Dai Bin | The best tourism promotion is people’s smile

After the 2024 Two Sessions, what bottlenecks in the development of the cultural and tourism industry have been solved? Looking forward to 2025, what are the special concerns for the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry? Recently, Dai Bin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Tourism Academy, accepted an exclusive interview with Yicai, interpreting the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and reviewing the growth points of consumption in the cultural and tourism market in 2024. The full text is shared below.

How is the implementation of the proposals related to the high enthusiasm for tourism in 2024? Host: In 2024, you brought two proposals, one of which is about "Restricting the excessive use of facial recognition in tourism scenes". In fact, when we were traveling and staying last year, we felt some changes in this regard. So from your point of view, how is the feedback effect of your proposal? Dai Bin: I am very satisfied with the effect of this proposal. Before this, we noticed that many tourists had to hand in their ID cards and "scan their faces" when they arrived at the tourist destination and stayed in hotels. I am very happy to see that in the past year, with the strong support of the public security department and local governments, the "scanning face" action of facial recognition has been cancelled. We monitor the satisfaction of domestic and inbound tourists every quarter. At this point, the satisfaction of tourists has increased the most, which is a clear effect. I often say, "The people have something to say, and the government has something to respond." We are doing all the work that is beneficial to the people and to the improvement of tourism quality, and the effect is very good. Therefore, from the monitoring effect, I feel that every effort of the government can be felt by tourists. Host: Your second proposal last year was about "Optimizing the professional environment of tour guides and improving the image of tour guides." How do you feel and how are the feedbacks on your proposals so far this year? Dai Bin: There are two sentences that have been lingering in my mind: "Without the professional dignity of tour guides, there will be no future for high-quality tourism." The second sentence is "64,000 travel agencies and 700,000 tour guides will always be the most reliable force for us." Based on these two points, I proposed to optimize the professional environment of tour guides and give them the dignity they deserve. First, we must give tour guides a normal income. Second, we cannot give the entire tour guide group a very bad evaluation because of individual incidents of one or two people. I hope that each of our groups can obtain the professional dignity they deserve in the process of serving the country and serving tourists. In the past year, my proposals have also received very satisfactory responses from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We have seen that in the past year, the negative media reports on the entire tour guide group have dropped significantly. But we still have to deal with the problems. I propose that we should not label a group with "illegal cars" or "illegal guides". In the past year, we have seen the selection of special tour guides and gold medal tour guides, and even Hangzhou has included tour guides in the high-level talents and even given them houses. There are more and more reports like this, so the whole tour guide team has started to improve their mentality and become more standardized, which makes the industry more guiding and attractive. Host: Do you think offline tour guides still have their unique value? Even with the explosion of artificial intelligence technology today, do you still think that the profession of tour guide is irreplaceable? Dai Bin: Yes, I think tour guides are not only an important basic force, but also an irreplaceable force. After all, tourists need to deal with people when they travel, visit and experience the tourist destination. So I have always said that the most beautiful scenery is always people, and the best link is always people. The most beautiful tourism promotion is people's smile. So I think that tour guides are a bridge connecting tourists and residents of the destination and employees of tourism companies, and also the most effective interface. Tour guides are not just an explanation, they are not just telling you the tour guide words, they often have to solve problems. There is a National People's Congress representative named Wen Huazhi. When her vehicle had a traffic accident, she maximized the safety of tourists. Even when the rescuers arrived, she said: "Save the tourists first!" It is such tour guides who give tourists a sense of security. More importantly, over time, you will find that most of the tour guides, like us, hope to improve themselves by using their own labor income, knowledge and wisdom to serve tourists. At this time, we must have a basic judgment that no matter how advanced the technology is, tour guides are an irreplaceable force. What are the special concerns for the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry in 2025? Moderator: As a member of the CPPCC, what topics are you particularly concerned about this year? Dai Bin: This year, I will continue to pay attention to the issue of inbound tourism. Objectively speaking, after the intensive introduction of policies in the past two years, my country's inbound tourism has achieved a high-speed growth that exceeds expectations. But the issue I am concerned about now is that the door is open, and tourists are allowed to come in with a more open and confident attitude, and consumption and payment are also convenient. So what do tourists want to consume? What do they want to experience? What is the product? What is the destination? How can the consumption project scene be more modern and of higher quality? So I hope we can strengthen the construction of individual-friendly first-stop cities for inbound travel. After tourists come, the first stop may be Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Chongqing. Well, can these cities allow tourists to experience more and discover more? For example, are there more social visit points? When tourists come, besides wanting to see the streets, they want to know more about how the Chinese government works. Can we open some government courtyards? In fact, many government courtyards in our country have been opened. For example, Yangzhou in Jiangsu, Dunhuang in Gansu, Huangshan in Anhui, and even the Shucheng County Party Committee compound in Anhui. Netizens say that it is a government compound that is more convenient than going back to your own living room. This is an important window for me to understand how the local politics, economy, culture and even the entire state machinery works. This is an in-depth tour, an in-depth experience, and even a study tour. In this case, there have been experimental pilots in Hangzhou, called social visit points. The scenes with the atmosphere of human life, such as vegetable markets, grassroots police stations and even residents' mediation committees are opened to tourists as social visit points. I wonder, except for some confidential units and some office spaces, can we open other courtyards? Even after tourists make an appointment, is there anyone to explain? If inbound tourists can understand these things after coming in, will it be more helpful for them to understand today's China? I also hope that our public services and commercial services can be oriented to some of the more subtle needs of tourists. For example, can we build some lockers around some museums and scenic spots? Can we combine tourism and logistics? For example, Hangzhou has launched a project called "Easy Travel". You can check in at the hotel. Link your travel information with the airport and train station. Of course, you need to pay, this is a commercial service project. Then you will find that when you sit in a certain seat, your luggage is above your head. When you arrive at the airport, you will find that your luggage has been checked in. This seems very subtle and does not seem as exciting as a grand narrative. However, it is indeed a daily need of ordinary people. Another example is shopping. Shopping accounts for 1/3 of international tourism. You will find out how to carry some daily necessities I bought? So at this time, the role of logistics and even cross-border logistics comes into play. Then I am also concerned about the issue of marine tourism. Our country has a land area of ​​more than 9.6 million square kilometers, which is familiar to everyone, but don't forget that we also have more than 3 million square kilometers of marine land area. For example, which is our largest prefecture-level city? It is Sansha. It has 2 administrative districts and 10 communities. It has very beautiful islands and reefs, and marine resources that are very suitable for tourism. Can we develop some low-intrusion tourism facilities? On an island or reef, we cannot just put some defense equipment. Even if we build a homestay with one or two houses, it is a civilian facility. The ocean should be an important carrier to improve people's living standards and express the sea of ​​peace, development and ecology. So I suggest that when formulating the "15th Five-Year Plan", all localities can combine tourism power with marine power, and study marine tourism as an important field and an important topic, so that it becomes an important part of the "15th Five-Year Plan". Truly build a large spatial pattern of land-sea coordination and three-dimensional travel. Second, what I am concerned about is that marine tourism should guide all localities to form a joint force for the development of marine tourism. For example, I will find that many places are focusing on cruise home ports. Like Wusongkou in Shanghai, it can be done, and some similar cities can also do it, but not all cities can do it. So I hope to strengthen coordination and not do things that duplicate construction. *The above text is based on the oral statement of member Dai Bin Source | First Financial Reporter | Yin Shurong Guan Yue Editor | Liu Xin Please indicate the source for reprintingHow is the implementation of the proposals related to the high enthusiasm for tourism in 2024? Host: In 2024, you brought two proposals, one of which is about "Restricting the excessive use of facial recognition in tourism scenes". In fact, when we were traveling and staying last year, we felt some changes in this regard. So from your point of view, how is the feedback effect of your proposal? Dai Bin: I am very satisfied with the effect of this proposal. Before this, we noticed that many tourists had to hand in their ID cards and "scan their faces" when they arrived at the tourist destination and stayed in hotels. I am very happy to see that in the past year, with the strong support of the public security department and local governments, the "scanning face" action of facial recognition has been cancelled. We monitor the satisfaction of domestic and inbound tourists every quarter. At this point, the satisfaction of tourists has increased the most, which is a clear effect. I often say, "The people have something to say, and the government has something to respond." We are doing all the work that is beneficial to the people and to the improvement of tourism quality, and the effect is very good. Therefore, from the monitoring effect, I feel that every effort of the government can be felt by tourists. Host: Your second proposal last year was about "Optimizing the professional environment of tour guides and improving the image of tour guides." How do you feel and how are the feedbacks on your proposals so far this year? Dai Bin: There are two sentences that have been lingering in my mind: "Without the professional dignity of tour guides, there will be no future for high-quality tourism." The second sentence is "64,000 travel agencies and 700,000 tour guides will always be the most reliable force for us." Based on these two points, I proposed to optimize the professional environment of tour guides and give them the dignity they deserve. First, we must give tour guides a normal income. Second, we cannot give the entire tour guide group a very bad evaluation because of individual incidents of one or two people. I hope that each of our groups can obtain the professional dignity they deserve in the process of serving the country and serving tourists. In the past year, my proposals have also received very satisfactory responses from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We have seen that in the past year, the negative media reports on the entire tour guide group have dropped significantly. But we still have to deal with the problems. I propose that we should not label a group with "illegal cars" or "illegal guides". In the past year, we have seen the selection of special tour guides and gold medal tour guides, and even Hangzhou has included tour guides in the high-level talents and even given them houses. There are more and more reports like this, so the whole tour guide team has started to improve their mentality and become more standardized, which makes the industry more guiding and attractive. Host: Do you think offline tour guides still have their unique value? Even with the explosion of artificial intelligence technology today, do you still think that the profession of tour guide is irreplaceable? Dai Bin: Yes, I think tour guides are not only an important basic force, but also an irreplaceable force. After all, tourists need to deal with people when they travel, visit and experience the tourist destination. So I have always said that the most beautiful scenery is always people, and the best link is always people. The most beautiful tourism promotion is people's smile. So I think that tour guides are a bridge connecting tourists and residents of the destination and employees of tourism companies, and also the most effective interface. Tour guides are not just an explanation, they are not just telling you the tour guide words, they often have to solve problems. There is a National People's Congress representative named Wen Huazhi. When her vehicle had a traffic accident, she maximized the safety of tourists. Even when the rescuers arrived, she said: "Save the tourists first!" It is such tour guides who give tourists a sense of security. More importantly, over time, you will find that most of the tour guides, like us, hope to improve themselves by using their own labor income, knowledge and wisdom to serve tourists. At this time, we must have a basic judgment that no matter how advanced the technology is, tour guides are an irreplaceable force. What are the special concerns for the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry in 2025? Moderator: As a member of the CPPCC, what topics are you particularly concerned about this year? Dai Bin: This year, I will continue to pay attention to the issue of inbound tourism. Objectively speaking, after the intensive introduction of policies in the past two years, my country's inbound tourism has achieved a high-speed growth that exceeds expectations. But the issue I am concerned about now is that the door is open, and tourists are allowed to come in with a more open and confident attitude, and consumption and payment are also convenient. So what do tourists want to consume? What do they want to experience? What is the product? What is the destination? How can the consumption project scene be more modern and of higher quality? So I hope we can strengthen the construction of individual-friendly first-stop cities for inbound travel. After tourists come, the first stop may be Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Chongqing. Well, can these cities allow tourists to experience more and discover more? For example, are there more social visit points? When tourists come, besides wanting to see the streets, they want to know more about how the Chinese government works. Can we open some government courtyards? In fact, many government courtyards in our country have been opened. For example, Yangzhou in Jiangsu, Dunhuang in Gansu, Huangshan in Anhui, and even the Shucheng County Party Committee compound in Anhui. Netizens say that it is a government compound that is more convenient than going back to your own living room. This is an important window for me to understand how the local politics, economy, culture and even the entire state machinery works. This is an in-depth tour, an in-depth experience, and even a study tour. In this case, there have been experimental pilots in Hangzhou, called social visit points. The scenes with the atmosphere of human life, such as vegetable markets, grassroots police stations and even residents' mediation committees are opened to tourists as social visit points. I wonder, except for some confidential units and some office spaces, can we open other courtyards? Even after tourists make an appointment, is there anyone to explain? If inbound tourists can understand these things after coming in, will it be more helpful for them to understand today's China? I also hope that our public services and commercial services can be oriented to some of the more subtle needs of tourists. For example, can we build some lockers around some museums and scenic spots? Can we combine tourism and logistics? For example, Hangzhou has launched a project called "Easy Travel". You can check in at the hotel. Link your travel information with the airport and train station. Of course, you need to pay, this is a commercial service project. Then you will find that when you sit in a certain seat, your luggage is above your head. When you arrive at the airport, you will find that your luggage has been checked in. This seems very subtle and does not seem as exciting as a grand narrative. However, it is indeed a daily need of ordinary people. Another example is shopping. Shopping accounts for 1/3 of international tourism. You will find out how to carry some daily necessities I bought? So at this time, the role of logistics and even cross-border logistics comes into play. Then I am also concerned about the issue of marine tourism. Our country has a land area of ​​more than 9.6 million square kilometers, which is familiar to everyone, but don't forget that we also have more than 3 million square kilometers of marine land area. For example, which is our largest prefecture-level city? It is Sansha. It has 2 administrative districts and 10 communities. It has very beautiful islands and reefs, and marine resources that are very suitable for tourism. Can we develop some low-intrusion tourism facilities? On an island or reef, we cannot just put some defense equipment. Even if we build a homestay with one or two houses, it is a civilian facility. The ocean should be an important carrier to improve people's living standards and express the sea of ​​peace, development and ecology. So I suggest that when formulating the "15th Five-Year Plan", all localities can combine tourism power with marine power, and study marine tourism as an important field and an important topic, so that it becomes an important part of the "15th Five-Year Plan". Truly build a large spatial pattern of land-sea coordination and three-dimensional travel. Second, what I am concerned about is that marine tourism should guide all localities to form a joint force for the development of marine tourism. For example, I will find that many places are focusing on cruise home ports. Like Wusongkou in Shanghai, it can be done, and some similar cities can also do it, but not all cities can do it. So I hope to strengthen coordination and not do things that duplicate construction. *The above text is based on the oral statement of member Dai Bin Source | First Financial Reporter | Yin Shurong Guan Yue Editor | Liu Xin Please indicate the source for reprinting