Author: Li Xiuzhong
"In the first few days after recovery, we felt like we had been beaten with chicken blood, but now we can't walk at all, and our voice is hoarse." Wen Yue (pseudonym), a tour guide at the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Spot in Sichuan, told Yicai.com that the Spring Festival holiday was full of tourists. The tour guides went up and down the mountain back and forth, and continued to explain. Many people were exhausted.
During the Spring Festival holiday this year, tickets for the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Spot were sold out for 4 consecutive days, creating a historic record of receiving 100,000 tourists in 24 hours.
On January 27, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced that the special monitoring data of the China Tourism Academy showed that the number of tourists received by Sichuan during the Spring Festival holiday in 2023 will be the highest in the country.
The popularity of Spring Festival tourism may be both expected and unexpected.
Crowds of people appear in many popular cities and scenic spots.
Jokes such as "China's 1.4 billion people, 700 million went to Sanya, and 700 million went to Xi'an", "half went to Chongqing", "half went to Yunnan" etc. are circulating on the Internet.
So, who is the biggest winner of this year's Spring Festival tourism?
The number of tourists received by Sichuan ranks first in the country
On January 27, according to calculations by the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, there were 308 million domestic tourist trips during the Spring Festival this year, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%, returning to 88.6% of the same period in 2019; domestic tourism revenue was 375.843 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30. %, recovering to 73.1% of the same period in 2019.
On the same day, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism released that third-party big data monitoring showed that during the Spring Festival, Sichuan Province received a total of 53.8759 million tourists, with a tourism revenue of 24.216 billion yuan, an increase of 24.73% and 10.43% year-on-year, respectively. %, 84.75%.
Chen Qiankang, professor of the School of History, Culture and Tourism of Sichuan Normal University, dean of the Institute of Labor and Practical Education, and president of the Sichuan Provincial Tour Guide Association, told Yicai.com that "the sun has passed", "the weather has been good" and "suffering for a long time". Emphasis on family and friendship is an important reason for the boom in Sichuan's Spring Festival tourism market.
Chen Qiankang said that Sichuan Spring Festival tourism activities have two directions, one is returning home, and on this basis, a surrounding tourist flow market characterized by family outings has been formed, which can bring fire to famous scenic spots and temple fairs, lantern festivals, temple prayers, etc. Food and other activities, bring a warm parent-child cultural tourism.
The second is the sunshine tourism market, which mainly flows to the Panxi region in the south, Yunnan and Hainan markets.
Originally, winter skiing was also an important branch market, but this year is destined to be a warm winter, and the skiing market is not as good as last year.
The optimization and adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control policy has canceled many restrictions on returning home. As a province with a large number of migrant workers, the demand for returning home that has been suppressed by the epidemic for three years has been released.
On January 18, at the press conference of "Happy Sichuan Taste Year-Traveling in Sichuan" held in Chengdu, Ning Jian, deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Transportation, introduced that the total number of Spring Festival travel in Sichuan this year will reach 92.39 million, an increase of 36% over last year. .
According to data released by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, 14 of the 15 5A scenic spots have fully exceeded the 2022 level in reception numbers and ticket revenue, and 222 of the 276 4A-level scenic spots have achieved positive growth.
Seven scenic spots including Langzhong Ancient City, Bifeng Gorge, Xiaoping Hometown, Mount Emei, and Jianmen Pass exceeded the level of the same period in 2019. The number of visitors and ticket revenue in Langzhong Ancient City increased by 167.67% and 35.43% respectively compared with the 2019 Spring Festival.
So, is Sichuan the biggest winner of this year's Spring Festival tourism?
According to the statistics of China Business News, as of January 28, 18 provinces across the country have released their Spring Festival tourism data (Chongqing and Guizhou released data on key monitoring scenic spots), including data on popular tourist destinations such as Yunnan and Hainan.
In terms of the number of tourists it receives, Sichuan ranks first; in terms of tourism revenue, Yunnan ranks first.
Among them, during the Spring Festival holiday this year, the total number of tourists received by Hainan Province was 6.3936 million, an increase of 18.2% year-on-year; the total tourism revenue was 9.298 billion yuan, an increase of 23.5% year-on-year.
Yunnan Province received a total of 45.1461 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 244.7%, and realized tourism revenue of 38.435 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 249.4%.
It will take time for tourism to fully recover
Judging from the provinces that have been announced, the indicators in some provinces have returned to before the epidemic.
Among them, the number of tourists received by Zhejiang increased by 13.2% compared with 2019.
Fujian's tourism revenue recovered to 102.9% in the same period in 2019.
Jiangsu's reception of domestic tourists has recovered to 121.3% of the same period in 2019; the total domestic tourism revenue has recovered to 100.6% of the same period of 2019.
Yunnan's performance is even more eye-catching, with the number of tourists received and tourism income realized recovering to 130.3% and 132.5% of 2019 respectively.
Moreover, tourists from outside the province to Yunnan reached 20.582 million person-times, accounting for 45.59% of the total market, an increase of about 22 percentage points year-on-year.
The number of tourists received by 16 prefectures and cities in the province has maintained a double-digit growth rate.
However, Chen Qiankang said that, generally speaking, the boom in the domestic tourism market during the Spring Festival indicates that the domestic tourism industry has basically recovered, laying a good foundation for the next leapfrog development.
However, since outbound and inbound tourism will not be gradually released until next month, the recovery of the international tourism market will take time.
The overall recovery of the entire tourism market is still hoped after the "May Day".
Wen Yue also told reporters that although the passenger flow of scenic spots has recovered, overall, the per capita consumption level has dropped by 30% to 40% compared with before. This may be related to the decline in everyone's income and more rational consumption during the epidemic.
In fact, after the adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control policy, in order to expand domestic demand and stimulate the recovery of tourism consumption, various localities have introduced various preferential policies to attract passenger flow, and these policy measures have also played a positive role in stimulating passenger flow and stimulating the recovery of tourism.
According to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, according to incomplete statistics, 1,281 A-level tourist attractions will be open for free during the Spring Festival, accounting for 9% of the total number of A-level tourist attractions in the country. Among them, 62 5A-level tourist attractions will be free of admission.
52 A-level tourist attractions in Luoyang, Henan, 377 A-level tourist attractions such as the Zunyi Conference Site in Guizhou, Chishui Danxia Tourist Area, and Huangguoshu Scenic Area have launched ticket-free activities.
Shandong Provincial Finance has arranged 210 million yuan for the issuance of cultural tourism benefiting the people consumption coupons, reduction and exemption of tickets for scenic spots, etc.
According to data released by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, 144 4A-level and above tourist attractions in Sichuan Province have implemented preferential policies such as ticket reduction and exemption for scenic spots. Free one", the preferential policy of free admission to tourist attractions below the state-owned 4A level.
Not only that, the whole province of Sichuan jointly carried out the "Comfortable Sichuan New Experience" activity, and issued online and offline "finance + market" combination "big gift packages" such as buying coupons, consumption coupons, and discount coupons, with a total of more than 74 million yuan.
Among them, the total amount of direct orders for Chengdu consumer coupons exceeded 18 million yuan, and the direct driving ratio of GMV (gross merchandise turnover) reached 1:3.4.
Chen Qiankang said that various promotional measures adopted during the Spring Festival in various places will definitely drive a certain increase in tourist sources.
However, for the Spring Festival market, which is dominated by peripheral tourism, various local festivals are more popular and driving.
The Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced that various preferential policies have stimulated strong cultural and tourism consumption. In 2023, the consumption of Spring Festival tourists will account for 34.77% of the province's overall consumption, an increase of 3.62% over 2022.
Nighttime consumption has increased significantly, and nighttime consumption such as night tours, nighttime drinks, nighttime entertainment, and nighttime shopping has become a bright spot in the market. The consumption amount reached 5.253 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40.27%, accounting for 28.83% of the total consumption amount.