Dangerous Middle East Seeks Opportunities to Expand the Blue Ocean of Tourism (First-line Perspective)
The new pneumonia epidemic has a significant impact on the tourism industry and other tertiary industries. Especially in some tourist cities, the tourism industry is deeply embedded and closely related to various local industries, so it is facing greater pressure and challenges. This is the case in Lijiang, Yunnan. In the first quarter, the total number of tourists and the total income of the city fell by 80% compared with the same period last year. How to find opportunities for urban development and how to deepen the transformation and upgrading of tourism?
Looking back at the development of Lijiang's tourism industry, it is not difficult to find that every leapfrog development is closely related to facing the crisis and overcoming it. In the 1990s, just as Lijiang's tourism industry began to take off, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in 1996. However, the people of all ethnic groups in Lijiang used the principle of repairing the old as before, and they simply resurrected the ancient city of Lijiang on the rubble and successfully declared the world cultural heritage in December 1997. After a period of rapid development, undesirable phenomena such as disordered market, vicious competition, and forced consumption have caused Lijiang to sink deeply. With pains and pains, Lijiang vigorously rectified the problems of bullying customers, forcing consumption, and vicious competition, and actively tested the "one mobile phone to travel to Yunnan" smart tourism platform, so that Lijiang's tourism industry can stop losses in time and the word of mouth can be repaired.
Decisive reform and overcoming difficulties will make the crisis an opportunity for better development, and "blocking stones" can become "stepping stones." From the practice of Lijiang's tourism industry "going up the stairs" and "crossing the threshold", to turn crises into opportunities must first have the courage not to be afraid of difficulties and risks, the determination of the strong men to break their wrists and be disciplined, and to strengthen the confidence of the cadres and the masses in their pursuit of dreams ; At the same time, there must be superior anticipation and planning, actively embrace the Internet wave, and actively serve the expectations and worries of tourists. In recent years, Lijiang has explored a mode of integration of culture and tourism, striving to realize that "culture finds its way in tourism, and tourism finds its soul in culture", promotes smart tourism, and fosters a tourism ecology of "tourists are free to travel and government services are everywhere". Open the blue ocean of high-quality tourism development.
Looking for opportunities in danger, where is the opportunity? On the one hand, the tourist needs of tourists from all over the country have experienced dormancy for a period of time, and are gradually being released, and they show the characteristics of paying more attention to the health and leisure function of tourism. If the direction of development can be adjusted in time according to the needs of tourists, it is not difficult to reach the guests of the world. On the other hand, discovering problems and overcoming them from crises is itself creating opportunities. During the epidemic prevention and control period, the problem of excessive dependence on the ticket economy and tourism economy in the development of Lijiang City was highlighted, and people also saw the shortcomings and weaknesses of the cultural and tourism industry's insufficient development and innovation. This not only reminds us of further reform and innovation, but also prompts enterprises and practitioners to examine and reflect on the hidden dangers caused by extensive development. It is the sense of urgency and crisis brought by the epidemic that inspires people's courage to overcome difficulties, inspires the motive force of practicing internal skills, and accelerates the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry.
Any transformation and upgrading will not be smooth and smooth. In Lijiang, tickets for well-known scenic spots such as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Laojun Mountain and Lugu Lake, as well as maintenance fees for the ancient city of Lijiang have been substantially reduced, and scenic spot ticket revenue has dropped by about 30%. Lijiang gritted his teeth and recognized the general trend and direction of tourism from ticket economy and tourism economy to experience economy and service economy, and was firmly determined to seize the opportunity to realize the upgrading of tourism and the transformation of urban development. Nowadays, a number of new products and new formats such as leisure vacations, wellness and health, and cultural research are taking root in Lijiang, and the tourism supply-side reform has made positive progress.
According to statistics, Lijiang ushered in a small upsurge in tourists during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, receiving a total of 246,500 tourists, close to 60% of the same period last year. There are reasons to believe that with the further consolidation of major strategic achievements in epidemic prevention and control, Lijiang Tourism will not only usher in a recovery, but will also start a new stage of high-quality development.
(The author is a reporter from Yunnan Branch)
Zhang Fan