Helping enterprises to survive, overcome difficulties, and have a head start - the policy spring breeze boosts the confidence of the tourism industry.
Our reporter Zhang Xue
This year's "Government Work Report" proposes that industries such as catering, accommodation, retail, culture, tourism, and passenger transportation have large employment capacity and are heavily affected by the epidemic. Difficulties and rushes.
"Stand up, overcome difficulties, and have a head start", the tourism industry that has experienced a long and cold winter has ushered in a strong policy spring breeze this spring.
Not long ago, the "Several Policies on Promoting the Recovery and Development of Difficult Industries in the Service Industry" was announced, and tourism is one of the difficult industries that the policy focuses on.
Subsequently, Chongqing, Sichuan, Gansu and other places successively issued specific implementation plans.
"At a time when the tourism industry is facing market contraction and difficult recovery, this round of policies has made market players and practitioners see the strong determination of the government to help enterprises in bailouts, and has also injected firm confidence into consumption growth and industrial innovation." China Tourism Research Dean Dai Bin said.
Focus on systematic relief
The outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has caused an unprecedented impact on my country's tourism industry.
"The epidemic has comprehensively affected the three major tourism markets of inbound, outbound and domestic tourism, travel agencies, online travel agents, hotels, homestays, tourist attractions and resorts, and tourist vehicles and ships," said Dai Bin.
In order to promote the recovery and development of the tourism industry and help tourism enterprises tide over the difficulties, a series of relief policies have been successively introduced from the central to the local governments, involving financial support, tax reduction and fee reduction, employment stabilization and other aspects.
These policies have helped the tourism industry stabilize its footing and increased the confidence to overcome difficulties.
The tourism industry has the characteristics of wide contact, many gatherings and large movements, and is greatly affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
The travel of inbound and outbound groups is suspended, the domestic market demand is insufficient, and the tourism industry continues to be under pressure.
Statistics show that in 2020, the number of domestic tourists in my country was 2.879 billion, and the domestic tourism revenue was 2.23 trillion yuan, down 52.1% and 51% respectively from 2019 before the outbreak.
By 2021, the number of domestic tourists and tourism revenue will be 3.246 billion person-times and 2.92 trillion yuan respectively. Although they have recovered from 2020, they are still down 46% and 49% from 2019.
When the main players of the tourism industry are transforming and upgrading and seeking a way out of the mud, they are also looking forward to obtaining stronger policy support.
Just after the Spring Festival, the "Several Policies on Promoting the Recovery and Development of Difficult Industries in the Service Industry" was issued, and the tourism industry was regarded as a key industry to help, releasing positive signals and sending a "gift package" for the recovery and revitalization of the tourism industry.
According to Deng Ning, deputy dean of the School of Tourism Science of Beijing International Studies University, the biggest highlight of this policy is "multi-ministerial coordination and systematic relief". In addition to the inclusive relief policy for the service industry, the policy also focuses on The actual difficulties of the tourism industry and the issues of concern to enterprises have been given special attention from the aspects of financial support, project bidding, and expanding demand.
The relevant person in charge of the Industrial Development Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that these policies and measures adhere to the combination of reducing pressure and increasing vitality, coordinating cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and taking into account the current relief and long-term development. Provide strong support for the confidence of the industry and help the industry to recover and develop.
Overall cost reduction and efficiency increase
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, many tourism companies have faced financial pressure because their normal business activities have been affected.
While continuing the inclusive financial policy, this policy strengthens targeted financial assistance, encourages banking financial institutions to reasonably increase the effective credit supply for the tourism industry, guides financial institutions to increase credit investment in key cultural and tourism enterprises, and encourages the banking industry. Financial institutions have increased their support for market players in the tourism sector through inclusive finance and small loans.
In addition, this policy will consolidate and promote the successful practice of financial support for cultural and tourism market players in recent years, improve the accuracy of financial support, and focus on alleviating the difficulty of financing market players in the tourism field.
The relevant person in charge of the Department of Industrial Development of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism introduced that in addition to continuing to implement special measures such as the temporary refund of travel service quality deposits by travel agencies, the acceleration of the pilot program of replacing insurance deposits with insurance, and allowing tourism enterprises to postpone the payment of unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance premiums, the policy also Introduce a series of inclusive policies to help enterprises reduce costs, covering the additional deduction of value-added tax in the service industry, expanding the scope of application of "six taxes and two fees", increasing the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises returning to stable jobs, and reducing or exempting small and micro enterprises and individual businesses in the service industry. In terms of household rent, etc., relevant tourism enterprises that meet the conditions are applicable.
The combined force of these policies will help tourism enterprises to further ease the pressure on capital and operation.
"From the statistics, the vast majority of tourism enterprises, especially travel agencies, are small and micro enterprises. Industry associations and tourism enterprises should study and make good use of inclusive policies, strive for policy support from the local government, and effectively reduce the operating costs and financial expenses of enterprises. "Dai Bin said.
In the current situation that inbound and outbound group travel has not yet resumed and inter-provincial travel has been affected by the epidemic, there is insufficient space in the tourism market. In addition to policy bailouts to reduce operating pressure, companies also hope to hedge the impact of the epidemic through stable operations.
The policy responds to the expectations of the industry, and clearly proposes to encourage government agencies, enterprises, and institutions to hand over the planning, organization and coordination of labor union activities and exhibition activities in compliance with regulations to travel agencies.
When the government is required to purchase accommodation, conferences, catering and other service items, the regulations on the amount of expenditure should be strictly implemented, and relevant enterprises should not be restricted from participating in government procurement based on star ratings and ownership.
The implementation of these policies and measures will provide strong support for relevant tourism enterprises to provide relevant services to government agencies, enterprises and institutions and to participate in market competition on an equal footing.
Stable business expectations
The process of tourism recovery and development is closely related to the epidemic situation.
The policy clearly proposes the implementation of precise epidemic prevention and control measures, requires conscientious implementation of strict, scientific, and precise epidemic prevention and control measures, resolutely prevents and avoids the two tendencies of "relaxed prevention and control" and "excessive prevention and control", and effectively restores and maintains the development of the service industry normal order.
It clearly puts forward the requirements for strict implementation of epidemic prevention policies, and emphasizes that restaurants, supermarkets, scenic spots, movie theaters, and related service industry venues must not be shut down or extended without policy basis.
The relevant person in charge of the Industrial Development Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that these requirements point out the direction for further improving the scientific and precise level of epidemic prevention and control measures, and create a good environment for tourism enterprises to stabilize their business expectations.
Jia Jianqiang, CEO of 6-person travel.com, said that the above measures have greatly encouraged the industry. He believes that it will help solve the industry's predicament and restore the tourism economy more effectively without disrupting the overall rhythm of epidemic prevention and control.
Dunning believes that while reducing the risk of the epidemic by using technical means and a more scientific prevention and control concept as much as possible, it is open to the industry in an orderly and dynamic manner, so as to minimize the losses caused by the epidemic to the service industry.
Dai Bin said that these policies are conducive to creating a social environment that encourages consumption and travel with confidence, and effectively boosts confidence in the tourism market.
"The market has recovered, companies have done business, and tourism will naturally recover." In addition, he also said that the rescue and support policies for the catering, retail, transportation and civil aviation industries will further unleash the vitality of tourism suppliers and optimize tourism. supply structure.
Financial support for railways, airlines, airports, and transportation, as well as related policies such as tax and fee reductions, will create an environment that is more conducive to tourist travel and local consumption, and help the tourism industry resume development.
Zhang Xue