Dai Bin | Loyal to the Party’s Tourism Industry and Building a National Tourism Development Theory - Speech to Commemorate the 103rd Anniversary of the Founding of the Party and the Year of Ideologica

Comrades,

Attaching importance to and effectively strengthening ideological work is a fine tradition and political advantage of the Communist Party of China in leading the people to continuously win the victory of revolution, construction, and reform. Studying General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on ideology and implementing the "Implementation Measures for the Ideological Work Responsibility System of Party Committees (Party Groups)" are the ideological basis and practical requirements for accelerating the construction of a people-centered national tourism development theory system, promoting a data system for high-quality development of the tourism industry, and various tasks of the China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism).

Tourism research in the new era must

Adhere to the leadership of the Party and stand firm on the people's side

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that ideological work is an extremely important task of the Party. Whether ideological work can be done well is related to the future and destiny of the Party, the long-term stability of the country, and the cohesion and centripetal force of the nation. Doing a good job in ideological work is related to the future and destiny of the Party. Marx said: "If we examine it from the perspective of ideas, the disintegration of a certain form of consciousness is enough to overthrow the entire era." Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "The unity of the country, the unity of the people, and the unity of all ethnic groups in the country are the basic guarantees for the victory of our cause." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The history of human social development shows that for a nation and a country, the most lasting and deepest force is the core values commonly recognized by the whole society." Looking back on the Party's century-long struggle, it can be found that the great achievements of China's revolution, construction, and reform are all closely related to the Party's fruitful ideological work. If our Party wants to maintain its advanced nature and purity and consolidate its ruling position and mass base, it must vigorously strengthen the Party's ideological and theoretical construction, arm the whole Party with the Party's innovative theories, educate the people, consolidate the guiding role of Marxism in the field of ideology, ensure that the Party always walks in the forefront of the times, is sincerely supported by the people, and always becomes the strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

As a national tourism think tank, the China Tourism Research Institute has had two core tasks since its establishment. The second is to unite and lead the national tourism academic community, steadily build a tourism discipline system, academic system, and discourse system with distinct characteristics of the times from a Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method, and provide reliable and practical knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual momentum for the construction of a tourism power. These two core tasks are both related to ideology. From the 16 year history of the establishment of the academy, how well these two core tasks are completed directly determines whether this basic team of seven or eight people and five or six guns at the turn of spring and summer in 2008 can stand firm and steady in the complex environment, and directly determines whether this small boat carrying glory and dreams can sail through the narrow and narrow Kafudin Strait and the windy and stormy Cape of Good Hope. It was at that meeting that we officially proposed the concept of "serving the industry and serving the country" and systematically promoted the construction of landmark achievements such as the "18X" tourism economy blue book. Since then, themed party day activities have been held every year at revolutionary memorial halls in various places, to coordinate and promote tourism theory research, data production, social services, academic promotion, and external exchanges with Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan through party building. Efforts have been made to build the research institute and data center into a team with ideals, beliefs, and goals, a team willing to fight and sacrifice for ideals and beliefs, a team capable of determining tactical goals at different stages of development, achieving them, and steadily moving towards medium - and long-term goals.

Only by solving the development-oriented problems such as who the theoretical construction is for, who the tourism research relies on, and how to build the data system, can the research institute and data center be distinguished from hundreds of tourism colleges, scientific research institutes and other social research institutions, overcome the insufficient conditions, internal conflicts and external challenges in the development process, and get out of the seemingly impossible troughs again and again, build one after another seemingly impossible positions, and take a unique development path of tourism think tanks. Looking back, it’s not easy, comrades! When the 711 in Building No. 1 was being planned, I thought in my heart that "scholars have nothing else to serve the country, only the pen in their hands is like a knife", and I wrote the first "Tourism Insider" in my hand. At that time, I didn’t know how long it would take to realize this ideal. The frequency was set at half a month, but soon we faced the troubles of insufficient experience, manpower, funds and data. What should we do? We can only grit our teeth and persist. It’s nothing more than being more tired and sleeping less. Now, with the addition of the "Tourism Insider Special Report", the Documentation Center has accumulated more than 500 "small blueprints" and nearly 100 instructions from leaders, which are not only the growth records of the Institute and the Data Center, but also the historical documents of the innovation of my country's tourism development theory and practice. "Life is above the landscape", "Hosts and guests share", "From scenery to scenes", "Consumption is the key to understanding the tourism economy", "Business environment is the key to tourism competitiveness", "Every effort of the government can be felt by tourists", and other viewpoints and propositions, tourist satisfaction, tourism economic early warning, cultural and tourism integration, night tourism, ice and snow tourism, summer tourism, study tourism, urban tourism, the expansion of new fields one after another, social services and international exchange projects one after another, all originate from these original research reports.

Anyone can write a report and calculate data, so why can we transform these reports and data into practical innovation results? There is no other reason, because this team has always adhered to the Party's leadership in the study of philosophy and social sciences, and has always fought for the people's right to travel. The only reason why the Institute and the Data Center exist is to always think about the country's major concerns and the people's expectations, and to solve the key, difficult and hot issues in the process of tourism development, rather than personal fame and fortune. This is the ideological basis for the long-term stability of the Institute and the Data Center, and it is also the spirit. If a project fails, it can be restarted, and if the team is dispersed, it can be reunited. If the spirit is dispersed, the team will have no soul. More than ten years ago, a colleague in the agency said, you talk about serving the country and the people every day, and you always feel energetic. Aren't you tired? Besides, others may not believe it. I said, it is very tiring, but without these, what are we doing here? As for how to make others believe, except for keeping your word and taking the lead and persisting for a long time, I don't think there is any other way. Sixteen years have passed since the establishment of the institute, and thirty years of achievements have just passed half. Eight thousand miles have long passed, and it can be said that some positive results have been achieved slowly. But do all the cadres and employees in the institute fully agree with it? Do the system, industry and all sectors of society fully understand it? I don’t think so. Because of this, the original intention of fighting for the party’s tourism cause and the mission of working for the people’s tourism rights must be clearly stated to comrades, openly and repeatedly, whether in the past, present or future, until they fully agree with it in thought and are completely conscious in action. On the issue of the right and wrong position of who to serve with all your life’s learning, there must be no ambiguity, let alone the slightest wavering.

Tourism research should be strengthened in the new era

Position awareness and fighting spirit

Marx said: "Once the theory is mastered by the masses, it will also become a material force." The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to theoretical arming, insisting that every step forward in theoretical innovation is followed by theoretical arming, and constantly consolidating the common ideological foundation for the unity and struggle of the whole party and the people of the whole country. Philosophy and social sciences are important tools for people to understand and transform the world, and are an important force for promoting historical development and social progress. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "A country without developed natural sciences cannot be at the forefront of the world, and a country without prosperous philosophy and social sciences cannot be at the forefront of the world." Adhering to the guidance of Marxism is the fundamental mark that distinguishes contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences from other philosophy and social sciences.

Since the day of its establishment, the Institute (Data Center) has been determined to know China, love China, and serve China's tourism industry, and has worked hard to explore national, popular, and scientific tourism development theories. In the 1980s, tourism was developed to earn foreign exchange. In the mid-to-late 1990s, it focused on stimulating consumption, investment, and employment. Now, more emphasis is placed on the people's "poetry and distant" beautiful life, emphasizing the deep integration of culture and tourism, and promoting high-quality development of the tourism industry. With the establishment of a well-off society in an all-round way, mass tourism has entered a new stage of comprehensive development. "No worries about food, no worries about clothing, and extra money to travel" has become the common yearning and rigid demand of urban and rural residents for a better life. It is also a hot word at the annual "Two Sessions" and the focus of common concern from all walks of life. Tourism practice in each period calls for the advancement of tourism ideas and innovation of tourism theory, and guides tourism practices in various regions and industries with progressive ideas and innovative theories. To this end, we rely on major and key science and technology projects, major and key social science projects, and various vertical and horizontal projects at all levels, through monthly city tourism heat forecasts, quarterly tourism economic situation analysis and tourist satisfaction reports, seven holiday tourism market reports, summer special reports, the annual "China Tourism Economy Blue Book" and domestic tourism, inbound tourism, outbound tourism, travel services, tourist attractions, resorts, tourism accommodation and tourism group reports, as well as "Contemporary Tourism Theory Collection" and "Postdoctoral Tourism Research Library", gradually forming a paradigm for contemporary Chinese tourism research and becoming an important position for China's theoretical construction and ideological front. At the same time, we must also see that we still have a series of problems such as the team has not yet taken shape, the echelon needs to be updated, the landmark achievements are not theoretically breakthrough enough, the tourism demand side data needs to be improved, and the supply side data system construction needs to be accelerated. We are also facing the question of how long this flag can be raised.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We are engaged in a great struggle with many new historical characteristics. We are facing unprecedented challenges and difficulties. We must persist in consolidating and strengthening mainstream ideology and public opinion, promoting the main theme, spreading positive energy, and inspiring the whole society to unite and forge ahead." "Propaganda and ideological work is the work of doing people. The focus should be where people are." We must be soberly aware that the Internet is increasingly becoming the main position, main battlefield, and forefront of ideological struggle. Whether we can firmly grasp the leadership of ideological work depends on whether we can occupy the online position and win the online dominance. We must be more proactive in carrying out external propaganda, publicize my country's development path, development concept, and development mode, publicize my country's contribution to world development, refute all kinds of unwarranted doubts and false attacks against my country, and provide strong support for creating a good public opinion environment in China. To this end, we need to further strengthen our awareness of positions and strengthen our fighting spirit.

We must resolutely fight against the pessimism about the development of the tourism industry. Every once in a while, especially during the release of holiday data and the seasonal analysis meeting of the tourism economy, pessimistic arguments and questioning voices such as "the population is prosperous but the wealth is not", "the income is increased but the profit is not increased", and "the macro report is good news and the micro report is bad news" will rise. Some experts and scholars seize the main position of public opinion with the so-called courage to speak the truth, and some self-media lead the rhythm with "title party", and the mainstream view of the Spring and Autumn style of writing, which has the tendency of "no heroes in the world, but the sons become famous". In this regard, comrades in the theoretical, data and administrative lines must have a clear understanding and a high degree of theoretical confidence, data confidence and team confidence. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on tourism work and the work arrangements of the National Tourism Development Conference provide direction guidance and route guarantees for improving the modern tourism system, building a tourism power, and promoting the steady and long-term development of the tourism industry. The reform and opening up and innovative exploration of various regions and lines, and the yearning of urban and rural residents for a better life have built the most solid market foundation for the tourism economy to enter a new cycle of prosperity and development. As far as data is concerned, we cannot just look at the problem from the perspective of group tourists and traditional formats. Isn’t the consumption of self-guided tourists outside scenic spots and resorts tourism consumption? Isn’t the consumption after the car and before the trip tourism consumption? Aren’t shipping companies, car rental companies, and tourist shopping villages tourism enterprises? Again, whose position to stand on and for whom to speak has always been the fundamental issue of tourism theory construction. For personal fame and fortune and temporary discourse power, or for the construction of a tourism power that satisfies tourists and benefits the people, it determines our perspective and method of looking at problems and determines the spirit of an institution.

We must resolutely fight against the failure theory of "how long can the flag of the institute be raised?" Now the institute and the data center have already gained considerable popularity and influence within the system, among industries, and in society. Our every move and every word will attract everyone's attention. There are both recognition eyes, well-intentioned criticism, and there may also be voices of doubt or even malicious slander, which are all very normal. What we need to be vigilant about is short-term internal consumption, comprehensive denial and long-term pessimism, as well as the resulting lying flat thinking. There are always people who question that the base of such a few dozen people cannot support the growth space of strategic leading talents and young top talents, and there will be no sustainable development in the future. For a period of time, some doctors and postdoctoral fellows have not been trained for several years after entering the institute, and several middle and senior researchers have transferred to universities. Under temporary pressure, some comrades think it is a big deal and want to pack up and go back to Gao Laozhuang. Such thinking is completely wrong! How can a person, an institution, or a career be born with a golden key and grow smoothly? Of the 13 delegates to the First National Congress of the CPC, only two of them, Mao Zedong and Dong Biwu, walked up to the Tiananmen Gate Tower. They overthrew the three mountains of feudalism, bureaucracy and imperialism and built a new China. The Red Army marched 100,000 people on the Long March, lost more than half of their troops in the bloody battle of Xiangjiang River, but still won the victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Every time I read the inscription at the Monument to the People's Heroes, my eyes fill with tears: "For three years, the people's heroes who have sacrificed in the People's Liberation War and the People's Revolution will live forever! For thirty years, the people's heroes who have sacrificed in the People's Liberation War and the People's Revolution will live forever! From this, dating back to 1840, since then, in order to oppose internal and external enemies, fight for national independence and the freedom and happiness of the people, the people's heroes who have sacrificed in various struggles will live forever!" Compared with the cause of the Party and the country, the Institute, the Data Center and individuals are too small, and the ups and downs they have experienced are nothing. There were people who wanted to "break the Institute's monopoly on tourism think tanks", people who took away our technical documents, people who poached our team, and people who attacked our data. There was a trend of rebuilding the system. What was the result? The postdoctoral workstation was built, the National Tourism Administration Data Center was established, the "Tourism Review" journal was approved, two houses were bought in Guanghua Building, and a document center and data center were built. More than 20 comrades obtained professional and technical positions as researchers and associate researchers, and a number of major scientific and social science projects passed acceptance. Since the day of its establishment, the Institute and the Data Center have never been defeated by any difficulties, but have been walking with the times and growing together with the tourism industry of the Republic. The right way in the world is vicissitudes, comrades!

We must resolutely fight against the academic guerrilla theory that abandons the construction of platforms and positions. High-level theoretical construction requires a high-quality platform, and to grasp the initiative of ideological struggle, we must have a stable base. Some comrades think that we are a directly affiliated institution of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is the platform, and the courtyard of No. 9 Jia is the position. This is true, but it is not complete. For a directly affiliated unit, if it only carries one banner and rents two floors for office, it cannot form combat effectiveness. What if one day the reform of institutions requires the withdrawal and merger of the research institute and the data center? What if one day the relevant departments ask us to move out because the research institute and the data center are not internal institutions of the ministry? What if one day the team building does not achieve the ideal goal, and the echelon cannot be connected for a while, what should we do? Perhaps some comrades say that when the food is exhausted, the birds will fly to the forest, and God will not starve the blind sparrows to death. You can do research anywhere. Individuals can, institutions cannot, and research institutes and data centers cannot. In this regard, the tourism academic community has too many lessons. A team of several people left. Although the institution is still there, its academic reputation, scientific research innovation and social influence have disappeared, and it may not be able to recover for decades. Without a platform and position, without stable financial support and a continuous talent training mechanism, there are only a few famous actors who are unreliable, and most people have nowhere to go. I hope that the heads of various departments and comrades with senior titles will have high aspirations, always break the thief in their hearts, and make the greatest efforts and sacrifices to build tangible and intangible platforms and positions. Some comrades may have suffered various grievances in the process of growing up and have been unable to let go for a long time. They always feel that no one helped them at the beginning, so why should they make wedding clothes for others now? I think it is better to let go and let go. As South African President Mandela said: When I walked out of the cell and walked towards the prison gate leading to freedom, I already knew that if I could not leave the pain and resentment behind, then I would still be in prison. Platforms and positions are built for future generations and for ourselves. We are never afraid of sacrifice. What we fear is being forgotten. We are not afraid of forgetting any specific person, but we are afraid of forgetting the ideals and beliefs that we have fought for all our lives.

Tourism research in the new era must

Adhere to the leadership of the Party and stand firm on the people's side

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Theoretical consciousness and cultural confidence are the driving force of a nation's progress; advanced values and emancipated thoughts are the source of social vitality." We must conform to the people's growing spiritual and cultural needs and build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership. Literature and art cannot be slaves to the market, and theory cannot be slaves to the market. In the new historical period, we must unite and lead the national tourism academic community, accelerate the construction of a national tourism development theory centered on the people, and do a good job in corresponding theoretical propaganda work to tell the Chinese story from a tourism perspective.

The power of theory comes first from the builders' heartfelt belief. Without true belief, there will be no effective communication, acceptance and action. In the process of theory construction, dissemination and acceptance, the concepts, viewpoints and propositions derived from investigation and research, data analysis and theoretical abstraction, including the dissemination system including language, text, platform and channel, are certainly important, but the inner recognition of intellectuals and experts and scholars is more critical. In China a hundred years ago, professors who had studied abroad also had great reading difficulties in Marxist classics such as "The Communist Manifesto", "Capital" and "State and Revolution", whether in terms of language and text, or concepts and their unfolding logic. Dissemination and acceptance were even more dangerous, so why did so many people translate, disseminate and practice? Because these texts shine with the brilliance of reason and the enthusiasm of practice, pointing out the direction of saving the country and the people, giving faith to the prophets and strength to the pioneers. Only then did Qu Qiubai translate The Internationale into Chinese for the first time, and only then did Li Dazhao, Li Hanjun, Guo Moruo, Chen Qixiu, Pan Dongzhou, Hou Wailu, Wang Sihua, Guo Dali, Wang Yanan and other intellectuals relay and translate Capital, devoting their lifelong talents and efforts, and even sacrificing their precious lives. As an intellectual and expert scholar, if there is only personal fame and gain without national vision, only personal grievances without iron shoulders and morality, where is the orthodoxy? Where is the value? Can our efforts and achievements today withstand the scrutiny of future generations? Today's China has experienced the "golden decade" of inbound tourism in the 1980s and the primary stage of market-oriented mass tourism in the first two decades of the 21st century. It is urgent to answer the questions of the times such as "for whom, relying on whom and what to do" in tourism development. Only by starting from the standpoint of the people and striving to let everyone enjoy their own "poetry and distance" on this beautiful land and on this blue planet can we build a national tourism development theory that has both contemporary value and historical significance.

Traveling is a way to cultivate one's character. The Chinese nation has a tradition of "reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles" since ancient times. From "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Water Classics" to "Xu Xiake's Travel Notes" and "Six Records of a Floating Life", from "Tang Poetry Road" to "Silk Road", people appreciate the beauty of nature and understand the beauty of humanity during their journeys, and have also formed a tourism narrative system rooted in excellent traditional culture. Restricted by the level of economic and social development, "poetry and distant places" have been only the life of a few people and the dream of ordinary people for thousands of years. May 19 is the opening day of "Xu Xiake's Travel Notes", "On the last day of the third month of Guichou, I left Ninghai from the west gate, the clouds dispersed and the sun was bright, and people and mountains were all happy." Since 2013, this day has been designated as China Tourism Day. We commemorate Xu Xiake not only because he was a great geographer and writer, but also because in an era when travel was only a right enjoyed by a few dignitaries and literati, he provided ordinary people with the imagination space for grand travel. With the establishment of a well-off society and the increasing recognition of the right of the people to travel, we have seen Xu Xiake walk out of the west gate of Ninghai, followed by his children, family members and friends, and more and more workers, farmers, businessmen, students, teachers, doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, etc., gradually merging into the era of mass tourism. The tourism industry has also grown from small to large, from weak to strong, and has embarked on a tourism road with unique Chinese characteristics.

Such a rich history and such a splendid civilization should form a tourism development theory and discipline system, academic system and discourse system with Chinese characteristics. Regrettably, we do not have such a theoretical system. Our students are familiar with seaside vacation cases in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific and the life cycle theory of tourist destinations. They are familiar with Thomas Cook, TUI, JTB, Agoda, Klook, Booking, Expedia, TripAdvisor and other travel agents, and are familiar with Disney, Universal, Theme park operators such as Merlin are familiar with high-end hotel brands such as Four Seasons, Sheraton, Hilton, InterContinental, Marriott, and Westin, but few have studied the rural residents’ travel market, rural hotel formats, tourism investment and project construction, and state-owned tourism enterprises. transformation and group growth. The reason for this situation is mainly due to problems in the construction of our main front for tourism research, results publication and academic promotion in a certain historical period. Studying Xi Jinping’s cultural thoughts and strengthening cultural self-confidence are the ideological foundation and spiritual motivation to promote high-quality tourism academic research and build a high-level tourism theoretical system.

Regarding the construction focus of the national tourism development theory, I have systematically elaborated on it in my closing speech "Why and How to Build the National Tourism Development Theory" at the 2024 China Tourism Science Annual Conference on April 22 this year. First, adhere to the people-centered development concept and reconstruct the value orientation of mass tourism. Second, cultivate new quality productivity and promote high-quality development of the tourism industry. Third, adhere to the concept of green development and promote theoretical innovation and experience summary of green tourism. Fourth, practice the global civilization initiative and the diplomatic thinking of major powers, develop civilized tourism, and tell the story of Chinese tourism in the new era. The key tasks at present and in the future are to learn General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on tourism work, implement the spirit of the National Tourism Development Conference, and systematically carry out preliminary research on the "15th Five-Year Plan", especially the research on 12 key topics, and come up with high-level theoretical results and data reports as soon as possible.

Comrades,

We always adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, think about the country's major issues and the people's expectations, and strive to build a high-level national tourism development theory and a high-quality tourism data system!

We always adhere to the principle that for the tourism cause of the Party and the country and for the people's right to travel, a group of the most talented tourism scholars have gathered from all over the world on the platform of the research institute and data center, devoting all their talents and lifelong efforts to live up to the times and the travel industry.

We always firmly believe that no matter how the external environment changes, no matter how the personnel change, as long as we follow the guidance of the Party, obey the call of the Republic, and as long as we keep the people in our hearts, the China Tourism Academy and the tourism academic community will surely move forward steadily!

Author | Dai Bin Editor | Liu Xin Source | China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) Please indicate the author and source for reprinting