With the arrival of the 12th "China Tourism Day", many places in China have launched online "cloud" tours and offline activities to benefit the people, which not only show the mountain scenery and emerging tourism formats, but also boost domestic tourists. morale.
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, tourism, as an industry with strong aggregation, mobility and contact, has been continuously affected.
In the "Several Policies on Promoting the Recovery and Development of Difficult Industries in the Service Industry" issued by 14 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission in February 2022, tourism and catering, retail, road, water and railway transportation, civil aviation, etc. It has been included in the category of "difficult industries in the service industry".
The presentation of the data is more intuitive. According to the data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of domestic tourists in 2020 will be 2.879 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 52.1%; in 2021, the total number of domestic tourists will be 3.246 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.8%. In the first quarter of 2022, the total number of domestic tourists was 830 million, a decrease of 194 million or 19.0% over the same period of the previous year.
The decline in tourist arrivals also directly affects the employment choices of tourists.
"The tourism industry is highly dependent on people's movement in space. Affected by the epidemic, the main players in the tourism market are facing increasing operational difficulties, and the loss of business and technical backbones is serious. It is a fact that needs no words." Dai Bin, President of China Tourism Academy Say.
Under the industry crisis, how can tourists find a new way out?
In a sense, as the basic support for the operation of the tourism economy, the difficulties encountered by tour guide groups in the epidemic, the transformation attempts to seek opportunities in crisis, and the adjustment and exploration in the direction of talent training are providing a way to discuss this issue. Look to the side.
"Employment window period", tourism fundamentals are still
In March 2022, the Huangshan City Tour Guides Association released a "Recruitment Notice for Tea Pickers in Huangshan District", which drew the public's attention to the phenomenon of "vacant employment period" during which tour guides could not practice normally during the epidemic.
For the vast majority of tour guides, the pandemic was a watershed in their careers.
Hua Fuyu, a 26-year-old girl who won the title of "Yunnan Gold Tour Guide" in 2019, described the changes in her work status before and after the epidemic as "turned upside down". "Before 2020, the work of tour guides was relatively stable. Generally speaking, after receiving a tour group, After a day or two of rest, the travel agency will soon notify the next group to bring a group, and the arrangement is very tight. When the epidemic came, many businesses of the travel agency were stopped, and the tour guide did not have a basic salary. The income depends on the labor fee for the group. with no income."
Under the economic pressure, many of Hua Fuyu's colleagues have moved to other industries during the epidemic, working as online car-hailing drivers, insurance brokers, and Internet marketers.
According to the National Travel Agency Statistical Survey Report released annually by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, from 2019 to 2021, the number of direct employees of travel agencies nationwide will drop from 415,941 to 278,772, and the number of tour guides who have signed labor contracts will drop from 121,710 to 94,332. .
Hua Fuyu has also considered changing careers, but she still has hope for the future of tourism, "Where I live, I can see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain when I look up. There are still many opportunities for development, people have always been enthusiastic about travel, and the recent introduction of so many supportive policies by the state has also inspired us practitioners.”
Since the release of the "Several Policies on Promoting the Recovery and Development of Difficult Industries in the Service Industry", many places have successively issued implementation measures to help tourism enterprises bail out, involving reducing operating costs, providing financial support, stabilizing employment, and releasing tourism consumption potential. .
In addition, in response to the new problems encountered by the tourism industry in the context of epidemic prevention and control, localities are also exploring new solutions to test the waters.
For example, Yunnan has recently launched two types of insurance for group travel: "Yunnan Travel Agency Liability Insurance Additional Epidemic 'Fuse' Trip Cancellation Loss Insurance" and "Group Accident Insurance Additional Travel Infectious Disease Isolation Allowance Insurance" to reduce the operating risks of travel agencies and help the industry recover. a new way of thinking.
In Dai Bin's view, despite the impact of the epidemic, the fundamentals of travel demand are still there. "From the market data and industry trends in the past two years, where the epidemic is under control, cultural leisure and tourism consumption will recover quickly. It is the source of confidence for the tourism industry to insist on high-quality development. The introduction of several support policies is like providing a 'timely rain' for the tourism industry, but if tourists want to survive in the changed market, they must rebuild their own Competitiveness".
The Transformation Exploration of Seeking Opportunity in Crisis
Under the epidemic, the tourism industry is still brewing new opportunities.
According to the data of Tianyancha, from the perspective of the number of registrations (the status of all enterprises), a total of more than 1.15 million tourism-related enterprises will be established in 2021, and the new number will reach a record high; in the first four months of 2022, the number of new related enterprises will reach 179,000 Yu family.
"In the past, the stereotyped standardized products in traditional tourism can no longer meet people's needs. After this 'epidemic', tourists pay more attention to safety, quality and personalization, which also provides ideas for the development and transformation of tourism companies and tour guides. "Dai Bin said.
The post-90s male coach who graduated from university in 2012 has been a tour guide in Putuo Mountain for 10 years.
After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020, Dai Shuai opened the "Putuo Mountain Xiaoshuai" account on the social platform, live broadcasted the scenery of Putuo Mountain, and shared short videos made by himself with online tourists.
After the account has been in operation for a period of time, there are more and more messages in the comment area hoping to "follow the group". With the "restart" of offline travel, Dai Shuai realized that the opportunity to start a business has come.
In August 2020, he resigned from his original job as a tour guide, and together with several friends, he founded a travel company based on self-media traffic—Xinyu Travel, and launched the offline tour group business of Putuo Mountain. The entrance to the tour is located at within the account.
"Compared with traditional travel agencies, we have made more explorations in the details of services. For example, the group staff are divided into two groups: lecturers and butlers. The lecturers are responsible for on-site explanations and the butlers are responsible for logistical services. Considering that most tourists are We are young people who attach great importance to the sense of experience. When arranging the travel route, we appropriately slow down the pace so that the explanation and communication of each scenic spot can be more fully explained.” Said Dai Shuai.
Updating the commentary is a link that Daishuai attaches great importance to. "Every commentary will be displayed on the Internet. If there are repetitions, it will affect the look and feel. Therefore, even in the same scenic spot, our commentary must continue to look for different angles. We will try our best to bring new experiences to tourists and audiences.”
However, under the background of tightening epidemic prevention and control policies, tour groups have been closed since March 2022. "At present, 'Putuo Mountain Xiaoshuai' has 11.261 million followers, and tour groups have been open for more than a year. It has attracted more than 30,000 tourists, but even if the losses caused by the epidemic are not counted, the profit of the tour group is still very small, and the bulk of the income is the online income such as live streaming and advertising fees.”
It is worth noting that, in addition to the "vertical" efforts to pull offline online, it is also a choice for transformation to break through the professional boundaries of tour guides from "horizontal" such as research trips.
Jiang Chan, a post-90s girl who has been a tour guide for 5 years, has noticed the development prospects of research travel since 2019. Now, she has grown into the executive vice president of Shandong Yonghui Countryside Eco-tourism Development Co., Ltd., and has determined research travel and labor education. Strategic focus for the company's development.
"The organization and coordination, course explanation, and team reception and execution of research trips and labor education can all make full use of the skills accumulated in the past as tour guides. At the same time, research trips and labor education also involve curriculum development, scene and teaching aid creation, etc. On the one hand, even if the team cannot be received due to the impact of the epidemic, things such as course research and development and internal improvement can be carried out, and the impact on work and income is relatively small." Jiang Chan said.
Talent training must also keep up with changes
"Three thousand students have graduated today, and I would like to recommend them to enterprises and institutions such as tourism, hotels, catering, leisure, outdoor sports, etc." In May 2022, the recommendation letter written by the dean of Shandong Vocational College of Tourism for the graduates of the school appeared in the college on the public account.
With the graduation season approaching and the industry downturn, the employment choices of tourism majors have also attracted a lot of attention in the industry.
In the circle of friends of Li Yan, deputy dean of the School of Tourism Management of Lijiang University of Culture and Tourism, there has been no lack of forwarding of recruitment information of tourism agencies in various places recently.
"Before the epidemic, the employment rate of tourism management students and their major counterparts has remained above 80%. In 2020 and 2021, due to the impact of the epidemic, the recruitment of travel agencies has decreased, and this figure has dropped to about 60%, but the overall employment rate is still It can reach more than 98%, the number of students going to hotels and other industries for employment has increased, and the number of people staying in the travel agency industry has decreased. In recent years, the number of full-time tour guides should be very small." Li Yan said.
Li Yan noticed that from 2020, there will be no more students going to travel agencies for internships. "The business of travel agencies has decreased, and there will be a certain loss of employees, so stable teaching and internship arrangements cannot be guaranteed. In addition, during the epidemic, the school strictly controls the school gate, and corporate personnel cannot enter. Schools, the effect of online teaching is limited, the frequency of cooperation between schools and travel agencies has been greatly reduced, and schools have instead sought cooperation with high-end hotels, scenic spots and other enterprises.”
Hua Fuyu still remembers the feeling of sitting in the front row of the tourist bus for the first time when he was an intern in his junior year. "The travel agency will assign a master to each intern student, generally speaking, it is the senior brother and senior sister of the same school. They will tell you the whole process of leading a group, including how to deal with emergencies of tourists. When it is your turn to come for an internship, you will teach them. After the epidemic, there is no internship, and this kind of intergenerational connection will basically be broken. It is a pity for students who want to work as tour guides in the future.”
Wang Yuqin, a professor of Shandong Vocational College of Tourism and the host of "Shandong Vocational Education·Wang Yuqin Famous Teacher Studio", also felt the decrease in the demand for tour guide talents. The ratio is 10:1, and students are left by the company before they graduate. However, in the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the professional situation of tour guides has changed, so our way of cultivating students should also change accordingly. In the design, the content of new formats such as research trips, online anchors, and labor education is added, and students are encouraged to go to research and study bases, labor education bases and other units for internships, so that students can learn more skills and continuously expand employment channels.”
It is worth noting that at the research results conference of the 2022 China Tourism Science Annual Conference, the research group of the China Tourism Academy released the "10+1" trend forecast for the demand for tourism talents in the next five years, and professional tour guides ranked in the demand for tourism talents. the first.
At a time when the tourism industry has yet to recover, where will the tour guide talents go?
All has yet to be verified.
Li Xuan, a trainee reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily Source: China Youth Daily