Dai Bin | Accelerate the construction of a strong tourism country and promote high-quality development of the tourism industry

Recently, Dai Bin, President of the China Tourism Academy, published a signed article in Red Flag Manuscripts titled "Accelerating the Construction of a Tourism Power and Promoting High-Quality Development of the Tourism Industry". Qiushi.com published the full text, which is shared below.

Developing the tourism industry is an important focus for promoting high-quality development. On May 17, 2024, the National Tourism Development Conference was held in Beijing. General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on tourism work, fully affirmed the outstanding achievements made in my country's tourism industry, and emphasized "focusing on improving the modern tourism system and accelerating the construction of a tourism power" and "promoting the steady and long-term development of high-quality tourism". General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and instructions on tourism work have profoundly explained the development trends of the contemporary tourism industry and deepened the understanding of the laws of tourism development. They are an action guide for building a tourism power and promoting high-quality development of the tourism industry. We must thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and instructions on tourism development, adhere to the use of culture to shape tourism and tourism to promote culture, and unswervingly follow the unique path of China's tourism development.

Tourism is a strategic

Pillar industries,

People's livelihood industry and happiness industry

Tourism has increasingly become an emerging strategic pillar industry. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to tourism, leading the development of my country's tourism industry into a fast lane and successfully blazing a unique path for China's tourism development. Tourism has increasingly become an emerging strategic pillar industry, a people's livelihood industry and a happiness industry with significant characteristics of the times. In the first quarter of 2024, domestic tourists spent a total of 1.52 trillion yuan on travel, a year-on-year increase of 17%, which played a significant role in promoting consumption and stimulating domestic demand; there were more than 141 million people entering and exiting the country, a year-on-year increase of 117.8%. Crowds of tourists are surging during the holidays, and traveling to celebrate the New Year has become a new folk custom. During the eight-day Spring Festival holiday in 2024, there were 474 million domestic tourism trips across the country, a year-on-year increase of 34.3%, and a year-on-year increase of 19.0% over the same period in 2019. Domestic tourists spent a total of 632.687 billion yuan on travel, a year-on-year increase of 47.3%. Tourism has become an indispensable part of people's daily life, and China has formed the world's largest domestic tourism market.

Tourism drives economic growth, expands employment and optimizes the economic structure. Tourism is final consumption and comprehensive consumption, with high correlation, wide radiation and strong driving force. It has the characteristics of "one industry thrives and all industries prosper". During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the added value of tourism and related industries accounted for a growing proportion of GDP, and the comprehensive contribution of tourism to the national economy exceeded 10%. In 2023, the country's A-level tourist attractions will directly employ more than 10 million people, and tourism will drive comprehensive employment of nearly 80 million people. As the demand in the tourism market escalates, tourism consumption tends to be diversified, personalized and quality-oriented. The modern tourism industry has entered a virtuous cycle in which "quality demand guides supply innovation, and innovative supply promotes demand upgrade". The tourism industry integrates cross-border with other industries. , coordinated development, new products, new formats and new business models are constantly emerging. With the integrated development of culture, art, technology, sports and tourism, as well as the widespread application of new productivity represented by artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and digitalization, sports + tourism, tourism + health and wellness are booming, and there are new demands for red tourism and study tourism. and new business formats continue to emerge, and a new round of tourism investment and entrepreneurial innovation climax is approaching.

Tourism is a people's livelihood industry and a happiness industry with distinctive characteristics of the times. The Chinese people have advocated "reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles" since ancient times. Tourism carries the new mission of cultural inheritance and civilization creation. Enhancing cultural confidence and enhancing cultural soft power are the requirements of the times for a powerful tourism country. With the establishment of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the material needs of the people have been greatly met, and the spiritual and cultural needs have become more and more prominent. People are more looking forward to the vigorous study of book business and the travel of home, country and world. In September 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at a symposium of expert representatives in the fields of education, culture, health and sports that “the cultural industry and the tourism industry are inseparable. We must persist in using culture to shape tourism and tourism to highlight culture, promote the integrated development of culture and tourism, and let people Feel the beauty of culture and cultivate the beauty of the soul while appreciating the beauty of nature." The development of tourism is conducive to promoting the all-round development of people, and plays an increasingly important role in inheriting China's excellent traditional culture, carrying forward revolutionary culture, developing advanced socialist culture, and creating modern civilization.

Tourism is a bridge for spreading civilization, exchanging culture and promoting friendship. From the people-to-people diplomacy at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the current promotion of international exchanges and cooperation in the form of China-Foreign Tourism Year, tourism development has always been a disseminator of Chinese civilization and a folk messenger of cultural exchanges. It is a soft power to enhance the dissemination and influence of Chinese civilization and enhance its international discourse power. In January 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his congratulatory letter to the "China-Italy Cultural and Tourism Year" that "I hope that people from the cultural and tourism circles of China and Italy will jointly depict the splendid scenery of the dialogue between ancient civilizations in the new era and make new contributions to the diversity of world civilizations and the exchange and mutual learning of different cultures". On May 22, 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the 14th China-US Tourism High-level Dialogue: "Tourism is an important bridge for the people of China and the United States to communicate, exchange, and get to know each other." The determination to develop inbound tourism in the new era has never wavered, and policy tools have become more and more perfect. At present, my country has signed visa-free agreements with ordinary passports with 23 countries and implemented unilateral visa-free agreements with 12 countries. With the growth of national strength and the optimization of policies, the outbound tourism market for Chinese citizens will continue to expand. Tourists go out, and exchanges and cooperation must keep pace with the times. It is an important mission in building a strong tourism nation to strengthen country-specific research on tourist source and destination areas, innovate bilateral and multilateral exchange mechanisms, take the initiative to set agendas, implement global civilization initiatives, and enhance my country's voice and influence in the world tourism development system.

High-quality development of tourism industry

Important focus

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the tourism industry has entered a fast lane of development, the market scale has continued to expand, the tourism supply system has been improved, new formats such as green tourism and smart tourism have emerged rapidly, and the people's sense of gain and happiness in tourism has increased day by day. The in-depth development of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has provided favorable conditions for promoting the transformation of the tourism industry from resource-driven to innovation-driven. The diversified, personalized and quality demands of tourists are also driving the improvement of infrastructure and public services, as well as the innovation, research and development and service improvement of the tourism industry. It takes multiple measures to promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry in order to achieve long-term stability.

The high-quality development of the tourism industry must protect the rights and interests of tourists. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly made important instructions on improving tourism infrastructure, public services and tourism environment, and providing tourists with high-quality products and services. From April 25 to 27, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during his inspection in Guangxi that "we must adhere to the people-centered approach, shape tourism with culture, promote culture with tourism, improve style and taste, strive to create a good environment suitable for business, living, entertainment and tourism, and build a world-class tourist city". With the increase in the number of urban and rural residents traveling and the maturity of tourism experience, tourists have put forward upgraded requirements not only for travel agencies, tour guides, tourist attractions and star-rated hotels, but also for public services and business environment. Especially during holidays and the peak summer tourism season, tourist satisfaction is a barometer for observing the high-quality development of the economy and society. The people have an increasingly urgent expectation to solve the problems of difficulty in booking and parking for popular scenic spots and cultural and museum venues during the peak tourist season, forced consumption, induced consumption, price fraud, and big data killing of old customers. In order to develop inbound tourism, it is also necessary to effectively clear the bottlenecks for foreign personnel to come to China for business, study and tourism. We must learn to listen to the voices of tourists through traditional media and Internet platforms, and incorporate tourist satisfaction into the binding indicators for high-quality development of the tourism industry in a timely manner.

The high-quality development of the tourism industry should benefit the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping is very concerned about whether the people can benefit from the development of tourism. During his inspection in Ningxia from June 8 to 11, 2020, he pointed out that "to develop modern characteristic agriculture and cultural tourism, we must implement the people-centered development concept, highlight the dominant position of farmers, and put the protection of farmers' interests first. We must explore and establish a more effective and long-term interest linkage mechanism to ensure that the villagers continue to benefit." On April 23, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping demanded at the symposium on promoting the development of the western region in the new era to develop county economies with their own characteristics, cultivate a number of strong agricultural counties, large industrial counties, and famous tourist counties, promote farmers' employment and income increase nearby, and promote urbanization according to local conditions. Yucun Village, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, has changed from "selling stones" to "selling scenery". The former mine pit has turned into rapeseed fields and lotus ponds, and has embarked on a new path of beautiful ecology, prosperous industry, and rich people. Beiji Village, Mohe City, Heilongjiang Province, has done a good job in "ice and snow" and developed the ice and snow economy, and the villagers have made a living from tourism. The development of some tourist destinations is too focused on the growth of visiting tourists and investment institutions, and to some extent ignores the interests of local residents, which affects the sustainable development of the tourism industry. It is necessary to include tourism-driven industrial development, employment and improvement of living standards of destination cities and villages as important indicators for high-quality development of the tourism industry, and take practical and effective measures to promote its realization.

The high-quality development of the tourism industry should focus on improving the level of traditional industries. The tourism industry has strong economic attributes and a high degree of marketization. There are many tourism investment institutions and market entities of various sizes and types, including travel service providers represented by travel agencies, online travel agents and tour guides, tourism accommodation providers represented by hotels and homestays, tourism and leisure operators represented by scenic spots, resorts, and leisure blocks, as well as scientific and technological innovation companies such as map navigation, language interaction, and mobile payment. The strength of the competitiveness of tourism enterprises directly determines the quality of tourism development and the level of subsequent investment in factors such as capital, technology, and R&D creativity. The quality demand of the majority of tourists is forcing innovation and structural optimization on the tourism supply side. The traditional tourism development model of building scenic spots and collecting tickets based on the natural resources and historical and cultural heritage of mountains and rivers is being replaced by modern tourism development models and new formats driven by scientific and technological research and development, cultural creativity, and scene creation. To build a strong tourism country and develop the tourism industry with high quality, it is necessary to cultivate more competitive, influential, and leading tourism market entities. It is necessary to further improve the tourism economic monitoring system, continuously increase industry concentration and R&D investment, extend the industrial chain, enhance the driving force and internationalization level, and form a new industrial pattern of "large groups dominating, small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in operations, and micro-enterprises digitalizing and innovating."

High-quality development of tourism

Promoting the construction of a strong tourism nation

To build a strong tourism country and promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry, we must firmly grasp the goals and tasks, focus on solving outstanding problems, adhere to "upholding integrity and innovation, improving quality and efficiency, and integrated development", coordinate "government and market, supply and demand, protection and development, domestic and international, development and security", systematically plan, scientifically layout, optimize supply, and deepen reform.

Strengthen top-level design, systematic planning and scientific layout. Further clarify the guiding ideology, strategic goals, key tasks and work measures for building a world tourism power and promoting high-quality development of the tourism industry, make simultaneous layouts in economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction, and ecological civilization construction, and vigorously promote the integrated development of tourism and related industries in the national economy. Improve the deliberation and coordination mechanism for tourism development, strengthen the construction of high-end tourism think tanks, and build a national tourism development theory and forward-looking policy research system. Cultivate new national tourism routes to form a tourism space pattern of point radiation, belt series, and network coordination. Localities should study and solve the specific problems faced in building a world tourism power and promoting high-quality development of the tourism industry, and form new measures to develop the tourism industry in accordance with local conditions, in accordance with fields, and in keeping with the times.

Fully protect and rationally utilize ecological resources and cultural heritage. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "green waters and green mountains are gold and silver mountains", "ice and snow are also gold and silver mountains", and "promote the formation of green development methods and lifestyles". Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought has pointed out the direction and clarified the path for the unity of economic and social benefits of tourism development, and effectively promoted the development of ice and snow tourism, summer tourism, and ecotourism. After years of practical innovation, my country has formed a number of new tourism products such as forest tours, grassland tours, mountain tours, bird watching, science popularization, and research and study that are widely accepted by the market. To develop tourism, we must conduct solid and in-depth research on history and culture. The overall protection and inheritance of historical and cultural cities, blocks, and towns must "keep people, see things, and have life". Facing the emerging urban roaming, county tourism, and rural tourism, we must be based on regional characteristics, preserve local culture, improve supporting facilities, and use small but fine, small but beautiful, and small but warm tourism products and services to create more leisure environments that are shared by hosts and guests and suitable for living and traveling. Relying on national parks, nature reserves, and natural resources such as mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, and sands, we will orderly develop ecotourism and research and study tourism. Relying on national cultural parks, we will make good use of world-class, national and local historical and cultural resources and intangible cultural heritage to cultivate more cultural relics theme trails that take into account both social and economic benefits.

Improve the supply and service quality of tourism. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the tourism industry is an emerging industry that is in the ascendant. Just like the "toilet revolution", we should continuously strengthen the construction of various software and hardware to promote the development of the tourism industry. Focus on promoting the construction of world-class tourist attractions and resorts with profound cultural heritage, national-level tourist leisure cities and blocks with distinctive cultural characteristics, cultivate more best tourist villages with international influence, and better meet the leisure needs of local residents, the living needs of travelers and the vacation needs of tourists. Tourist leisure blocks should tap into traditional culture, demonstrate local cultural confidence and form a visible, touchable and perceptible living environment and block atmosphere, and shape the future of the blocks with fashion, health and technology. Focus on cultivating a group of tourism groups and service brands with global influence, and unswervingly support state-owned, private and joint-stock tourism enterprises to become bigger and stronger. Guide and support new tourism market entities, help traditional formats transition to marketization and modernization, support qualified tourism enterprises to "go global", and promote the international layout of the tourism industry. Guide tourism enterprises to strengthen the application of science and technology and cultural creation, accelerate the cultivation of new quality productivity such as culture, art, technology, venture capital, etc. necessary for the high-quality development of the tourism industry, and continue to promote format innovation, model innovation and product innovation. Develop smart tourism, improve tourism convenience and experience, advocate tourism for good, and provide warm caring services to special groups such as the elderly.

Implement domestic tourism promotion and inbound tourism promotion plans. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that efforts should be made to improve the modern tourism system, accelerate the construction of a tourism power, and enable the tourism industry to better serve a better life, promote economic development, build a spiritual home, showcase China's image, and enhance mutual learning among civilizations. Promoting the coordinated development of domestic tourism, inbound tourism, and outbound tourism markets is the market foundation for a tourism power and high-quality development of the tourism industry. In recent years, outbound tourism has entered a period of stable development. Ensuring the safety, convenience, equality, and quality of our citizens' overseas travel should be the policy orientation of outbound tourism in the new era. It is necessary to further expand the list of countries with visa-free entry and provide inbound tourists with a more friendly payment, language, and Internet environment. Establish a market-oriented and professionally operated national tourism promotion agency, and incorporate tourism into multilateral issues such as the "Belt and Road", the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS mechanism, and China-ASEAN. Organize the Year of Culture and Tourism and the International Tourism Fair, and further expand the list of border tourism pilot zones and cross-border tourism demonstration zones on the basis of pilot projects. Improve the tourism statistics system, establish and improve the tourism development evaluation system, and conduct a national tourist satisfaction survey on a regular basis. Improve the tourism law enforcement cooperation mechanism, strengthen the linkage of tourism safety and rescue departments, and optimize the international cooperation mechanism. Improve tourism laws, regulations and industrial policies, focus on the goal of building a strong tourism nation, strengthen national tourism strategy research and the "15th Five-Year Plan" tourism planning. Improve the modernization of the tourism governance system and governance capacity, strengthen the party's unified leadership over tourism work, and form a new pattern of tourism work with joint management by the party and government, the main focus of cultural and tourism departments, cooperation from relevant departments, extensive participation from all sectors of society, and joint construction and sharing by the people.

Author | Dai Bin Editor | Liu Xin Source | Red Flag Please indicate the author and source when reprinting articles