Our reporter Pan Fuda
With this round of new crown pneumonia epidemic spreading in many cities, the expected peak summer travel season came to an abrupt end.
Overlapped by heavy rains, typhoons and other severe weather, scenic spots across the country have been temporarily suspended, and tourism platforms have caused a large number of unsubscriptions.
This supposedly lively summer not only did not usher in a strong recovery in the tourism industry, but was rather "cool".
However, the tourism industry is actively overcoming difficulties and seeking new ways to wait for the market to warm up again with a cautious and optimistic attitude.
The peak season is cold and the summer tour is splashed with cold water
Not long after the first anniversary of the opening of the inter-provincial tour, affected by the epidemic, many places have recently halted activities such as inter-provincial travel, and the hot summer tour was splashed with cold water.
“Summer vacation revenue generally accounts for 50% to 60% of the entire year. This year, it has only been in normal operation for one month.” The owner of a homestay in Zhangjiajie said with emotion. In August, nearly 400 orders were cancelled, and revenue was at least 100,000 yuan less. In the tourist season, choose to stop business to stop losses, and more and more homestays are closed in the local area.
The major tourist cities that are in the peak season have returned to the tormented moments of last year.
The usual flow of self-driving cars disappeared at the entrances of Sanya's scenic spots. Many Internet celebrity spots only had a small number of local tourists every day, and there were no queues in front of popular duty-free shops.
Local tourism practitioners are waiting for a turnaround, and various scenic spots have already activated emergency plans for epidemic prevention and control and cost savings.
For tourists and tourism companies, "unsubscribe" has become a key word this summer.
"The travel agency took the initiative to communicate with us that a full refund, this family trip can only be postponed!" said Ms. Bai, a tourist from Beijing who planned to take her parents to Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia during her annual vacation.
Many tourists feel relieved that tourism companies have launched non-responsible cancellation plans, and many travel platforms have successively opened self-service cancellation channels.
Staff of many travel platforms, travel agencies, and scenic spots confessed that "no responsibility for unsubscribing" will have a huge impact on tourism business operations. Many platforms and travel agencies need to share unsubscription losses with scenic spots and hotels.
Experts in the industry suggest that insurance companies and tourism companies can be encouraged to work together to resolve operational risks caused by unsubscription through market-oriented measures.
Exploring the way for tourism companies to enhance the ability to resist risks
With the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, it is vital for tourism companies to establish sustainable operations capabilities to resist risks.
According to Qunar's statistics, after the Civil Aviation Administration recently issued a free refund requirement for domestic air tickets, the airline's refund and modification measures were quickly followed up, and the number of passenger cancellations instantly increased to 10 times the daily amount.
However, in the face of the turbulent wave of unsubscriptions, the number of unsubscription consultations on Qunar's platform has decreased. According to Ctrip's accommodation business data, the number of users queuing for consultations on the platform's customer service system has dropped by nearly 10 times compared with the period of the outbreak at the beginning of last year.
Why does the amount of inquiries from users who unsubscribe not rise but fall?
Qunar Big Data Research Institute analyzed that the government and various companies announced unsubscription measures in a timely manner, which has improved the transparency of information disclosure, and in the past year, the public has become more tolerant of travel obstruction caused by the local epidemic.
It is worth mentioning that this is also due to the promotion and application of technologies such as smart customer service, self-service, and face recognition in various tourism scenarios.
The reporter noted that increasing the supply of specialty products and pre-sale products has long become the consensus of the tourism industry under the epidemic.
After the Guangzhou epidemic was brought under control, relevant hotels took the initiative to seek changes.
Lin Zhenhai, the person in charge of a hotel, said that the newly-added three-generation family package, single package, girlfriend package and other innovative packages have attracted more local tourists.
Next to the Chuanyan Nineteen Peaks Scenic Area, Xinchang, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, a hotel officially opened on August 1, equipped with amusement projects such as tea gardens, swimming pools, equestrian centers, and technological trends.
Wan Yunfei, the person in charge of the hotel, believes that tourism is not just-needed and high-frequency consumer goods, so it is more affected by the epidemic, but this does not mean that the hotel industry can only wait for the situation to turn around.
"On the one hand, we can introduce personalized and scarce products to local tourists. On the other hand, we can cooperate with online travel platforms to lock in future sales in the form of pre-sales." He said.
Fun local micro vacation is more popular
Drinking soybean juice at street stalls in Beijing, walking in Laomendong in Nanjing, staying in a bed and breakfast in the suburbs of Hangzhou... Local residents have gradually become the main tourists in tourist destinations.
“Reservations are welcome for self-driving RV tours without leaving Beijing and contact!” said Mr. Li, the head of a travel agency that specializes in RV tours. There have been a lot of bookings for RV tours in the suburbs of Beijing recently, and “one car for one family without contact” has become the biggest selling point of the product. .
In Jiujiang, Jiangxi, the popular scenic spot is still very popular. The parking lot is full of local cars with the license plate of "Gan G". Local travel agencies have switched to "local travel" and have launched new peripheral travel products.
According to a report recently released by the Meituan Tourism Training Center, the tourism and leisure activities of urban and rural residents are showing "visitorization" characteristics, and local people's vacation in local hotels has become a new way of leisure travel.
Data from the same journey also showed that due to the repeated effects of local epidemics, this year's summer vacation residents prefer to travel by car and visit amusement parks. The "48-hour" micro-vacation is the most popular.
According to Zhang Zhining, deputy director of the Strategic Research Center of Ctrip Research Institute, under the background of normalization of domestic epidemic prevention and control, all aspects of the tourism market must adapt to it.
In the short term, the current limiting measures in scenic spots will be normalized and fluctuate appropriately according to the changes in the epidemic; domestic railways and civil aviation may learn from the management experience of international routes and adopt a "fuse" mechanism.
How can the tourism industry break the situation again when it is at a low point?
Huang Yuzhou, vice president of Fliggy Travel, believes that on the one hand, all parties must work together to reduce the operating costs of tourism companies and increase passenger flow and cash flow; on the other hand, the epidemic is also an opportunity for tourism companies to improve their internal capabilities and improve their digital operation capabilities.