As the market recovers, more job demands are released, and career changers are returning to their old jobs
Tourism industry "full of blood" revives practitioners "running" and returns
Our reporter Li Guo
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Since January this year, the tourism industry has recovered rapidly and accelerated. Under the dual "calls" of the market and policies, many tourism practitioners who have switched careers have chosen to return to their old jobs.
At the same time, the demand for recruitment of tourism enterprises has increased, and the salary has also increased accordingly. Among them, product designers, new media operators and marketing personnel who understand e-commerce are particularly scarce.
"The Golden Week of the Spring Festival has passed more than 20 days. I did not expect so many people to travel to Chongqing. It seems that the cultural tourism industry has been 'resurrected'." On the evening of February 27, the Hongyadong Scenic Spot in Chongqing was crowded. Chen Cho, a self-media person who wanted to travel at the wrong peak, sighed in front of the camera of his mobile phone.
The reporter learned from interviews that the industry generally believes that this year's cultural and tourism industry will "start steadily and accelerate recovery". At the same time, local governments have introduced a number of favorable policies to accelerate the recovery of the tourism industry. Many tourism practitioners who have switched careers have chosen to return.
Received 30 travel orders in half a day
"I thought I could rest for a few days after the Spring Festival, but I didn't expect to be able to stop because I was 'tired and happy'." Zhou Wen, the person in charge of Chongqing Four Seasons Travel Agency, sent a copy of Chongqing's rural travel strategy to Yuan Zai The customer in Hebei said with a smile: "I have left the industry for almost 3 years, and now I am back in the old industry, and I feel both familiar and strange."
The 36-year-old Zhou Wen once worked as a tour guide in Zhejiang, Sichuan and other places. In 2014, he returned to Chongqing and opened a travel agency with his friends. It mainly undertakes outbound tours in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Europe and other places, as well as sightseeing tours in Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. As well as various characteristic customized travel services, by the end of 2019, the travel agency had more than 30 tour guides, tour leaders and translators.
In 2020, the tourism industry will be hit hard by the epidemic and will be forced to press the "pause button".
"Because there is no business, and the rent, staff wages and other expenses are huge, I chose to leave after struggling for half a year." When talking about the moment when the travel agency was announced to close down, Zhou Wen was a little unwilling.
After the travel agency closed down, Zhou Wen took a two-month rest. On the one hand, she hoped that the market would recover as soon as possible, and on the other hand, she also thought about what to do in the future.
In September of the same year, Zhou Wen joined a four-star hotel in Chongqing and was responsible for the hotel's promotion, marketing, and conference and event planning.
"Although this job is similar to running a travel agency, it always feels like being dependent on others." Zhou Wen said frankly that she has been paying attention to the new changes in the tourism industry while doing her job well.
In December 2022, with the adjustment of the country's epidemic prevention and control policies, Chongqing has introduced a number of policies to accelerate the recovery of the cultural and tourism industry.
Zhou Wen felt that the tourism industry was gradually recovering. With the support of her husband, she immediately decided to resign from the hotel and go back to her old business.
"January 1, 2023 is my child's 7th birthday, and it is also the day when my travel agency reopens." Zhou Wen said that when she sent the opening information to the "Travel Enthusiast Exchange Group" that had been silent for a long time, In half a day, we received travel orders from more than 30 customers.
Returning is not simply going back to the old business
According to the relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism, in January this year, the 120 key scenic spots monitored by Chongqing received more than 9.2 million tourists, an increase of 45.3% over the same period in 2022, and returned to 94.6% of the same period in 2019.
"Since the beginning of the year, the number of tourists received in Chongqing has continued to rise, which not only shows that the Chongqing cultural and tourism consumer market has ushered in a comprehensive recovery, but also brings confidence to the majority of practitioners."
"Our return to the industry is not simply a return to the old business." Zhou Wen said that most practitioners are now optimistic about the development prospects of the industry, but after experiencing "leaving", everyone has also developed a strong sense of urgency, thinking about how to It can not only enjoy the dividends of market recovery, but also prevent risks and achieve long-term profits.
The current main business of Zhou Wen's travel agency is "customized travel services around Chongqing and across provinces", that is, allowing tourists to define their own travel, and the travel agency team is mainly responsible for providing "nanny-style" services for tourists.
At the same time, provide planning, drainage and other services for scenic spots, hotels, agricultural products sales stores, government departments, farmers, etc. in various districts and counties.
In this way, the service scope of travel agencies has been extended to the entire industry chain of the tourism industry, thus realizing "risk hedging".
In 2020, Li Xingye, who had worked as a tour guide in Chongqing for many years, switched careers and became the host of a wedding company, as well as a part-time anchor of a live broadcast company.
At the beginning of January this year, when he returned to the tourism industry, he also started exploring stores while taking tourists on a trip, increasing his income by shooting short videos or live broadcasts.
Li Xingye said frankly that after the epidemic, everyone has generally realized that there are too many uncertainties in simply relying on the work of a tour guide to make a living, and it is necessary to continuously improve the learning of new skills.
Especially with the rise of self-driving tours and rural tours, and the launch of "cloud explanations" in major scenic spots, traditional tour guides also need to adapt to new industry developments.
Strong demand for employment in tourism enterprises
During the interview, several returning tourism practitioners in Chongqing said that nowadays, not only scenic spots, but also tourism-related industries such as travel agencies, hotels, cruise ships, etc. are also "resurrected with blood", line packaging, product announcements, event planning... the entire industry The school was full of vitality, and everyone worked hard to maintain the rhythm of running and light up "Poetry and the Distance".
At the same time, the tourism industry is also facing the problem of staff loss.
The reporter saw at the 2023 Yuzhong District "Spring Breeze Action" and Employment Assistance Month on-site job fair held recently that due to the strong demand for labor from tourism companies, there was a special area for the cultural and tourism industry on site, and 56 cultural and tourism companies participated.
"At present, due to the recovery of the tourism market in Yuzhong District, there are more than 1,000 job gaps, accounting for 30% of the city's cultural tourism industry gap." Wu Haoyu, chief of the Talent Exchange Service Section of the Employment and Talent Center of Yuzhong District, said.
Huang Haiyan, the person in charge of on-site recruitment at Ibis Chongqing, told reporters that due to the large turnover of people in the hotel before, the occupancy rate of the hotel reached 100% during the Spring Festival this year.
"This figure was almost non-existent before." In addition, she also said that grass-roots positions with a monthly salary of about 3,000 yuan in the past can reach up to 6,000 yuan this year, directly doubling.
The reporter learned from Chongqing Huibo Talents, the organizer of the job fair, that due to the impact of the epidemic, many cultural and tourism companies lost employees. Rehired personnel accounted for one-third.
It is understood that in the current tourism industry, according to the size and type of business of the enterprise, there is a great demand for positions ranging from customer service to market procurement, product managers, from customizers, product research and development to planning, and data engineers. Among them, high-quality Product designers, new media operators and marketing personnel who understand e-commerce are particularly scarce.
Experts in the industry suggest that "experts" who have returned need to keep an eye on new trends in the industry, and tourism practitioners who are ready to return can improve their professional skills in accordance with the new requirements of the industry for practitioners.
(Worker's Daily)