[China News reporter Li Tengfei and trainee reporter Hua Zhuoma reported] "For example, the Manxin Mansion in Qianmen Siheyuan, the occupancy rate before the live broadcast was about 20%. After a period of live broadcast marketing, the current occupancy rate is 80%." In the past two years, Liu Xiaowen, chairman of Beijing Wanbo Cultural Tourism Group, has been trying to explore new ways of operating her hotel to resist the impact of the epidemic.
The epidemic has brought unprecedented difficulties and challenges to hotel and homestay practitioners.
Now that the tourism industry is gradually picking up, practitioners see that even if there is no epidemic, China's cultural tourism industry is in urgent need of reform. Hotels and homestays need to break the single function of "settlement" and "rest and transfer station", so that tourists do not go out. You can experience "poetry and distance" immersively.
On July 23, people set up tents for vacation at a campsite on Guangyang Island in Chongqing.
(Photo by China News Agency reporter He Penglei)
The first step in recovery: digital innovation in the old Beijing courtyard
"Pomegranate tree in the fish tank in the ceiling, fat dog and fat girl", referring to the summer of the old Beijing courtyard.
Whether it’s a first-time visitor to the capital who wants to experience the local culture, or someone who has lived in the capital for a long time and wants to relive their childhood moments, the courtyard house must be at the top of the recommended list.
Entering July, the Manxinfu Courtyard Hotel, located in Dajiang Hutong, Qianmen, gradually returned to its former bustle.
Under the pomegranate tree, watching goldfish swim leisurely in the tank, the tourists staying here are like being in a picture scroll of life with rich old Beijing flavor.
In 2019, with the combination of old Beijing traditional art and intangible cultural heritage, the Qianmen Siheyuan Manxin Mansion, founded by Beijing Wanbo Cultural Tourism Group (hereinafter referred to as Wanbo), stood out among high-end hotels in the country.
But with the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, this hotel full of Beijing culture, like other practitioners, has fallen into the crisis of plummeting passenger flow.
"The cultural tourism industry is highly dependent on liquidity. Once the liquidity is cut off, it will be severely affected. The epidemic has repeated, the rent is overwhelmed, and the occupancy rate is hovering at a low level." Liu Xiaowen, chairman of Wanbo Group, expressed the impact on the entire industry. Feel deeply.
The recently released "2021 Beijing Culture and Tourism Statistical Report" shows that in 2021, Beijing's accommodation industry will receive 2.669 million people, although it has increased by 14.9% year-on-year, but it still only recovers to 60.4% of 2019.
The average room occupancy rate was 47.8%, down 11.8 percentage points and down 22 percentage points compared to 2019.
As can be seen from Beijing's data, the cultural tourism industry is slowly climbing.
How can the hospitality industry fully recover?
In Liu Xiaowen's view, in addition to the government's bailout support, the industry must actively help itself. The first step is to carry out digital innovation.
"The epidemic has prevented liquidity, but it cannot prevent live broadcasts and pre-sales, which are also important means of countering the vulnerability of cultural tourism."
In order to help Wanbo Group regain its former passenger flow, Liu Xiaowen actively seeks the transformation of marketing channels, "Under the pressure of the epidemic, to break through the original digital stage of the cultural and tourism scene, the accumulated management drawbacks and the inefficient operation of the business ideas must be re-engineered through digitalization. structure".
Liu Xiaowen introduced that the live broadcast and pre-sale models can not only lock in part of the hotel's future revenue and alleviate the current predicament, but also allow merchants to have more room for product innovation and combination, and increase the gross profit level of the remaining supply.
At the same time, this is also a process of cultivating potential consumers.
The Manxin Hotel was transformed from a courtyard.
(Photo courtesy of the respondent/Reported by China News)
Being in this mountain and relying on history, it is necessary to make up for cultural shortcomings
After the May 1st holiday this year, after sending off the last batch of guests, "Cuanshe" responded to the requirements of Beijing's epidemic prevention and control and suspend business.
"At present, a village has negotiated a project to establish a 'crowd-creation workshop'." Although the operation has pressed the pause button, Han Yongcong, the founder of Cuanshe B&B, has not stopped business innovation.
"Backed by the faucet and soaked in water, the golden toad looks at the moon in front, surrounded by mountains, and the water in the crown flows around the village." Cuanshe is located in Cuandixia Village, a traditional village with a history of more than 400 years in Mentougou District, Beijing.
Han Yongcong said that most of the country houses may have a relatively single customer base, not large enough in size, and biased site selection and positioning, so it may be more difficult under the influence of the epidemic.
According to the "China Tourism Homestay Development Report" released in July 2020, as of September 2019, there were nearly 170,000 homestays in China, and the online accommodation market reached 20 billion yuan.
However, the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020 has brought the homestay industry into a reshuffle period again. Many homestay owners left the venue with regrets and retreated.
It is precisely because he is familiar with the shortcomings of country houses that Han Yongcong devoted himself to making a fuss about regional culture when he opened the house, and tried to circulate the customer base to enhance the competitiveness of the homestay tourism products.
When designing and constructing the Cuan She, Han Yongcong integrated the Cuan culture, family culture and courtyard culture into the homestay.
In the naming of the courtyard, Cuan She absorbs the local clan culture, and integrates the details of Cuan style calligraphy in the hardware display.
When the epidemic prevention and control permits, Cuanshe will also hold the "House Master's Mountain Tour" activity, and invite the "old village chief" of Cuandixia Village to explain the local history, culture, customs, etc. to tourists.
In terms of circulating customer groups, Cuanshe tailors clothes according to different consumers and designs different courtyards, so that the customer group of Cuanshe is not limited to a single customer group, but is suitable for different forms such as parent-child activities, training, and team building.
In addition, Cuanshe also launched cultural and creative products such as refrigerator magnets, cups, cloth bags, plates, and puppets related to the word "Cuan".
Han Yongcong introduced that although affected by the epidemic, the overall operation of the house is relatively good.
In October last year, Cuanshe held an activity to explain the local culture to the children.
(Photo courtesy of the respondent/Reported by China News)
Tourists also need to constantly break the boundaries when changing the cultural tourism industry
Before the epidemic, the cultural and tourism industry's contribution to the national economy continued to increase, playing a key role in stimulating the local economy and increasing employment.
How to "get back" the time lost due to the epidemic?
New paths are constantly being explored from central to local.
On June 28 this year, the "asterisk" mark on the communication itinerary card was cancelled.
On July 19, 10 departments including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism jointly issued guidance on promoting the high-quality development of country houses.
On July 25, the central bank and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism jointly issued a notice stating that it is necessary to actively support cultural and tourism enterprises in resisting the impact of the epidemic, and not to blindly restrict, withdraw, or cut off loans.
In addition, cross-provincial epidemic prevention measures have been simplified in many places, and cultural tourism consumption coupons have been issued to further stimulate the recovery of the industry.
With the advent of summer vacation, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Sichuan and other places are full of tourists.
According to data from platforms such as Ctrip and Qunar, the number of domestic hotel bookings in late June has exceeded the level in the same period before the epidemic.
Liu Xiaowen said that in the past few years, every hotel person has been gritting their teeth, forbearance, and gaining momentum, which is really not easy.
However, she also saw that even if there is no epidemic, the cultural tourism industry has come to a time of urgent need for change.
City hotels, country houses, exquisite camping... The emergence of a large number of new business travel accommodation products reflects the rise of the new middle class and generation Z consumer groups, and the consumption of quality, health, safety and experience-based products has become a general trend.
In Liu Xiaowen's view, one of the biggest changes brought by the epidemic to the cultural tourism industry is the substantial adjustment of the tourist structure. The high-quality consumption potential of about 140 million outbound travel is looking for an outlet in China. The travel destinations are not only cities, but also There are beautiful villages, and the power of this internal circulation will also promote a new type of urban-rural interaction.
"Only the integration of culture and tourism is far from enough. There is a huge space for integration in the industry with health care, education, entertainment, sports, agriculture, commerce, the Internet, etc." Liu Xiaowen believes that cultural and tourism people want to get rid of the situation of watching the sky and eating Only by constantly breaking boundaries and reshaping cognition can we move towards the track of high-quality development.
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