China-Singapore Jingwei, May 4th (Ma Jing) There is still one day left, and the spring of 2022 will end, but the spring of tourism has not yet come.
This May Day holiday, Disney and Universal Studios, the two major theme parks in the north and south, were closed, and cross-province travel was restricted in many places. For the first time, popular attractions with huge crowds “belonged” to local people, and camping in the suburbs became camping at home.
It has been the third year since the outbreak of the epidemic. During these times, some tourism practitioners have switched to insurance, chauffeured services, and intermediaries, while others have chosen to stay behind and blaze a new path.
"I will continue to travel, even if I am 60 years old." "Cultural tourism is what I have to do in my life, and this is my mission." Sino-Singapore Jingwei recently interviewed three travel bloggers. Under the love of "Never Look Back", listen to how they seek new opportunities in their careers that have been hit hard by the epidemic.
The following is the readme, slightly edited:
Bai Yu: From a freelancer to an entrepreneur
I am from Huangshan City, Anhui Province. After graduation, I worked as a programmer in Beijing for 8 years.
I quit my job when I was 30 out of my love for travel.
For the next three and a half years, I was basically on the go.
In the past two years, due to the epidemic, travel destinations have been reduced from all over the world to China, which is actually a very sad thing for me.
In February 2021, after finishing the self-driving tour around China with my father, I began to think, should I go back to work or do something?
At that time, my current partner suddenly asked me if I wanted to do custom tours for niche routes together?
I agreed without hesitation.
It is the best choice for me to turn what I like and be good at into a job and make money while traveling. I don’t want to go back to a 9-5 life. Although the income is stable, the time is not free at all. That’s not me. want.
In this way, I went from a freelance backpacker to an entrepreneur.
I chose to settle in Chengdu and started to travel with a group.
There are about 3-8 guests per trip, and the average unit price is 1200-1300 people/day. I take guests to Yunnan to experience the Meili Snow Mountain, to Nyingchi to watch the sunset Jinshan, to Nagqu to see the glacier canyon at close range, and to cross the Tianshan Mountains from north to south to hug Sailimu Lake...
From a one-person freelance tour to a group leader, I have to take on more responsibilities.
During the day, I have to drive, lead the team, take photos, and edit the film at night. Except for the 8 hours of sleep, I work all other hours. Every 12 o’clock at night, I will stick to my pillow.
It's really tiring to take care of every guest's needs, but I'm also very happy.
Our customers mainly come from first-tier cities, and they have been basically in a flat state due to the impact of the epidemic in the past two months.
There are about seven or eight trips in March-April 2021, and none this year.
In terms of income, when I resigned in 2014, my annual salary was about 500,000 yuan, and now it is less than half.
But I'm always optimistic.
Backpacking a few years ago, I could live well without any income.
In the past two years or so, although the overall environment has not been very good, and there have been times of depression, when the situation has become very bad, the future will definitely get better and better. When I realized this, I felt that no matter how difficult it was at the moment , but as long as you put in the effort to do something, it always pays off.
I will continue to travel, even if I am 60 years old. Even if I am not satisfied now, I have never thought about changing careers, and I have never felt that time wasted.
Although we can't go out to lead the team now, some guests are inquiring about summer or other destination routes, saying that they will come out after this wave of epidemics. These wishes give us great hope.
When I can't go out to lead the team, I have been sorting out the routes abroad. Although it seems far away now, the process itself is full of expectations.
Faye Wong: I once dreamed of "marrying" the world
In 4 years, in more than 10 countries and 20 cities, I wore a wedding dress and took pictures with the iconic scenery around the world. "Marrying the world" is one of the ways I get along with the world, who loves to travel.
However, the outbreak of the epidemic has temporarily forced the dream to be put on hold.
At the beginning of 2020, I could not return to Beijing due to the epidemic, so I could only stay at home in Dalian.
At that time, everyone didn’t know much about the new crown pneumonia, especially when they saw information on the Internet every day, their mood would be affected. There was not only panic about the unknown, but also a strong sense of powerlessness and insecurity.
But every time I put my phone down and see my parents sitting there watching TV or having a meal with the family, this contrast suddenly makes me feel that no matter what happens outside, as long as a home is stable and safe, our hearts will not be lost. have a sense of security.
Everyone used to joke that after staying at home for a long time, my parents and I would hate each other, but after 4 months at home, I found that many things can actually be communicated with my parents, and the distance was suddenly shortened.
In the past, I used to run outside, and more to pursue my dreams, but after experiencing the epidemic, I suddenly felt the importance of home, and I really wanted to continue to realize my travel dream as a family unit, so I came up with traveling with my parents. Chinese idea.
In June 2020, we officially set off in our RV. The first stop was from Kunming, Yunnan, on the Yunnan-Tibet line all the way to Lhasa, and then on the Sichuan-Tibet line back to Kunming. So far, I have taken my parents through Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Fujian, Gansu, Qinghai, Guangxi, Tibet, explore Miao villages, travel around Erhai Lake, ride camels in the desert, and taste delicious food on Shiban Street.
During this trip, enhancing mutual understanding with my parents was the biggest change.
In the eyes of many parents, travel bloggers are not a serious profession. Even some friends and colleagues around them will be curious, isn’t travel bloggers just going to play everywhere?
When my parents traveled with me, they would see different brand collaborations every time they went out. They saw that I had to write plans, shoot videos, and update content all the time. I was doing things very seriously throughout the whole process, and I became more and more The more you understand my work.
I used to call me from time to time to tell me if I could find a job in an office, don't run around.
But after traveling together for nearly two years, they never mentioned it again, as long as I feel like it, I can do it well.
They are also praised by many fans, saying that they are "good at taking pictures" and "good at youthful attitude", they will be very happy, and they will be proud to share with their friends every time they return from travel, and they will become much younger.
There is another windfall.
In the daily life environment, parents are indeed far more than us in terms of life experience, and they always feel that we have not grown up and are not at ease.
But once out, the relationship suddenly switched and they would ask my opinion on a lot of things like where to eat and where to go next.
They will find that their daughter can solve a lot of problems, and they can take care of themselves, and they will not rush to get married.
I used to be a full-time travel blogger, but now I return to the advertising industry in the form of project cooperation. Half of the time I return to the advertising industry to earn money, and half of my time is spent on travel projects. The economy has not changed much before and after the epidemic.
I think that after this epidemic is over, I will continue to walk with my parents, from traveling around China to traveling around the world.
Parents will gradually get old, and when they grow up, they realize that they can climb mountains for 7 hours with their parents, which is really a very grateful thing.
In the days to come, I hope they grow old slowly, and I hope I can have more time to take them to more places.
Roy & Sue: Stop to open a museum in Dali
I'm Roy and this is the tenth year of my journey with Sue.
For a global travel blogger, the past few years under the epidemic have not been easy.
We had to pull ourselves together to find a new way out, and we were forced to make a lot of bold decisions, but looking back, they all had a different flavor.
We are now opening a travel museum in a village in Dali with a view of Cangshan.
We have found many handicrafts and daily necessities with cultural imprints in our sojourn all over the world.
In this museum, we will display these collections.
In fact, according to the original plan, the museum did not land so quickly.
When the outbreak started, we did not expect it to last this long.
Originally, we planned to set off immediately after we finished our first book and continued our global sojourn life, but the international epidemic situation was not good. Try to keep our content updated as much as possible to bring freshness to everyone.
But then several waves of epidemics in 2021 interrupted our filming, and the book signing tour was forced to be interrupted halfway through. At that time, it felt more difficult to move, and after the risk increased, the willingness to travel was further reduced.
The plan to open a traveling museum was brought forward.
After more than two years of epidemic disruption, it does feel that the entire industry is gradually weakening, and customers' willingness to advertise in the travel field is also decreasing.
But I don’t think we have reached a situation where we can’t continue to survive at all. Traveling museums is an attempt to seek diversity under the epidemic.
Compared with the previous state of floating or exploring abroad, we stopped in Dali to create in another form, opening the museum to those who are interested in culture, and conveying diverse values through some old objects and utensils.
It is also hoped that in the offline space, through public consumption and commodity development, a part of income freedom will be realized, and the pressure of being a self-media will be relieved.
Compared with the previous self-media, the idea of opening a museum is completely different, but all our creations focus on conveying every different value, belief, and cultural concept in the world. This has not changed.
In my opinion, tourism is a way to realize the value of life, and the epidemic can be regarded as a test or experience.
We are very satisfied with the report card we handed in under the test of the epidemic.
Although the series "Living in Yunnan" has not been completed, we went to Jinuo Mountain to have a picnic in the jungle with tribal brothers, recorded Menglian's mysterious and ancient mountain god dance, divine bird dance, as well as various Dai dances that are about to be lost. Brother and sister are going back to the old road of caravans, etc. It is the epidemic that has given us an opportunity to turn our attention to the country and the culture around us, which is an experience worth cherishing.
It also shows that in remote areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, there are still some veteran craftsmen who have been struggling to maintain the responsibility of cultural heritage for ten years.
At the same time, we also found that in the era of information explosion, the traditional culture of these ethnic minorities is rarely known to more people.
This has made us think all the time, whether it is cultural awareness or sense of responsibility, a self-media person cannot follow the traffic, and we must guide as many people as possible to pay attention to this multiculturalism.
After the epidemic, we will continue to live and live around the world.
The museum will be a way for us to have a dialogue with the public.
If we can still be fortunate enough to rely on self-media to feed us or this museum, then we will continue, if not, there is always a way to continue to practice our philosophy.
(Sino-Singapore Jingwei APP)