Du Jiang attended the 2021 China Tourism Science Annual Conference

On April 24, the "2021 China Tourism Science Annual Conference" was held in Beijing. Du Jiang, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, attended the meeting and delivered a special speech on the new situation of tourism development and the new tasks of tourism research. First, the new development pattern accelerates the high-quality development of the tourism industry. First, my country's tourism industry is recovering at an accelerated pace. Benefiting from the epidemic prevention and control situation and favorable policies, the tourism economy in the first quarter just passed performed better than expected, and the fundamentals of the tourism industry's recovery were more solid. During the Qingming Festival holiday, 102 million domestic tourists traveled nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 144.6% on a comparable basis, recovering to 94.5% of the same period before the epidemic. Judging from the willingness of urban and rural residents to travel, the number of searches for tourist destinations, and the number of aviation, railway and hotel bookings, the upcoming May Day holiday tourism market is expected to recover and exceed the level of the same period before the epidemic. Judging from the current situation, the recovery process of the domestic tourism market throughout the year will be better than expected. The growing mass tourism consumption will play a more important role and play a more positive role in the new development pattern with the domestic big cycle as the main body and the domestic and international double cycles promoting each other. Second, science and technology has become an important driving force for the high-quality development of the tourism industry. As my country builds a moderately prosperous society in all respects, tourism has increasingly become an important part of people's daily lives, and a new way of life, learning and growth. Not only are urban residents increasing their annual travel frequency, but more and more rural residents are also becoming part of the tourism army. The achievements of tourism development are further shared by the general public, and a new situation has been initially achieved in which everyone enjoys the right to travel, has something to play, and can afford to play. Tourism demand presents new characteristics of quality and diversity. Red tourism, rural tourism, study tourism, special tourism, etc. are developing rapidly. With the vigorous development of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, "Internet +" is accelerating its integration with the industry, and the digital economy has become a new engine for my country's development. During the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, reservation travel has become the norm, "cloud tourism" has been recognized by a wider range of markets, and scenario-based tourism has become a new consensus on scientific and technological innovation and tourism investment. The construction of a modern tourism system with smart tourism as the core has been further accelerated, and tourists' sense of security and gain will be further enhanced. Third, the integrated development of culture and tourism continues to open up new situations. Since 2018, in line with the working ideas of "integrate where it is appropriate and integrate as much as possible" and "develop culture better, develop tourism better, and develop the integration of culture and tourism better", the cultural and tourism system has continued to promote institutional reform and improve the system and mechanism. The tourism industry has steadily promoted integrated development in product innovation, service innovation, business innovation and market innovation, and has achieved remarkable results. Various tourism enterprises focus on strengthening strategic cooperation with cultural, educational and scientific research institutions, and have formed a number of tourism products with both cultural connotations and service quality. With the joint efforts of all parties, tourism performances, characteristic towns, night economy, cultural and creative products, digital cultural tourism and other business formats have achieved rapid development. In the process of building a cultural power, the direction of the integrated development of culture and tourism will be clearer and the space will be broader. Fourth, the "14th Five-Year Plan" puts forward higher requirements for the high-quality development of the tourism industry. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Term Goals for 2035 have made strategic arrangements for the tourism industry, clarified the development directions of accelerating the development of the tourism industry, promoting the integration of culture and tourism, and promoting mass tourism and smart tourism, and proposed key tasks such as building a number of world-class tourist attractions and resorts with rich cultural heritage, creating a number of national-level tourist leisure cities and blocks with distinctive cultural characteristics, and developing red tourism and rural tourism, requiring the tourism industry to make greater efforts in adhering to tourism for the people and implementing tourism-driven development. Second, the high-quality development of the tourism industry has put forward new requirements for academic research. On the one hand, the central government has put forward a series of major practical issues for the strategic deployment of tourism work. How can the tourism industry grasp the new development stage, implement the new development concept, and integrate into the new development pattern? How to build world-class tourist attractions and resorts with profound cultural heritage? How to build national-level tourist leisure cities and blocks with distinctive cultural characteristics? How to innovate and develop red tourism and rural tourism? How to make tourism play a more active role in the construction of national cultural parks? How to protect people's right to travel and meet the consumption needs of quality and diversity? How to let tourists understand the beauty of Chinese culture and enhance cultural confidence during their trip? Answering these questions is the responsibility of the tourism administrative department, and it is also the focus of tourism theory construction and academic research. On the other hand, the key tasks deployed by the culture and tourism system have raised a series of realistic topics. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has clearly proposed and organized the implementation of "one project, seven systems", namely, the social civilization promotion and improvement project and the new era art creation system, the cultural heritage protection, inheritance and utilization system, the modern public cultural service system, the modern cultural industry system, the modern tourism industry system, the modern culture and tourism market system, and the foreign cultural exchange and tourism promotion system. Some are direct deployments of tourism work, some are work that requires the cooperation of the tourism system and the tourism industry; some are strategically leading, and some are strategically innovative; some will directly form research topics, and some require theoretical circles and academic research institutions to deepen their designs accordingly. At the same time, tourism industry practice has also raised new topics for tourism scientific research. The rich and colorful industry practice is an inexhaustible source of tourism academic research, and it is also a touchstone for testing academic research results. How can rural tourism be effectively connected with rural revitalization? How can cultural heritage tourism, tourism performances, etc. be innovatively developed? How can the development policies of cruise yachts, low-altitude tourism, etc. be improved? How to regulate online tourism business services? How to cultivate compound professional talents? These are all very concerned by the tourism industry and should be realistic topics for tourism research to answer. Third, tourism academic research should focus on the present and face the future. Since its establishment, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has paid great attention to and actively supported tourism research work, stabilizing the original channels and platforms, and innovating working mechanisms through key laboratories, research bases, think tanks and other means. It is hoped that the tourism academic community will inherit the fine tradition of paying attention to the reality, face the future, and accelerate the construction of a tourism theory system, discipline system and discourse system with Chinese characteristics. First, we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to cultural and tourism work, and has made a series of important speeches and instructions, profoundly expounding the people-centered tourism work policy, and pointing out the fundamental direction and basic path of tourism development. We must study in depth, understand carefully, and run the spiritual essence throughout the entire process of tourism research, embodied in various aspects such as problem selection, technical route, analysis logic and countermeasures and suggestions. Second, we must adhere to problem orientation and take the path of combining theory with practice. Practice is the source of theoretical construction and the most reliable force for research. Tourism research should go beyond the "ivory tower", go deep into the front line of tourism industry practice, systematically understand China's tourism industry practice, and focus on major issues, cutting-edge issues and hot issues in industrial development. We encourage research institutes, universities, think tanks, enterprises and other different types of research institutions and professionals to communicate and cooperate more, and jointly promote the prosperity and development of tourism theory construction and academic research. Third, we must strengthen the standardization of tourism research and enhance the theoretical contribution of academic achievements. The combination of theory and practice does not require limitation to the level of industrial practice. Tourism academic research should return to the theory itself. On the basis of solving practical problems in the development of the tourism industry, we must be good at summarizing and refining, follow the basic paradigm of scientific research, and strive to produce a number of original theoretical results. We must accelerate the construction of a contemporary tourism development theory system and promote the formation of a Chinese school of tourism research. We must strengthen international academic exchanges and tell the Chinese story of tourism development well.