichao Writer: Xu Xiao)