Supporting policies have been introduced one after another, and leading companies have entered the bureau one after another—
Zhang Xue, a reporter from
the “True Fragrance” of the country house
After the outbreak of the epidemic, as the demand for outbound travel shifted to domestic travel, and inter-provincial travel shifted to surrounding travel, consumers increased their demand for homestays and paid more attention to the safety and quality of homestays, and the proportion of country homestays increased rapidly.
At the same time, the government has issued a series of policies and industry standards to increase support for the development of homestays.
The hot market and policy support have pushed relevant companies to enter the market one after another.
During the Spring Festival holiday that just passed, it has become a trend to go to homestays to celebrate the New Year.
Data from a number of online travel platforms show that during the holidays, the local travel market and surrounding travel markets are hot, and both the volume and price of homestay bookings have soared. Country homestays around Beijing, Shanghai and other cities are even "hard to find".
Not only the Spring Festival holiday, in fact, country houses have become more and more popular in the market in recent years.
Li Zhenni, vice president of Ctrip Group and executive vice president of Tujia, said that after the outbreak of the epidemic, as the demand for outbound travel shifted to domestic travel, and cross-provincial travel shifted to surrounding travel, consumers' demand for homestays increased, and their safety and quality became more important. Attention, the proportion of country houses has increased rapidly, from 24% in 2019 to 41% in 2020.
She believes that the emergence of some high-end rural homestays not only meets the needs of mid-to-high-end consumers for rural travel, but also effectively increases the income of local homestays, creates new jobs for local residents, and provides opportunities for young people to "return" to the countryside.
"On the whole, the number of country house bookings in 2021 has more than doubled compared to 2020, especially in the surrounding cities, and weekend bookings are extremely hot." Li Jenny said.
On the supply side, market players have deployed the country house market one after another.
According to the plan, by the end of 2025, Ctrip will build a total of 10 benchmarking rural holiday farms.
In September last year, Fliggy Travel announced a strategic investment in Xiaozhu Homestay. The two parties will reach an in-depth strategic cooperation to explore more complete solutions for the long-term and sustainable development of the homestay industry. This includes enriching the supply of country homestay products, especially those with Country house products for personalized experience.
At the same time, a series of policies and industry standards, such as the "Opinions on Serving "Six Stability" and "Six Guarantees" and Further Doing a Good Job in the Reform of "Delegation, Regulation and Service", and "Basic Requirements and Evaluation of Tourism Homestays" were promulgated. Support has been increased to promote the further standardization and standardization of the homestay industry, including country homestays.
The National Conference of Directors of the Department of Culture and Tourism held in January this year proposed that, as a key work in 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will issue a policy document to promote the high-quality development of rural homestays and formulate a three-year action plan for the cultivation of high-level tourist homestays.
As soon as the news came out, the industry had high hopes for the future development of country houses.
Tingsong Academy, located in Yi County, Hebei Province, is one of the first Class-A homestays in China.
In 2015, Mei Jing returned to her hometown to set up Tingsong Academy. In addition to the special homestay section, the academy also has functions such as Chinese studies and aesthetic education, inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, and development of local artworks. It spreads local characteristic culture and drives villagers to become rich together.
In her view, the high-quality development of country houses does not mean simply pursuing a luxurious style. "High-quality should be reflected in the sincerity of service, and the price should be affordable for ordinary consumers. The homestay should reflect the unique local cultural environment.”
Zhuang Hai, head of the homestay business of Fliggy Travel, believes that the high-quality development of country homestays should not only pursue their own benefits, but also drive the development of surrounding related industries, and should integrate with the local culture and environment to create their own differentiated characteristics and positioning. .
"One of the problems existing in country houses at present is the convergence of aesthetics. Country houses carry consumers' yearning for a better life, as well as their needs for embracing nature and leisure vacations. They should be diversified and personalized." He said.
Country houses are considered to be an important part of the revitalization of rural tourism.
Li Zhenni believes that although my country's rural tourism resources are rich, and many rural areas have broken through bottlenecks in transportation and infrastructure construction, but at this stage, rural tourism is more in the state of coming and going today, which is not conducive to local economic benefits and social benefits. The benefits are relatively limited.
Increasing the length of stay in the destination, increasing the consumption scenarios of tourists, and improving the accommodation experience in rural destinations are the top priorities for the revitalization of rural tourism.
Our reporter Zhang Xue
Our reporter Zhang Xue