Since the resumption of cross-province group tours, small group bookings have been popular
Choose more with group tours (holiday observation)
Li Qiong, an employee of an Internet company in Chaoyang District, Beijing, took her children to Sanya, Hainan. She and her friends participated in a private tour of a travel agency. She felt very good: "Traveling in a group with friends is familiar, safe and fun. ."
Currently, the domestic tourism market is accelerating its recovery.
In mid-July, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice, conditionally restoring travel agencies and online tourism companies to operate cross-provincial team tours and "air ticket + hotel" business.
Major tourism companies update their products closely following consumer demand.
Compared with traditional large tour groups, small tour products in the form of private groups and customized tours are more popular.
Private tours account for 40% of the group tour products
"Travel with 2 people, 1 car and 1 guide, and don't join others." Since the resumption of inter-provincial group tour, the popularity of group tour products has rebounded, and bookings for small group tour products have been popular.
"From the perspective of platform bookings, there has been a significant recovery in group tour orders, and small group tours have recovered faster." Ctrip Group Chairman Liang Jianzhang said that the demand for group tours is large, but the products are "decreasing."
Statistics show that the average size of private groups this year is 4.38 people, and the number of private group tourists increased by 385% from the previous month. More tourists are willing to pay for quality and service.
More than a month after the resumption of cross-provincial group travel, more than 2,000 travel agencies have launched nearly 40,000 private group products on the Ctrip platform, accounting for 40% of the total group travel products.
Many travel agencies such as CYTS Travel, Zhongxin Travel, Shanghai Spring and Autumn, and Huacheng International Travel also specialize in the development of related private tour products.
Group tourism products combined with special theme tours and in-depth experience tours have become the main force of major travel agencies and group tour products.
CYTS has launched a series of themed products such as RVs and innocent children.
Its summer graduation travel itinerary specially designed for student groups covers many popular destinations such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hainan, Yunnan, Qinghai and so on.
Part of the group tour products can also change scenic spots or routes.
Tourists can not only choose according to the overall standards of the small group, but also can make targeted adjustments in various aspects such as food, accommodation, transportation, and travel, which makes the travel choices of tourists more free.
Small groups are more popular with family travellers
Will the cost of small groups be higher?
According to private group data since the resumption of inter-provincial travel, the per capita transaction price of the private group participating in the group from the Ctrip platform is about 4,500 yuan.
Compared with conventional large-scale tour groups, consumer prices have risen considerably.
Who prefers small groups?
From a geographical point of view, in areas with relatively better economic conditions and a mature tourism market, private groups are more preferred.
According to data from the Ctrip platform, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Beijing are among the top three destination provinces and cities for summer private groups.
From the perspective of travel types, small group tours are mainly family outings, family outings, and friends outings.
Family parent-child outings accounted for the largest proportion, reaching 41%. Private groups have become the most assured choice for parents to travel with their children during summer vacation.
Followed by couples traveling and family members traveling, accounting for 25% and 18% respectively.
From the perspective of age level, "post-80s" and "post-90s" are the absolute main players in private groups, accounting for 42% and 31% respectively.
Small groups put higher demands on the capabilities of travel agencies
Wu Ruoshan, a special researcher of the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that behind the transformation and upgrading of group tour products is the continuous escalation of people's tourism consumption needs.
With the development of the tourism market and the improvement of people's living standards, when tourists choose group tour products, they put forward higher requirements for user experience in accommodation, transportation, catering, and sightseeing.
In the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, people’s awareness of safety when traveling has increased significantly, and small group tours have made people pay more attention to "live in peace, eat in peace, and swim in peace."
A few days ago, the "New Group Tour Rejuvenation Alliance" initiated by Ctrip and others released the "2020 Summer "New Group Tour" Revival Report". Data shows that within one month of the resumption of inter-provincial tours, bookings in Ctrip’s "Safe Tour" series The number of people traveling with group tour products exceeded 450,000, an increase of 205% compared to before the restoration of inter-provincial tours.
Small groups have obvious advantages in providing new experiences and meeting new needs.
Taking the honeymoon route for couples as an example, the private group can arrange a one-to-one follow-up service of photographers and makeup artists, and can also design personalized links such as self-driving, private yacht out to sea, and helicopter proposal.
In addition, including in-depth experience, niche destinations and other characteristic travel products, large tour groups are difficult to operate, but small groups can be realized.
From the perspective of product themes, parent-child travel, food tours, travel photography experience, outdoor sports, and folk culture are more popular among tourists.
“The potential for group tours in the future is still great, but travel agencies still need to work harder on product quality.” Wu Ruoshan said, high-quality products such as private groups not only need to be more relaxed and comfortable in route design, but also have flexibility to satisfy tourists. Demand conditions, these all put forward new requirements for the product integration capabilities and supply chain capabilities of travel agencies.
Travel agencies keep up with demand, pay attention to the details, and realize the overall improvement of product quality, so that group tours can become a more dynamic growth point in the tourism market, and then drive the recovery of the entire tourism market.
Our reporter Wang Ke