How to find opportunities in the tourism industry under the epidemic
Experts point out that promoting the recovery and development of tourism is inseparable from legal "reassurance"
Our reporter Zhu Ningning
Affected by the epidemic, during this year's "May Day" holiday, inter-provincial and even inter-city travel in many places were restricted, which undoubtedly made the tourism industry even worse.
In order to support the development of the travel agency industry's relief, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently issued the "Notice on Further Adjusting the Relevant Policies for the Quality Guarantee of Temporary Refund of Travel Service", proposing that travel agencies that meet the relevant requirements and enjoy the policy of quality guarantee for the quality of temporarily withdrawn travel services may apply for The temporary refund ratio will be increased to 100%, and the deadline for making up the deposit will be extended to March 31, 2023.
The industry generally believes that this move will effectively ease the financial pressure faced by travel agencies.
It should be noted that in order to solve the real problem that travel agencies have been hit hard by the epidemic, the state and local governments have introduced a series of policies and measures for the relief of the tourism industry. .
However, some professionals pointed out in an interview with a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" that various support measures issued by the state and local governments are still at the policy level, and they should consider raising mature and effective policy experiences and practices into laws to provide tourism services. A more stable, reliable and long-term guarantee can better help the tourism industry get out of the predicament.
Relief and assistance still need multiple efforts
What can be done to save tourism?
Hu Bin, member of the Legal Expert Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and executive director of the Cultural and Tourism Legal Research Center of Zhejiang University City College, believes that more active support policies should be introduced in terms of reducing corporate costs and increasing corporate income.
On the one hand, a number of cost-reducing policies can be introduced, including suspending the payment of employee social insurance to reduce layoffs in travel agencies; appropriately reducing or exempting office rents; integrating liability insurance, accident insurance and guarantee insurance products, and reducing comprehensive insurance rates for travel agencies.
On the other hand, policies to increase the income of enterprises have been introduced, for example, direct grant of financial subsidies according to the level of travel agencies and standardized operation conditions, and coordination of relevant departments to open travel agency invoices.
In addition, qualified local governments can also issue consumer coupons for short-distance tours around the city to help travel agencies lock in consumer demand in advance.
Except for medium and high-risk areas, scenic spots and theme parks in most low-risk areas in China are still operating normally, but due to the impact of the epidemic, the number of tourists has decreased significantly.
In this regard, Hu Bin gave more specific suggestions.
In Hu Bin's view, the government can consider appropriately reducing the franchise fee for some scenic spots, reducing the operating costs of the scenic spots, and including the scenic spots as the object of public infrastructure investment to improve the surrounding environment of the scenic spots.
At the same time, take scenic spots as an important part of tourism destination marketing to reduce the marketing costs of scenic spots.
In addition, the scenic spots themselves can also take some "self-help" measures. For example, each scenic spot can "hold a group to keep warm", pass the product portfolio to tourists, and attract surrounding tourists to carry out short-distance and short-term leisure tours. You can also use live broadcast, virtual Realistic and other new technologies, innovate tourism products, and increase the attraction of scenic spots to tourists.
Need to strengthen policy implementation
It is worth mentioning that, in order to boost the tourism industry, not long ago, fourteen departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Several Policies on Promoting the Recovery and Development of Difficult Industries in the Service Industry", targeting tourism including tourism. For the difficult industries in the service industry, including the industry, 43 specific policy measures in 3 areas were put forward, which can be described as "unprecedented".
A series of policies have injected confidence and strength into the cultural tourism market, which is regarded as a "timely rain" to help the tourism industry recover, but some people in the industry are cautiously optimistic about this.
"The current bailout policy notices are not mandatory and require specific implementation by the finance, finance, tourism, commerce and other departments. In the absence of clear provisions in laws and in the absence of amendments to existing laws, regulations or departmental rules or through legal procedures Under the circumstances of suspension and adjustment, all relevant departments must still implement the existing laws and regulations. This will affect the implementation of the relief policy to a certain extent.” Li Guang, vice president of the Tourism Law Research Association of the Beijing Law Society, believes that only It is difficult for policy calls and advocacy to effectively implement relevant relief measures.
For example, in the current bailout policy, there is a notice that "when the government purchases accommodation, conferences, catering and other service items, the relevant enterprises shall not be restricted from participating in government procurement by using star rating and ownership as the threshold", but because the notice does not have legal When purchasing, the relevant departments still adhere to the "local policy" that star-rated hotels are not allowed to purchase, and travel agencies are not allowed to issue invoices for reimbursement.
In Li Guang's view, under the background of normalization of the epidemic situation, only by consolidating the "red-headed document" of the current bailout policy into law, giving relevant management departments the authority to implement the policy, and specifying the responsibility for violating relevant policies, can the relevant The policy is truly implemented, giving enterprises clear confidence and expectations.
Give full play to the expected role of the rule of law in stabilizing
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has swept the world, causing a great impact on the global tourism industry.
It is understood that some countries with developed tourism industry have adopted legislative means to help the tourism industry to bail out.
For example, Indonesia has passed legislation to provide financial subsidies to companies that do not lay off employees during the epidemic, and support tourism companies to retain key employees.
Another example is that the Japanese government clearly stipulates that if the hotel is willing to digitally transform the hotel during the epidemic to improve the level of intelligence, and is willing to carry out green energy-saving transformation to reduce the carbon emissions of the hotel, the government will provide financial subsidies in accordance with the law, thereby enhancing the Japanese tourism industry. competitiveness, laying the foundation for the decarbonization of Japan's tourism industry.
Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany and other countries have also taken similar measures.
"Judging from the measures and methods taken by the above-mentioned countries in response to the epidemic, the legalization of bailout and support measures through legislation has enabled tourism operators to generate stable expectations, which can maximize the peace of mind of tourism operators and strengthen their confidence. So we can get through the difficulties," said Wang Tianxing, member of the Legal Expert Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and deputy director of the Cultural Tourism Law and Regulations Research Center of Beijing International Studies University.
Wang Tianxing pointed out that due to the time lag between the initiation, research, coordination, introduction and implementation of policies and measures, many weak market players may have been forced to withdraw from the tourism market before they can enjoy the benefits of relevant policies. Obviously not conducive to the healthy development of tourism.
"In the context of the normalization of the epidemic, it is necessary to use the rule of law to improve the tourism governance capacity and modernization of the governance system. Improving the tourism industry's ability to respond to crises is an issue that should be taken seriously in the process of building a rule-of-law China." Wang Tianxing pointed out that tourism The impact and difficulties faced by the industry due to the epidemic are not temporary and short-term, but long-term.
Therefore, the bailout and support for the tourism industry cannot rely solely on policies. Effective policies should be fixed through legislation and raised into laws, giving them binding and coercive force, and starting rescue and relief measures for the tourism industry in accordance with the law. , in order to provide a more solid guarantee for the tourism industry.