Dai Bin | Tourism Thoughts: Review of Tourism Economy in 2024 and Outlook in 2025

Essentials guide

In 2024, the tourism economy will shift from a stage of rapid recovery to a new cycle of prosperous development; the overall outlook for the tourism economy in 2025 is more optimistic.

● Only when thoughts are seen and voices are heard can the high-quality development of the tourism industry be sustainable.

● The tourism industry has become an increasingly prominent strategic pillar industry, and is also a people’s livelihood industry and a happiness industry with distinct characteristics of the times.

● Whether it is building world-class tourist attractions and resorts, world-class tourist destinations, world tourist routes, or cultivating world-class tourism enterprises, we can only follow China's own tourism development path.

● All resources gifted to the people by nature and history should be shared by the people; all public spaces owned by the people should allow the people to enter freely.

● All creators who work for national prosperity and people's happiness, and all innovators for tourism rights and labor rights, should be granted the social status and professional dignity they deserve.

● In the new year, urban tourism hotspots will become hotter and warmer spots will become more obvious. China will play a more important role in the global tourism development system.

In 2024, the tourism economy will shift from a rapid recovery phase to a new cycle of prosperity and development. The main indicators of domestic tourism during the "seven festivals and two seasons" such as the Spring Festival, Labor Day, National Day, summer vacation, and ice and snow season will continue to hit record highs. Inbound tourism has achieved growth beyond expectations, and outbound tourism has recovered in an orderly manner. New tourism demands such as ice and snow, summer vacation, study, food, shopping, self-driving, and cruises have driven tourism investment growth and business innovation. The overall outlook for the tourism economy in 2025 is more optimistic, and the high-quality development of the tourism industry will continue to move forward steadily, with major development indicators hitting record highs. In addition to consumption, investment, and inbound and outbound data, we pay more attention to the voice of ideas, such as how the results of tourism development benefit the people? How to improve the modern tourism system? How can we build a tourism power? How to tell the Chinese story well and promote the construction of a world tourism community? Only when ideas are seen and voices are heard can the high-quality development of the tourism industry continue to move forward steadily.

01

In 2024, the boom begins

This year, holiday tourism is booming, and tourism in China is moving forward with warmth. During the seven holidays, including the Spring Festival, Labor Day, and National Day, as well as the summer vacation and ice and snow seasons, the number of domestic tourists and total tourism consumption have all surpassed the same period in 2019. According to comprehensive calculations by the China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), the number of domestic tourists in the country during the summer vacation (June to August) reached 1.949 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%; the total travel expenditure reached 1.31 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%. In the 2023-2024 ice and snow season, the scale of the national ice and snow tourism market will exceed 400 million people and 550 billion yuan, both of which are historical highs. Structural data such as the travel radius of urban and rural residents during holidays, the destination recreation radius, the travel rate of rural residents, and the proportion of self-driving tours also show a trend of continuous expansion, and the direction, volume, and quality of tourism flow have all shown a trend of steady progress and improvement. With the continuous release of policy dividends from the diplomatic, immigration, public security, ports, and financial departments, a series of convenient measures have been introduced for the entry of foreign nationals, and basic market promotion policies such as "Hong Kong cars going north" and "Macau cars going north" have been implemented. In addition, the cultural and tourism systems have stepped up the promotion of "Hello! China" worldwide. The number of inbound tourists throughout the year has achieved an unexpected growth, and the outbound tourism market has also shown an accelerated recovery trend. According to data from the National Immigration Administration, from January to November 2024, 29.218 million foreigners entered the country through ports, an increase of 86.2% year-on-year, close to the historical peak.

This year, beautiful cities and towns are shared by hosts and guests, and tourism in China enriches life. Tourism has become an increasingly prominent strategic pillar industry, and it is also a livelihood industry and a happy industry with distinct characteristics of the times. From scenery to scenes, from theaters to vegetable markets, every city and village is a new space for a better life that attracts people from near and far and is shared by hosts and guests. From a national perspective, sightseeing tourism is still a basic demand, and tourist attractions and resorts are still typical tourist spaces. While the frequency of travel and tourism spending are increasing, we have also noticed that tourism behavior and consumption structure are undergoing obvious changes. The introduction of new concepts such as reverse tourism, substitute tourism, white-label tourism, and special forces tourism indicates that the tourism economy is entering an era of rational consumption with diversification, personalization and quality coexisting. According to a survey by the China Tourism Research Institute, 45.5% of tourists attach importance to the food experience during the trip, and 59.2% of tourists are willing to have a deeper understanding of the destination's food culture during their travels. The night opening rate of 5A-level tourist attractions has increased to 63%, and nearly 40% of national-level tourist resorts have launched night festival performances, indoor leisure and outdoor entertainment. More and more tourists want to "take charge of my itinerary" and "I have control over my experience", and are more willing to pay for the emotional value of pleasing themselves rather than the functional value of following the crowd. As a result, more and more niche tourist destinations featuring "sincerity, kindness, warmth, tolerance, receptiveness and pampering" have become popular.

This year, science and technology drive industrial upgrading, and tourism in China is full of youth. The tourism supply chain, including aviation, shipping, online car-hailing, car rental, shared bicycles, scenic spots, resorts, hotels, homestays, catering, travel agents, tour guides, etc., has accelerated its recovery, and classic formats have accelerated innovation. More investment institutions, technology companies and market operators have come across industries. The backbone enterprises represented by the top 20 tourism groups, including China Tourism Group, OCT, BTG, Jinjiang International, Lingnan, Zhejiang Tourism Investment, Shandong Culture and Tourism, Shaanxi Tourism, Sichuan Tourism, Hubei Culture and Tourism, Ctrip, Kaiyuan, Spring Airlines, Xiangyuan, Sunac, Fosun, etc., have led the investment in major projects and the improvement of the quality and efficiency of the destination reception system. While highlighting the value of service and creative ability, more than 60,000 travel agencies and 700,000 tour guides have begun to return to reshape their industrial status and social image. Typical formats such as tourism accommodation, scenic spots and resorts, represented by star-rated tourist hotels and homestays, have also made fruitful new explorations in cultural leadership, technological empowerment and digital transformation. We are more concerned about the rise of pioneering enterprises that emphasize new productivity such as technology application, cultural creation, and artistic creation, and demonstrate leadership, growth, and value, such as the world craftsmanship of Jingdezhen Tao Culture and Tourism, the literary life of Aranya Holdings, the life aesthetics of Chengdu Culture and Tourism, the traditional hospitality of Atour Hotel, the child-friendly design of Shenzhen Aoya Design, the ice and snow tourism of Madiel Culture and Tourism, the village aesthetics of Hangzhou Xiangwai Culture and Tourism, the urban renewal of Hefei Binhu Investment Control, and the eco-tourism of Yunnan Kangteng. With the support of artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and industrial transformation, some new tracks integrating tourism and technology are taking shape, and a group of new chain leaders of digital growth are being nurtured. With the activation of more social stock resources, many small but exquisite, small but beautiful, and small but warm new cultural spaces and new tourism scenes have been created, and the tourism industry has shown unprecedented innovation vitality and development potential.

This year, transportation has shortened the spatial distance, and tourism in China has integrated urban and rural areas. The Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu-Chongqing, the Central Plains, and Guanzhong, etc., have always been the most important tourist source, distribution center, and destination. Judging from the monthly popularity of urban tourism, the travel force and reception volume of the "seven festivals and two seasons", the spatial pattern of urban and transportation determining tourism flows has become more consolidated. The "Beijing-Shanghai-Chengdu" big triangle and the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai" small triangle have gathered the basic source of domestic tourism, reception system, and innovation momentum. Starting from this, we have always emphasized that the focus of tourism work in the new era is in cities, and the focus is on rural areas. In fact, rural tourism and ancient town tourism are also carried out around urban agglomerations, and the overall market pattern presents a "large dispersion and small concentration". Benefiting from the improvement of provincial, inter-city transportation and urban public transportation systems, a one-hour living circle, a two-hour leisure circle, and a three-hour tourism circle based on central cities are taking shape. The sustained growth of the road travel and self-driving travel market has directly driven the sales growth of RVs, off-road vehicles and passenger cars, and also driven the investment expansion of car rental companies such as eHi, Hello, Shenzhou and Didi. Market operators in the infrastructure fields such as aviation, shipping, railways and highways have shifted from strategic entry into product sales, capacity release and image promotion to strategic growth in industrial investment, innovative research and development and brand growth, marking the arrival of a new stage of deep integration of transportation and tourism led by industrial capital.

This year, the policy effect continued to be released, and tourism in China is open and shared. On May 17, the central government held the National Tourism Development Conference in Beijing for the first time. General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on tourism work, focusing on improving the modern tourism system, accelerating the construction of a tourism power, and promoting the steady and long-term high-quality development of the tourism industry. All departments and localities studied and implemented the spirit of the conference, held tourism development conferences at different levels, and intensively issued policy documents to promote tourism consumption, optimize tourism supply, and promote integrated development, which greatly stimulated the willingness of urban residents to travel and effectively enhanced the confidence of entrepreneurs. The policy effect of visa and payment facilitation is particularly obvious. my country has mutually exempted visas with 26 countries, implemented unilateral entry visa exemption for 38 countries, and implemented transit visa exemption for 54 countries. From December 17, 2024, the transit visa-free stay time will be extended to 240 hours, the number of open ports will increase to 60, and the policy will apply to 24 provinces. Visa-free inbound tourists can travel across provinces within the permitted stay and activity areas. The payment facilitation measures of "large-amount card swiping, small-amount code scanning, and cash guarantee" implemented by the financial sector have effectively improved the consumption experience of foreign inbound tourists. The civil aviation departments of China, the United States and China and Europe have made substantial progress in their consultations on increasing routes and increasing the frequency of flights. While promoting the recovery of the international tourism supply chain, it has also greatly optimized the institutional environment for the development of domestic tourism.

02

In 2025, tourism thinking will rise

2025 is the year of the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the layout of the 15th Five-Year Plan. It is also a key year for the intensive introduction of macro-favorable policies to consolidate the tourism economy into a new cycle of prosperity and development. One day of holiday will be added to the Spring Festival and Labor Day, and the principle of holiday work and rest will no longer be arranged for adjustment, which will meet people's expectations and social concerns to the greatest extent, which means that the coming 2025 will be a very symbolic year in the development of contemporary tourism. Based on leading indicators such as urban and rural residents' willingness to travel, the degree of recovery of the tourism supply chain, tourism investment innovation, tourist bookings and travel agent purchasing index, and trend indicators such as the tourism market, macroeconomics and social development policies, the tourism economy will have more optimistic expectations and higher quality development in 2025. The number of domestic tourists, total tourism expenditure, holiday travel distance, destination stay time, new employment, new fixed asset investment, the number of tourism market operators such as tourist attractions, resorts, travel agencies, star-rated hotels, and graded homestays, as well as the number of inbound and outbound tourists and tourism foreign exchange income are expected to hit a record high. The progress of the times and the growth of the industry inevitably require tourism development theories and national tourism strategies that are compatible with them, and inevitably require the practice of ideological guiding ideologies that come from practice.

In the new year, the theory of national tourism development in the new era has gradually become a system. From inbound tourism in the 1980s to mass tourism that emerged in the mid-to-late 1990s, my country's tourism theory, talent training, planning investment and project construction, including the discipline system, academic system and discourse system, have been learning from developed countries in Europe and the United States. When more than 1.4 billion people widely participate in tourism activities, when new quality productivity drives tourism development with each passing day, when culture, science and technology, sports, commerce, agriculture and rural areas, land and sea and other national economic industries and social development fields are deeply integrated with the tourism industry, we no longer have any development model that can be "copied" or any national sample that can be directly benchmarked. Whether it is building world-class tourist attractions and resorts, world-class tourist destinations, world tourist routes, or cultivating world-class tourism enterprises, China can only take its own tourism development path. China's tourism development is both in the world and outside the world. It will be a reality that must be faced in the process of building a tourism power and a topic that must be answered. In the new stage of comprehensive development of mass tourism, we need to rethink the tourism development theory and guiding ideology at the strategic level, such as "who is tourism development for", "who does tourism innovation rely on", and "who leads tourism opening". Tourism development in the new era should satisfy and benefit the people, continuously meet the people's needs for a better life, and promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. We should actively develop inclusive tourism, smart tourism, quality tourism, and civilized tourism, so that tourism can play a greater role in economic and social development and the national governance system. In recent years, we have been paying attention to the travel rate, market share and growth rate of rural residents. This is a basic market that should be valued but has not received due attention for a long time. We must not only see the countryside as a destination, but ignore the countryside as a source of tourists. The fathers and brothers who have solved the "three worries and two guarantees" should not spend their time drinking, playing cards, and sunbathing during festivals. We should create conditions to protect the tourism rights of county central towns, rural residents, and "old people and children", and orderly promote welfare tourism including the disabled. We should accelerate the construction of tourism infrastructure that benefits rural areas, strive to improve the public transportation travel system, and form a new pattern of tourism development of "citizens go to the countryside for vacation and farmers go to the city for leisure" as soon as possible.

In the new year, the national tourism development strategy in the new era will be reconstructed. First, we will steadily build a spatial strategy of land-sea coordination and three-dimensional travel. This is an inevitable choice at the intersection of a tourism power and a maritime power, and it is also an inevitable requirement for demonstrating the country's maritime rights and cultivating the nation's maritime awareness. Relying on the coastal city tourism belt, we will focus on cultivating marine tourism development zones and land tourism radiation zones, and actively develop seaside city leisure, island leisure vacation, offshore yachts, ocean cruises and other formats. We will seize the development opportunities of civil aviation, general aviation, low-altitude flights, highways, high-speed railways, and inland shipping to build a three-dimensional travel transportation network for urban and rural residents. Second, we will accelerate the promotion of the time strategy of day and night interweaving and four-season travel. This is the inherent law of the new stage of comprehensive development of mass tourism. With the growth of people's willingness to travel and the enrichment of tourism experience, coupled with the improvement of infrastructure and public services, and the modernization of the business environment, tourists are no longer just "viewing the scenery during the day and sleeping at night" during their trips. Whether in spring, summer, autumn, winter, or day and night, more and more people appreciate the beauty of nature, understand the beauty of culture, and enjoy the beauty of life during their journeys. Third, we will jointly promote the market strategy of focusing on domestic and international cooperation. The vast territory, more than 1.4 billion people and the status of a developing country determine that domestic tourism will be the basic market for a long period of history. At the same time, we must provide inbound tourists with free, convenient, efficient and quality services with a more open policy system and a more perfect business environment. We will not need to and cannot maintain a trade surplus with any country at any time, but we will pay more attention to the safety, equality, convenience and quality of outbound tourists. China will become an increasingly important force in reshaping the global tourism landscape, and tourism will also play a more critical role in foreign relations, especially the "Belt and Road" initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the BRICS mechanism. Fourth, implement an industrial strategy of stock optimization and innovation-driven. With the disappearance of the demographic dividend, the release of tourism resource potential depends more on technological innovation and market innovation, and ultimately depends on the fundamental transformation of high-level talent training and education and training mechanisms. Pragmatically and efficiently cultivating a group of world-class tourism enterprises with international competitiveness and global influence has become a top priority for building a world tourism power.

In the new year, tourism will be deeply integrated into the good life of urban and rural residents and play a more important role in the national governance system. Communities are closely related to the happy life of citizens and are also the spatial carriers of urban roaming. Urban renewal and rural revitalization will bring more "small but exquisite, small but beautiful, small but warm" projects. After the National Day in 2024, Beijing announced the construction of 3 suburban parks, 15 leisure parks, 200 hectares of urban green space and 30 community micro gardens. These micro gardens embedded in communities and towns have enhanced the happiness and sense of gain of urban and rural residents, and also provided more beautiful and warm experience scenes for the new era of city roaming (City Walk) and city cycling (City Bike). We noticed that from October 2024, Beijing Olympic Forest Park has achieved a historic opening, without fences, no security checks, and shared bicycles can enter and exit freely. Shanghai's public museums no longer require reservations and identity verification, and citizens and tourists can enter freely. More and more city managers are working hard to create an open, inclusive, vibrant and orderly new urban life space. From the West Lake in Hangzhou to the Elephant Trunk Hill in Guilin, from the government compound in Yangzhou to the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing, all the resources gifted to the people by nature and history should be shared by the people; all public spaces owned by the people should allow the people to enter freely. On this beautiful land, on this blue planet, everyone can walk freely, equally and with dignity. This is what tourism should be like.

In the new year, the strategic pillar industry status of tourism will be more prominent, and market mechanisms and market players will play a more critical role. Tourism is a basic, long-term and growing demand. Tourism is a comprehensive, driving and compatible modern service industry, and has become an increasingly prominent strategic pillar industry. To study the economic role and social function of tourism, we should not only look at direct economic indicators such as the number of tourists, tourism expenditure, and employees, but also look at the comprehensive effects of stimulating consumption, driving investment, expanding employment, technology application scenarios, emotional value, city image, and people's sense of gain and happiness. Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the strategic pillar industry status of tourism has become increasingly prominent. In 2009, the central government proposed in the form of a national document to "cultivate tourism into a strategic pillar industry of the national economy and a modern service industry that the people are more satisfied with." On May 17, 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on tourism work. From small to large, from weak to strong, the tourism industry has increasingly become an emerging strategic pillar industry and a livelihood industry and a happiness industry with significant characteristics of the times. In October 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during his inspection tours of Fujian and Anhui that we should further promote the integrated development of culture and tourism, develop all-region tourism, and build cultural tourism into a pillar industry. To promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry, we must respect market rules, especially attach great importance to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit. Whether it is social cognition or governance practice, we should no longer take the differential pattern of "scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans" for granted. All creators for the prosperity of the country and the happiness of the people, and all innovators for the rights of tourism and labor rights, should obtain their due social status and professional dignity. All entrepreneurs, managers and practitioners engaged in the field of tourism should cherish their dreams and follow the light.

In the new year, the trend of hot spots in urban tourism is getting hotter and warm spots is getting warmer. China will play a more important role in the global tourism development system. The popularity of high-end cities will continue to remain high throughout the year and during major holidays. With the continuous release of thematic tourism demand such as parent-child travel, study tour, red tour, ice and snow tour, summer tour, "mountain, sea and grassland", the popularity of cities in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia is expected to accelerate. Zhangjiakou, Chifeng, Ganzhou, Qiqihar, Guilin, Ordos, Ulanhot, Zunyi, Qujing, Dali, Harbin, Yanji, Kashgar and many other small airport cities, including county-level central towns, will usher in new opportunities for tourism market expansion and industrial development. As the impact of geopolitics on international tourism weakens, the inbound and outbound tourism market will usher in a new stage of accelerated recovery. The popularity of tourism exchanges in Northeast Asia will rebound significantly, and the basic market position of ASEAN countries and Hong Kong and Macao will be more solid. Countries along the Belt and Road, such as West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, will become new highlights in the inbound and outbound tourism market. The deepening of tourism cooperation under the framework of multilateral mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS mechanism, and the China-Africa Cooperation Forum will attract more Chinese and foreign tourists. Cross-border tourism cooperation zones and border tourism pilot zones will bring new opportunities for tourism development in border areas. In the new year, more and more countries will recognize and practice global development initiatives, global security initiatives and global civilization initiatives, and the world tourism community is taking shape.

03

2025, New Development Initiatives

First, coordinate the government and the market. In the new era, tourism work must be both "free and active" and "controlled", with the focus on "free and active". Any department, any place, and any time must be in awe of the market, give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and industrial development, and accelerate the formation of a new tourism development mechanism of "government guidance, social participation, diversified investment, and market operation". Strengthen the party's overall leadership over tourism work, improve the tourism legal system, and continuously improve the modernization level of the tourism governance system and governance capabilities. Accelerate the revision of laws and regulations such as the Tourism Law, the Travel Agency Management Regulations, and the Tour Guide Management Regulations, promote administrative legislation such as the Tourism Scenic Spots and Resorts Management Regulations, and improve departmental regulations such as the Study Tour Management Measures, the Tourism Performance Management Measures, and the Tourism Safety Management Measures. Form a tourism legal and regulatory system with national laws, administrative regulations, and departmental regulations as the focus, accelerate the change of the traditional model of "tourism departments relying on standards to create brands, local mobilization and corporate investment to hang brands", and form a new pattern of tourism work that promotes and governs tourism in accordance with the law. Administrative entities should not give instructions to investment institutions, market entities, especially entrepreneurial teams, just to show their presence. They should implement inclusive and prudent supervision on new demands, new markets, and new formats. Tourism departments should invest more energy in improving the statistical system, strengthening market governance, optimizing public services, and improving tourist satisfaction, and strive to achieve significant results. The first list of world tourist attractions and resorts should be released as soon as possible, and the construction of world-class urban and rural tourist destinations, the promotion of world-class and national tourist routes, and the cultivation of world-class tourism enterprises should be put on the agenda as soon as possible. We cannot continue to follow the old path of "government issuing documents, ministries and commissions hanging signs, local governments holding conferences, and enterprises investing heavily", but should follow the principle of "national affairs are handled by the state" and provide visible policy guarantees in the fields of finance, finance, development and reform, land, diplomacy, immigration, external publicity, culture and tourism.

Second, we should coordinate supply and demand. Consumption is the key to understanding the tourism economy, and high-level tourism consumption is the premise of high-quality tourism supply. Starting from the demand side, maximizing the willingness to consume tourism and releasing the potential of tourism consumption are the focus of tourism work and the policy focus in the current and future period. After solving the "two worries and three guarantees", we should implement inclusive tourism covering all social classes, groups and age groups, improve the urban and rural public transportation system, and accelerate the formation of a new pattern of two-way tourism for urban and rural residents, where "city people go to the countryside for vacation and rural people go to the city for leisure". Only when the people are willing and have the conditions to travel, the market foundation will become thicker, and investment institutions and market players will naturally be willing to invest capital, technology and human resources in the tourism field. To this end, we should use more systematic, scientific and accurate market data, coupled with authoritative and timely interpretation, to send clear signals to the market, stabilize consumption expectations and boost industry confidence. Based on the forecast and analysis of important nodes and special markets such as holiday tourism, ice and snow tourism, travel and health care, study tourism, self-driving tourism, and railway tourism, we will coordinate the supply of high-quality tourism for the "two seasons and seven festivals" in 2025, and encourage regions with conditions to carry out festival activities that integrate culture and tourism, such as drone + fireworks shows, intangible cultural heritage markets, and New Year's Eve concerts. During the 8-day Spring Festival holiday, various indicators of domestic and outbound tourism will set new highs. The "good start" of ice and snow tourism and Spring Festival holiday tourism will lay the foundation for the "high start and high growth, and both volume and price increase" of the tourism economy throughout the year.

The third is to coordinate protection and development. To develop the tourism industry, we must first strengthen the awareness of protection. Ecological resources and cultural resources are the foundation for the development of tourism. Once destroyed, the tourism economy will become a sourceless water and a rootless tree. The development of green tourism is the inevitable result of adapting to the law of tourism development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's ecological and environmental protection has achieved a historic, turning point, and comprehensive leap. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed to basically achieve the goal of building a beautiful China by 2035. Whether it is the natural protection area system with national parks as the main body, the national botanical garden system, or the integrated development of high-tech industries and modern service industries led by green energy strategies, they are all reshaping the national land space pattern in the new stage of comprehensive development of mass tourism, and also laying the resource foundation and future direction of green tourism. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought, the tourism system and tourism industry should include green tourism in the annual work and medium- and long-term development planning priorities. Build and improve the green tourism development theory with Chinese characteristics, systematically summarize the green tourism development practices of mountains, lakes, ice and snow, forests, grasslands, deserts, hot springs, etc., focus on tourism investment and project operations in historical and cultural cities, ancient villages and towns, rural areas in cities, ethnic areas, old revolutionary areas, cultural heritage and protection areas, cultivate a number of green routes, projects and products, guide a number of green tourism equipment and equipment companies, and promote a number of green tourism development cases. In the process of green tourism theory construction and practical innovation, we should focus on the coordinated development between tourism activities and the natural environment, tourists' rights and residents' rights, and economic growth and social development. To this end, tourism departments and scientific research institutions should steadily establish green tourism monitoring points, case libraries and databases, and publish special data and special reports in a timely manner.

Fourth, coordinate international and domestic development. Further expand opening up to the outside world, improve the level of inbound tourism and consumption convenience, and boost the confidence of the industry and system in developing inbound tourism. Make good use of the tourism work coordination mechanism, coordinate with the diplomatic, immigration, public security, financial and other departments, and further expand the scope of countries with mutual visa exemption, unilateral visa exemption, cruise port visa exemption, and 240-hour transit visa exemption. Build a more friendly accommodation, catering, shopping and cultural entertainment environment, and orderly promote the mutual recognition and interconnection of UnionPay cards and international credit cards. Increase social access points including government agencies, and cultivate a number of provincial, municipal and county-level cultural and tourism deep integration demonstration areas. Promote the reform and innovation of the national tourism promotion system, reconstruct the national tourism promotion agency with a global vision and market orientation, and build a professional-oriented and professionally operated talent team. Promote provinces and cities with conditions to create distinctive first-stop destinations for inbound tourism, support the construction of overseas tourism promotion agencies with local characteristics, and form a new pattern of global tourism promotion work with existing overseas cultural centers and overseas tourism offices with division of labor, cooperation and mutual promotion.

Fifth, coordinate development and safety. The more we enter a new stage of comprehensive development of mass tourism, the more we must adhere to the coordinated development and safety, and give equal importance to development and safety, especially production safety, cultural safety and ideological safety. Life is more important than landscape, and safety and hygiene are the most basic requirements for tourism. The tourism department should strengthen cooperation with the public security, commerce, health, market supervision, education, sports and other departments, and establish a cross-departmental tourism safety coordination mechanism and a cross-regional tourism safety information sharing mechanism. Steadily build a new pattern of tourism safety work with "self-help tourists as the basis, team tourists as the focus, public security, market supervision and tourism departments working together, the society widely participates, and tourists generally benefit", and explore a new model of transnational tourism police cooperation. While applying artificial intelligence, big data, audio and video and communication signaling collection and other scientific and technological means to ensure the safety of tourists, we must attach great importance to and take effective measures to protect the privacy of tourists and the business secrets of operators. Tourists and tourism practitioners should firmly establish and consciously practice the development concept of "no safety, no tourism", and make tourism safety a hard constraint with visible process and quantifiable results in terms of service processes and quality standards. We must adhere to the concept of the rule of law and the spirit of contract, make good use of publicity and media power, and encourage tourist destinations and market players to continuously optimize a safe, friendly and responsible tourism environment.

The new year has arrived. We have seen the prosperity of tourism and heard the voice of tourism ideas.

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