Safety, holidays and discounts are the three major factors affecting tourism decision-making. Tourism platforms are actively reorganizing to promote "restart" (China Online)
On March 7th, the gold commentator of Zhaojun Museum in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia was performing live broadcast of 5G cultural tourism.
Photo by Ding Genhou (People's Pictures)
The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet recently launched a live webcast on the online platform. The picture shows the interpreter Tsering Zhuoga (right) of the Potala Palace Management Office broadcasting live.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chun La
The new crown pneumonia epidemic pressed the pause button on the tourism industry, and also brought great impact to online travel platforms such as Ctrip.com, Qunar, Tongcheng Yilong. During the epidemic prevention period, in addition to coping with the “unprecedented itinerary of rescheduling”, these platforms also carried out diversified “self-rescue” operations and actively prepared for the “restart” of the installation.
Demand for chargeback surges during epidemic prevention
Affected by the epidemic, the original "golden period" of the online travel platform turned into a "retirement period". First, there were large-scale refunds of air tickets and train tickets, and then the travel agency group was stopped. The unprecedented scale of the itinerary for rescheduling and outburst in a short period of time, the travel industry's customer service system has entered an extreme operating state, online travel platform companies with many users are facing tremendous pressure.
Recently, Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute and Consumer Network released the "Analysis Report on Complaints about Online Travel Consumption during the New Crown Epidemic". According to statistics, during the epidemic prevention period, China ’s major online travel platforms need to respond to a conservative estimate of about 100 million person-times. With the surge in demand for chargebacks, the number of complaints has also increased, and consumer complaints in February increased by more than 300% from the previous month.
Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute pointed out that in the very period when the number of complaints has risen sharply, the problem of insufficient protection of consumers' right to know by online travel platforms is more prominent than usual. For example, the response to the refund cycle of air tickets is not timely and accurate. , Aggravating the user's anxiety. In addition, the surge in the number of refunds and complaints during the epidemic period exposed the inadequacy of online travel platform investment in customer service hardware, and insufficient technical support for responding to extremes and emergencies, resulting in a large number of consumers unable to smoothly submit refund and change requests and Reasonable appeal, it is difficult to protect legal rights in a timely manner.
Insiders said that the surge in complaints gave a lesson to the online travel platform, and suggested that related travel companies optimize the trading rules in the future, write the platform's withdrawal rules in a prominent place on the website, and publicize relevant policies and processing progress in a timely manner to protect consumers' right to know.
In response to consumer disputes arising from large-scale withdrawal and reform, the Tourism Quality Supervision and Administration Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently issued "Several Opinions on Properly Handling Epidemic Tourism Complaints", stating that in accordance with the provisions of the General Principles of the Civil Law and the interpretation of the National People ’s Congress Law Commission, If the impact of the epidemic situation leads to the inability to perform the tourism contract, it shall be determined as a situation of force majeure. This provides operational guidelines for tourism reversion during epidemic prevention.
There are also positive factors under the shock
It is difficult to deal with the large number of refunds and reforms, and even more difficult is the pressure of advancement from passengers to resign. It is reported that due to the stagnation of business, many small and medium-sized air ticket agents on the online travel platform are unable to advance money for refunds to consumers before the airlines return the money. For this reason, online travel platforms have to help agents through temporary difficulties through advancement. At present, platforms such as Ctrip, Qunar, and Ma Honeycomb have accumulated billions of yuan in accumulated funds. In addition, there will be cases where airlines and hotels cannot refund the full amount, and after the customer complains, the difference will be compensated by the online travel platform.
Online travel companies also have to face the losses caused by the temporary stagnation of the industry, as well as the expenses such as staff salaries and office rents. "Every day the tourism industry stagnates is a pain for the platform." Industry insiders frankly.
According to the estimates of the China Tourism Academy, affected by the epidemic, in the first quarter of 2020, domestic tourist arrivals will decline by 56%, and domestic tourism revenue will fall by 69%.
"A variety of methods are used to ensure that the funding chain does not break. This is the first. Only survival can seek development." Bai Kai, director of the Tourism Department of Shaanxi Normal University, said in an interview that online tourism companies fight for funds in a short period of time. In the long term, it is fighting for credit. The importance of "credit" in this epidemic has been fully reflected. In the face of the crisis to establish corporate credibility, it is important to "see the situation".
Sun Jie, CEO of Ctrip Group, believes that in the long run, the impact of the epidemic in the beginning of the year also contains a number of positive factors. The epidemic has provided Ctrip with the opportunity to examine itself. This is a special period of time that can "cultivate internal strength" .
Ready for the industry recovery
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Chinese online travel companies have been actively responding to the issue of withdrawal, while strengthening internal strength, improving quality, and expanding new business models.
A few days ago, Ctrip opened nearly 2,000 training courses to partners, tens of millions of practitioners in the industry, and national tourism colleges and universities, and advocated that tourism practitioners "take classes at home, train online, cultivate talents and reserve talents." Tuniu has also launched thousands of courses, and also launched a variety of man-machine competitions, organizing PK online to improve employees' professional skills and competition awareness.
In addition, Ctrip, Feizhu, Tuniu, Ma Honeycomb, etc. have launched "cloud tourism" service projects through audio guides, live video and video streaming. "Cloud Tourism" enables the tourism platform to accurately drain and maintain attention even in extraordinary times. In the "Want to go after the epidemic" feature on the Malaysian cellular platform, many users made travel wishes.
As the prevention and control situation continues to improve, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has recently issued the "Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Outbreaks in Tourism Scenic Areas", and the Chinese tourism market has gradually recovered. Ctrip data shows that more than 1,600 well-known scenic spots have opened in the country, and more than 40% of 5A-level scenic spots are open.
A recent travel survey released by the China Tourism Academy and the Ctrip Travel Big Data Joint Laboratory shows that the three keywords of safety, vacation, and concessions are the main factors influencing tourism decisions today.
Bai Kai believes that the current travel agencies should carry out a sustainable and planned recovery plan, and start the business step by step and rhythmically. In particular, it is important to remember that the core functions of the tourism industry are off-site and differentiated services. The tourism platform should be based on the core and make a fuss about differentiated services in order to seize new opportunities.
Recently, many online travel platforms have launched recovery plans and promotions based on their own characteristics. Ctrip launched the "Travel Revival V Plan" and launched the "Reservation for Future Travel" product pre-sale matrix; Tongcheng Yilong initiated the establishment of the city's "Ark Alliance" to provide free travel promotion services for various places, and launched the "departure plan" to launch ticket pre-sale, Explosive promotions and other activities; Tuniu Tourism Network initiated the "Oasis Plan", inviting tourism departments and scenic spots around the world to jointly promote the recovery of the tourism industry through the sharing of resources and channels.
Li Xueqin