The tourism market continues to pick up at an accelerated pace, and the May Day holiday has directly kicked off the tourism boom in 2023. According to the May Day holiday report cards released by travel platforms such as Tuniu, Qunar, Ctrip, Mafengwo, Tongcheng Travel and Fliggy, the order volume of various types of travel products, including air tickets, hotels, tickets, independent travel, and group tours, has exceeded or recovered to the same period in 2019. So far, how is the recovery of the tourism and civil aviation markets progressing? During the summer tourism season, what hot markets are companies targeting?

Travel market

New Matai is the "king of sucking customers" and is popular in niche destinations

Both popular cities and niche destinations are seeing crowds during this year's May Day holiday. According to the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the May Day holiday in 2023, a total of 2 million domestic tourism trips across the country will recover, which will recover to 74.2019% of the same period in 119 on a comparable basis; The domestic tourism revenue reached 09.1480 billion yuan, which recovered to 56.2019% of the same period in 100 on a comparable basis. Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Research Institute, believes that according to comparable standards, the number of trips and tourism revenue in the labor holiday tourism market in 66 exceeded the data of the same period in 2023 for the first time, and the tourism industry ushered in a strategic turning point from market recovery to high-quality development.

With the gradual relaxation of inbound and outbound policies, the May Day holiday has become the largest small holiday in the past three years, and the recovery of long-term products in many places is eye-catching. From April 4 to May 23, about 5 tour groups with nearly 3,1300 people traveled from April <> to May <>. In addition, travel agencies such as Guangzhou Tour, Spring and Autumn Tour, and CYTS also sent out a number of first tours to Spain, Argentina, Switzerland, Russia and other countries during the "May Day" period. However, due to the fact that international flight capacity has not yet fully recovered and air ticket prices for overseas destinations are high, outbound travel is still mainly in Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia, and destinations with visa-on-arrival, visa-free or visa application convenience are more popular.

Guangzhou Travel said that from the perspective of the scale of the number of people, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia are the outbound tourist destinations "attracting kings" during this year's May Day holiday, in addition, some niche destinations, such as Iran, Serbia, the three countries of the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), Argentina and other products, have also received market attention and welcome.

Some tourism practitioners believe that the current supply chain recovery of intercontinental tourist destinations such as Europe is still in a relatively early stage, in addition to air capacity, local tourism resource integration and other problems, visas are also a limiting factor, the current visa processing cycle in many European countries is long, which will have a great impact on the booking and travel of tourism products in the later stage. Zou Qingling, CEO of Donkey Mother Travel Network, said that compared with the outbound tourism market, the opportunities in the tourism market this year are more in China, especially some small second- and third-tier cities with beautiful scenery, rich food, many entertainment items, low price levels, good service experience, and uncrowded passenger flow are likely to become popular.

Route resumption

The three major airlines added new international routes in May, focusing on Japan and South Korea

The recovery of the civil aviation market is also accelerating with the continuous optimization of epidemic prevention policies, and by the May Day holiday, data from Flying Frequency Accuracy showed that the average daily number of passenger flights on domestic routes exceeded 1,3, and the daily number of passenger flights on international and regional routes exceeded 1000,13429, the first time in three years that the number of international and regional passenger flights exceeded 2019,11494. According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, during May Day this year, the average daily number of domestic passenger traffic was 16,83, an increase of 100.<>% over the average daily flight of <>,<> in the same period in <>, of which Shanghai-Beijing, Shanghai-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Shenzhen, Hangzhou-Guangzhou, Beijing-Shenzhen, Beijing-Chengdu, Hangzhou-Shenzhen and other routes ranked first. Hohhot-Sanya, Lhasa-Beijing, Jinan-Xishuangbanna, Tianjin-Lijiang, Xishuangbanna-Ningbo and other routes rank first, with a passenger load factor of nearly <>%.

International routes are still recovering due to many factors. According to data from Flight Manager, in April, the number of flights on international routes was 4,19540, an increase of 56.5% from the previous month, recovering to 2019.31% of the same period in 3, Southeast Asia was the main departure destination area, accounting for about 46.4% of international flights, of which China-Thailand ranked first in April, reaching 4,1862 flights, with a recovery rate of 35.5%, an increase of 54.9% over the previous month; The recovery rate of flights between China and the UAE has reached 65.9%, ranking first among international routes.

On the basis of the summer and autumn seasons change plan, major airlines are also gradually adding routes and flights. The Beijing News shell financial reporter found that the new focus of China Eastern, China Southern and Air China in May was on Japan-South Korea routes, and the number of routes between Middle East Airlines and South Korea increased to 5; The number of routes between China Southern Airlines and Japan increased to 16, and the number of routes to and from South Korea increased to nine. In addition, the three major airlines are also encrypting intercontinental routes, with Middle East Airlines already operating once a day between London in the UK, Rome in Italy, Australia and New Zealand, and Air China's flights from Shanghai Pudong to London Heathrow in the UK have also increased to one flight per day since May.

Li Xiaojin, director of the Institute of Aviation Economics of Civil Aviation University of China, said that at present, the overall recovery of the civil aviation market has exceeded expectations, combined with the gradual recovery of international flights, the summer booking volume exceeding expectations and the strong demand for compensatory travel, it is more certain that civil aviation will achieve the expected target at the beginning of the year (the recovery of transport business volume to 2019% of 75). In the coming summer tourism season, Li Xiaojin believes that domestic airlines will focus on traditional tourism summer routes and emerging Internet celebrity city routes in domestic route operations. The relevant routes in the northeast, northwest and southwest regions, as well as traditional summer resorts such as Qingdao and Wutai in Shanxi, will continue to be popular, and there will be greater demand for related routes in emerging Internet celebrity cities such as Zibo in Shandong and Changsha in Hunan. Under the premise of not being limited by non-civil aviation factors, international routes will fully recover growth, especially in South America, the Middle East and Africa, as well as cool destinations in Northern Europe, North America, Australia and other places, which will definitely attract a large number of tourists.

Trendy gameplay

Check in more than a dozen attractions in one day, and "special forces-style tourism" became popular

Five days to climb the five mountains, 48 hours to eat Shanghai, one day to check in more than a dozen popular attractions in Wuhan... Since the beginning of this year, in the rapid recovery of the tourism market, the young group of independent travel has gradually become popular a game called "special forces tourism".

According to the analysis of Tongcheng Research Institute, the most popular "special forces" tourist destinations are often cities with relatively dense attractions and convenient trains, high-speed trains and public transportation in the city. Beijing has become the most concerned "special forces" tourist destination for young people, and Chongqing, Changsha, Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities with many iconic attractions and food are also popular destinations for "special forces" tourism.

Some analysts believe that "special forces tourism" is a concrete embodiment of changes in the tourism market, and its biggest feature is short time consumption and high frequency. According to Wu Liyun, associate professor of the China Cultural Tourism Industry Research Institute of Beijing Second Foreign Chinese University, "special forces tourism" is mainly aimed at young groups such as college students, reflecting that this part of the consumer group pursues cost-effectiveness and consumer expenditure is more cautious when traveling, and at the same time it is also a manifestation of the young group's release of pent-up tourism consumption demand. Ctrip believes that in addition, the demand of young people to prefer enjoyable vacations and pursue high-quality tourism has also been highlighted. Taking the outbound package tour products of the May Day holiday as an example, the unit price of young users with certain tourism spending power has reached 6562,25 yuan, an increase of about 15000% over the pre-epidemic level, and the unit price of outbound independent travel products is close to <>,<> yuan.

Summer pre-judgment

Parent-child travel is the focus of the layout, and June enters the peak booking season

After the May Day holiday, hotel and air ticket prices dropped significantly. However, Zhang Qi, general manager of Ctrip's self-operated domestic business of Group Travel, said that according to the strong recovery momentum of the tourism market this year, with the change of supply relationship, the price of air tickets and hotels in various places during the summer tourism season will still rise, "From the current platform monitoring of summer air ticket prices, it is much higher than in previous years." ”

At present, tourism enterprises are actively preparing products for the summer tourism season. Li Peng, head of Tuniu's outbound long-term business, said that Tuniu's summer products this year mainly focus on three parts: research, parent-child companionship and seasonal scarcity, among which research and study products are mainly high-quality group tours of cultural tourist attractions such as Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu in China, and group tours in Singapore, Egypt, France, Italy and other destinations, focusing on check-ins at local museums and visiting places of interest and historical sites. Parent-child companionship products focus on parent-child hotels and packaged products of big IP theme parks such as Chimelong, Disney, and Universal Studios. Scarce products are mainly in Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and other seasonal destinations in the northwest of China.

In addition, Spring Travel and Ctrip also said that the parent-child market will be the focus of their summer layout. Zhou Weihong introduced that this year's summer market will be the first complete and long-lasting tourist season since the continuous optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies. According to the performance of the summer market over the years, Spring and Autumn Tourism will focus on the parent-child market, and customized private groups, leisure vacations, gourmet experiences, research, camping, etc. will become the focus of research and development, especially for the southwest, northwest, northeast, north China and other directions. In addition, a collection of products with the theme of red tourism will also be released in the summer.

With the accelerated recovery of air capacity and visa processing, the demand for outbound travel is expected to be further released, and Li Peng expects that the summer vacation in the third quarter will usher in a peak of travel. "Tuniu will focus on Ferriti's online group tours for 10-15 days in the summer." Zhang Qi also said that in addition to focusing on long-term parent-child experience products of more than 4 days in China, the vacation business will also focus on traditional tourist destinations such as the Middle East and Africa and islands suitable for parent-child travel, and develop products for more than 8 days.

The Beijing News shell financial reporter learned from Tuniu, Zhongxin Travel, Ctrip and other tourism companies that they have successively had summer orders since April. Zhang Qi said that the summer tourism season will definitely encounter the phenomenon of resource shortage, especially hardware resources involving parent-child categories, and it is expected that summer tourism products will enter the peak booking peak from June 4 this year.

【Observation】

The niche Serbia has become a new hit in European travel

For Chinese tourists, Serbia is a European destination that is both unfamiliar and familiar, classic and niche. However, with the favorable visa-free policy and direct flights from Beijing and Tianjin, Serbia will become a trendy tourist destination for Chinese tourists, especially young people, in 2023.

Many "Internet celebrity" check-in points are a trend for young people

Serbia is rich in tourism resources, and from Belgrade all the way south, you will feel the magical change of geography from the rape blossoms, vineyard-strewn plains to the hills, and then to the mountains in the south. The journey will leave an unforgettable impression on the romantic cities of Belgrade, the literary and artistic cities of Novi Sad, or Zlatibor with its hot springs, snow resorts and ancient villages. The Sargan 8-character scenic railway and the river hut are popular "Internet celebrity check-in points" on social platforms. The river hut attraction also has special shooting props and annotations, allowing visitors to take Internet celebrity blockbusters from the best angle.

Maria Labović, CEO of the Serbian National Tourism Authority, told the Beijing News shell financial reporter that some classic tourist routes in Serbia, including humanities, history, culture and architecture, can inspire the resonance of tourists, and many "Internet celebrity" check-in points are the trend of young people. "We understand that the travel concept and form of Chinese tourists have changed to varying degrees. I want to learn more about the local culture and have a unique experience. She said that the tourism bureau and Chinese and Cypriot travel agencies have jointly developed small-scale themed customized products, such as hot spring skiing, cycling and hiking, festivals, food and winery tasting.

In recent years, Serbia has been continuously improving and improving its cultural protection, tourism facilities construction, and shopping and gastronomic experience. For example, St. Sava's Cathedral, built in 1935, is the second largest Orthodox church in the world, with about 2022,15000 square meters of interior mosaic decoration completed in 30; The newly opened Galerija Shopping Center in Belgrade covers an area of <>,<> square meters. In addition, walking on the streets of Belgrade, I suddenly found Chinese stop signs, which turned out to be Chinese signs in many local places for the convenience of independent tourists.

More importantly for Chinese tourists, Serbia can feel a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Early in the morning, strolling along Mikájlova Grand Street in Belgrade's city center, a lady who was hurrying to work stopped and happily told you that she was a literature professor who liked China very much, "Welcome to Serbia." ”。

According to Maria Rabović, after the resumption of outbound tourism, as more Chinese tourists visit, the tourism bureau will train and recommend qualified local tour guides and ground tour operators to ensure the quality of service and reception. "In the future, more Chinese restaurants will open in Serbia, many hotels will also provide Chinese breakfast, and more Chinese signs will be set up in major attractions and cities to provide convenience for Chinese tourists."

Serbia one-place tour products are favored

As the second batch of pilot countries for outbound group tourism, Serbia has also attracted the attention of travel agencies and tourists. The Beijing News shell financial reporter learned that Guangzhou Tour began to launch a Serbia 4-day in-depth tour tour group in April, with about 9 people and a price of 20,15999 yuan, and up to now 4 groups have been successfully sent. "It sold very well, a little unexpectedly." According to Guan Jian, spokesperson of Lingnan Business Travel Group, before 2019, Serbia mainly made online tour products, and paired with neighboring destinations such as Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina as Balkan tourism products. ”

He said that the current launch of the Serbia tour is an experiment, and the feedback from guests has been very good. On the one hand, Serbia is rich in tourism resources and guests have a lot of fun; On the other hand, after the shift from a multinational tour to an in-depth tour, the accommodation, dining, leisure and other programs are more distinctive, such as dining at tennis star Djokovic-themed restaurants, which are very popular with young tourists. "The local consumption is not high, but the reception capacity is not weak, the accommodation conditions of restaurants and hotels are good, the tourist atmosphere is also very good, the locals are very friendly, and the benefits of visa-free are quite attractive to Chinese tourists, especially young people."

It is understood that at the beginning of 2017, after Serbia implemented the visa-free policy for Chinese tourists, Chinese tourists quadrupled year-on-year; By the end of 2018, more than 10,98 Chinese tourists visited Serbia, a year-on-year increase of 2019%. In 2023, China became one of Serbia's top three overseas source countries. Maria Rabović said that with the gradual opening of outbound travel in 20, under the dual convenience of "visa-free + direct flight", I believe that the market will recover soon. In terms of hospitality, Serbia has built more than 4 new 5- and <>-star hotels in recent years, including spa hotels and art boutique hotels.

In view of the shortcomings of Serbian products at present, Guan Jian pointed out that first, there are fewer direct flights, and second, ground connection resources are tight. It is understood that in addition to Hainan Airlines' first non-stop flight from Beijing to Belgrade in July 2022, on December 7, 2022, Air Serbia opened a direct flight between Belgrade and Tianjin, with a load factor of more than 12% and even often full seats. "Guangzhou needs to transfer from Dubai, if East China and South China can open direct flights, coupled with the favorable policy of visa-free, Serbia as a niche destination in Europe will definitely become a hit."

Written by/Beijing News reporter Qu Xiaoyi

B04-B05 edition (except for the byline) / Beijing News shell financial reporter Wang Zhenzhen