Statistics show that car rental orders for users aged 60 and above have increased by 108% in the past six months, far exceeding the 43% growth rate of the platform

  Two people in one car, redefining "60-year-old travel"

  Our reporter Wu Lirong

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  Travel experts Mu Zi and Mu Yi are 61 years old. After retiring, they lived the long-awaited "Second Life" and redefined the "60-year-old tourism".

Most of the silver-haired groups "have money and leisure", and their requirements for travel quality will become higher and higher. The market potential of silver-haired tourism is fully optimistic.

  "In the autumn of our life, go to see the golden mountains and plains..." Muzi and Muyi, a tourist expert from Tianjin, have just finished a long self-driving tour of the Great Northwest.

They are not common young travel bloggers, but a 61-year-old retired couple.

  Climbing cliffs and waterfalls, carrying crampon shoe covers over snow-capped mountains, and driving more than 10,000 kilometers across the Northwest. After retiring, Muzi and Muyi lived the long-awaited "Second Life" and redefined " 60-year-old travel".

  After returning from the trip, they stayed at home to observe for 14 days, sorted photos, edited videos, published travel notes, and began planning their next departure.

Self-driving northwest, 28 days travel distance of 12,000 kilometers

  In September this year, Muzi and Muyi took a self-driving trip to appreciate the autumn in the Northwest.

They set off from Tianjin, passing through Taiyuan, Yinchuan, Zhangye, Dunhuang, Turpan and other places, and traveled 12,000 kilometers in 28 days.

  "I think self-driving is a relatively safe way to travel at the moment." Muzi said that self-driving travel does not require public transportation, can avoid contact with dense crowds to the greatest extent, and can walk freely without going to overcrowded scenic spots.

After sending a positive signal on the inter-provincial travel, they drove off.

  Along the way, they watched the epidemic closely while admiring the autumn scenery.

In accordance with the changes in the epidemic prevention policies of various places, they have also repeatedly changed their routes temporarily in the hotels facing the map to "light up the night battle."

Muzi said that under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, their long-term tourism adjustment plan is inevitable.

However, it was precisely because of the flexible adjustment of the route that they avoided the place where the epidemic occurred later.

  Self-driving tour is their favorite way of traveling, and it is free enough.

Sometimes when they come to a place they like, they will stop and stay for a while.

Driving hundreds of kilometers on the road every day, they have also encountered car breakdowns, but with the help of many years of driving experience and the help of local kindhearted people, they are also without risk.

  Like most "husband and wife" travelers, they have their own division of labor. Muzi is responsible for taking pictures of the scenery, while her husband Mu Yi is a driver who also shoots videos and flies a drone. He is also Muzi's full-time "portrait photographer".

They have been married for 35 years and have traveled hand in hand in many places. After the epidemic, they focused on domestic tourism. Hainan Island, Tibet, southeast Yunnan...the motherland's big rivers and north, all left their footprints.

 Do a strategy before you leave,

  Write travel notes after coming back

  Every time Muzi and Muyi travel, they are completely free.

For them, it is not enough to be more restrictive than group travel, and they can experience in-depth play by themselves and be more casual.

  Before traveling, Muzi will make a travel strategy in advance, and sometimes even study it for a month or two.

They will carefully plan the self-driving route, book a hotel, determine the specific daily itinerary according to their own preferences, and set everything ready before setting off.

  It is inevitable to be cumbersome to make a strategy, but Muzi enjoys it very much. "This is a re-learning process for me. It is the same as reading and learning, and I can learn a lot."

  It is also essential to write travel notes after returning from a trip.

In the recent self-driving tour of the Great Northwest, Muzi summarized it in a travel note of more than 20,000 words and published it on various travel websites.

Writing travel notes is not only a review but also a sharing. In her opinion, it is also full of fun.

  Muzi's travel notes are full of pictures and texts, and there are also edited videos-this is what she has taught herself in the past few years.

  Her sharing has attracted many people’s likes and favorites, and some have become tourist communities.

  "Boom" content.

At the age of 60, she became a contract photographer for a photo website and recently became a contract traveler for a travel website.

These little honors are all her joys.

 "Our generation of elderly people is not bad"

  "Wherever we go, there are actually a lot of old couples traveling by car!" Muzi said, many self-driving tourists have retired, and some are elderly in their 70s.

  Ctrip Travel's insight into the travel trend of the silver-haired group shows that in recent years, the consumption of the silver-haired group has been upgraded, and the frequency of travel of the silver-haired group has increased.

As of October this year, the number of registered users of the platform 60 years old and above has increased by 22% year-on-year. In the past six months, the per capita expenditure of those born in the 50s and 60s has increased by 35% year-on-year.

The silver-haired people's travel gameplay is also becoming richer. In the past six months, car rental orders for users aged 60 and above have increased by 108%, far exceeding the 43% increase on the platform.

  "Our generation of elderly people is not bad, knowledge, economics and physical ability are all right." Muzi smiled, her travel will not stop, she must continue to strengthen physical exercise, "the future can go as far as possible."

  The market potential of silver tourism is fully optimistic.

According to the seventh national census released this year, there are 260 million people aged 60 and over in my country, accounting for 18.7% of the total population.

A research report released by the China Aging Industry Association predicts that by 2040, the elderly tourism market will account for about 50% of the national tourism market.

  Industry insiders suggest that various tourist attractions in various places should undergo “aging-appropriate” transformation to meet the travel needs of the elderly; the silver-haired group will have higher and higher requirements for the quality of travel. For the “leisure” group, tourism companies can design relevant tourism products in a more targeted manner so that elderly consumers can better enjoy the “poetry and the distance”.

(The picture in this article was provided by the interviewee)