With the recovery of the tourism market, favorable policies are frequent. On March 3, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Notice on Carrying out the Application of Border Tourism Pilot Zones and Cross-border Tourism Cooperation Zones (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). With the development of the declaration work, the attention of border tourism has increased again. Over the years, the relevant departments have introduced favorable measures several times to promote the development of border tourism. Now the launch of border tourism pilot zones and other declaration work is conducive to promoting the further balanced development of China's tourism region.
The number of travelers at several ports has climbed
The Notice puts forward relevant requirements for the subjects, conditions and quantity of application for the establishment of pilot zones and cooperation zones. At the same time, the Notice also points out that the relevant application materials of the pilot zone and the cooperation zone should be reported to the Department of Policies and Regulations of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism before the end of June and the end of August 2023 respectively.
In terms of application conditions, border counties applying for the establishment of pilot zones should meet the necessary conditions in terms of tourism resource endowment, tourism development, scale of inbound and outbound tourism at ports, cross-border tourism exchanges and cooperation, as well as port customs clearance security, port public health safety, border prevention and control facilities construction, comprehensive supporting guarantees, etc., and no casinos have been opened at the borders of neighboring countries.
At the same time, in addition to meeting the same basic conditions as establishing a pilot zone, border counties applying for the establishment of a cooperation zone should also have a certain basis for cooperation with the border areas of neighboring countries and reach a consensus on intentional cooperation. In principle, the pilot zones and cooperation zones are established by relying on existing border ports that have been officially opened to the outside world with the approval of the State Council and allow personnel to enter and exit.
Recently, with the orderly recovery of outbound tourism, the number of border tourism and cross-border tourism has also been rising. According to Xinhua News Agency, on March 3, the Yunnan estuary on the Sino-Vietnamese border officially resumed outbound group travel business to Vietnam. In the afternoon of the same day, 15 travel groups totaling 3 people organized by the local travel agency of Hekou successfully left the country from the Nanxi River Estuary of Hekou and went to Vietnam for a six-day boutique route tour. On the other hand, according to China News Network, on March 110, the Taluo Port on the China-Myanmar border ushered in the first peak of outbound passenger flow after the full resumption of passenger clearance, with a single-day flow of more than 6,3 people.
Zeng Bowei, a professor at the School of Tourism of Beijing Union University, believes that border tourism has been greatly suppressed in the past period, and this declaration work is intended to activate the local economy through border tourism, and it is also an organic part of the recovery and revitalization of the entire tourism industry.
The balanced development of domestic tourism zones has been accelerated
In recent years, with the introduction of relevant policies, border tourism has been continuously beneficial.
It is understood that in 1997, the former National Tourism Administration issued the "Interim Administrative Measures for Border Tourism" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which clarified the definition and management measures of border tourism for the first time. Subsequently, in 2016, the State Council issued the Opinions on Several Policies and Measures to Support the Development and Opening Up of Key Border Areas (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), proposing to improve the level of tourism openness and promote the prosperity and development of border tourism. These include reforming the border tourism management system, studying and developing cross-border tourism cooperation zones, and exploring the construction of border tourism pilot zones.
In Zeng Bowei's view, the development of this declaration work is also the specific implementation of the Opinions.
In October last year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other five departments issued the Measures for the Administration of Border Tourism (Draft Revisions for Comments), revising the previously implemented Measures, clarifying that tourism groups of the two sides can flexibly choose entry and exit ports within the scope agreed in the border tourism cooperation agreement, and indicate them in the List of Border Tourism Groups. In addition, preconditions such as border travel approval and the application of entry and exit documents at the nearest place have been removed. This undoubtedly provides convenient conditions for the development of border tourism.
With the deepening of exchanges between countries, more and more tourists are willing to choose border tourism with more convenient conditions. However, how to launch special border tourism routes and ensure the safety of tourists is also a key issue that border places need to focus on.
Wang Xingbin, a senior tourism expert, said that at present, China's border tourism is concentrated in the northeast and southwest regions. All border provinces (regions) should grasp the relationship with the target countries and ensure the safety of border tourism. At the same time, all localities need to grasp the tourism characteristics and resources of themselves and the target countries, plan border tourism routes according to the travel needs of their citizens and the convenience of passage, and strengthen the construction of border tourism points.
"Some key tourism cities in China are relatively ahead in tourism development due to the advantages of abundant tourism resources and proximity to source areas, but some border areas are relatively weak, so the start of the declaration of border tourism pilot zones and cross-border tourism cooperation zones is conducive to promoting the further balanced development of China's overall tourism region." Zeng Bowei also said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Wu Qiyun