Dai Bin | China's Rich Planting Life in Tourism - Special Comment on the 2024 Labor Holiday Tourism Market

The 2024 Labor Day holiday continues the growth trend from New Year's Day, Spring Festival to Qingming Festival, with major indicators such as domestic tourist numbers, travel expenses, per capita travel radius, destination recreational distance, and inbound and outbound tourist numbers reaching historic highs. According to the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the five-day Labor Day holiday, a total of 295 million domestic tourists traveled nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%, and a comparable increase of 28.2% compared to the same period in 2019; The total expenditure of domestic tourists on travel was 166.89 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%, and a comparable increase of 13.5% compared to the same period in 2019. Tourism is accelerating its entry into the daily lives of urban and rural residents, from major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to small airport cities and county-level central towns. Every inch of this beautiful land has become a new space for a beautiful life shared by hosts and guests. The consumption of daily life has strengthened the market foundation for high-quality development of cultural and tourism integration, and expanded the innovation space for tourism investment and market entities.

1、 The tourism market blooms like flowers and flows deep like still water

The connection between Labor Day and Youth Day adds passion for struggle and youthful vigor to the holiday. The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League has launched 18 youth city walking routes. Young people are becoming the definers of tourism in the new era. They enter revolutionary memorial halls, red tourism scenic spots, major national treasures, and scientific installations to pay tribute to the martyrs with their youth and cultivate a strong sense of patriotism. On the morning of May 1st, tens of thousands of tourists watched the raising of the national flag and singing the national anthem at Tiananmen Square. Ten thousand people performed live on Lianhua Island in Changchun and sang "Sing to the Motherland" together. Young people gathered at the former site of the Ruijin Soviet State Bank to experience the faith of "The Wind Chaser" on site. "So close, so beautiful" Hebei released 2000 UAVs in Tangshan to pay tribute to Mr. Li Dazhao, the founder of the CPC, with Up, Youth. The launch of Chang'e-6 has attracted a large number of tourists to pursue rockets in Wenchang, feeling the strength of the country and the power of technology. The cheerleading team of Sun Yat sen University's Dianhong Tea brought the symphony to the village supermarket, and the singing of "China's Bright Red Sun Never sets" was loud and clear. More tourists vividly demonstrated vitality and fashion at over 20 music festivals across the country, including the strawberries in Beijing Shiyuan Park, Yuanqi Forest in Dalian and Xiamen, and New Youth in Tai'an.

With the completion of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, "not worrying about food and clothing, and having surplus money to travel" has become a vivid portrayal of a better life. Poetry and distant dreams are illuminating China's national rejuvenation and people's happiness. No matter what attitude they hold towards the compensatory leave system before the holiday, from the moment they finish work on April 30th, both workers and non workers almost instantly become tourists. Since the first day of the holiday, topics such as "waiting for invoicing", "100 million people everywhere", and "everyone, everyone" have been trending frequently. Every holiday, the traffic and scenic spots are always congested, and tourists are always roast and happy. Maybe this is what normal life should be like. In this April sky where every tree blooms, we see more and more families driving away, young people soaring together, middle-aged and elderly people embarking on a new life of living and recuperation, and 10.5% of rural residents traveling. The number of rural residents traveling now accounts for 16.9% of domestic tourists during holidays. Enabling more people to travel, afford to travel, have fun, and enjoy a peaceful and happy life along the colorful journey is an inevitable requirement of the people-centered national tourism development theory in the new era, and also the practical foundation for the high-quality development of the tourism industry.

Compared to last month's Qingming Festival, tourists walked further and stayed longer during the Labor Day holiday. The average travel radius of tourists nationwide is 187.6 kilometers, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%; The average recreational radius of tourist destinations is 16.8 kilometers, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%. Tourists have more diverse ways of traveling, such as visiting museums and exhibitions, camping by the river, singing at concerts, hiking in the desert, and watching stars in the wilderness. From Zibo to Harbin, from Tianshui to Baoding, hot cities that rely on "food" power to create circles are frequently emerging. Tourists will visit a city because of a series of barbecues, a bowl of Spicy Hot Pot, a piece of donkey meat fire, a concert and music festival, a marathon and an e-sports competition, and more likely, they will start off with their bags because of the quality of life in a place with high cost performance. During this holiday, we have seen that the abundance of cultural and entertainment products in the destination has become an important factor affecting tourists' decisions. Cultural creation spaces such as Luoyang Hanfu Show, "Yanji Princess" cross dressing travel photography, Hangzhou Xiaobaihua Yue Opera, Shanghai Rainbow Chorus, and Beijing Nine Person Drama have become new urban tourism scenes. Thanks to the cultural influence, even when tourists check in for local cuisine and urban leisure, they travel with a sense of ceremony, bringing a rare sense of relaxation and healing to their holiday life.

While the demand for tourism reflects individuality, tourism consumption is also becoming mature and rational. Money that should be spent will not be stingy, and money that should not be spent will also be tightly held in the bag. More and more young people are no longer blindly chasing popular tourist destinations and internet celebrity check-in points, but choosing niche tourist destinations with relatively high cost-effectiveness, such as Yanji in "Ping Dai Korea", Mangshi in "Ping Dai Southeast Asia", and small airport cities such as Tumushuke, Baoshan, Huaihua, Chifeng, Hotan, etc. The popularity of Labor Day holiday has significantly increased. Compared with the cities that were previously out of the circle, these small airport cities or low-end cities that were replaced seem to have become popular on the Internet, and even rarely see tourists sharing on social media. They are in a windy place, quietly watching the flowers bloom and leaves fall; On the beach where the tide recedes, let the white sand slip by on your toes; In living ancient towns such as Xitang, Haining, Zhouzhuang, and Luzhi, in one's own vacation home, looking back at the lights on the road when looking back at the mountains and waters, it is like a corner of moss with no intention of living. Tourism can have internet celebrities, but internet celebrities are not everything about tourism. Today's tourism has become integrated into daily life, appearing calm and composed, but with a touch of patience and composure in the face of adversity. That's good.

2、 Tourist destinations are as bright as the stars and as warm as the sunshine

Regions with large permanent populations and high levels of economic development, especially the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing Tianjin Hebei, middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu Chongqing, Guanzhong, Central Plains and other urban agglomerations, remain the most important tourist source areas, distribution centers and destinations. According to monitoring by the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Sichuan, Hebei, Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hunan have the highest tourist reception volume, accounting for 58.7% of the total reception volume across the country; Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hebei, Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hunan have relatively leading numbers of tourists, accounting for 57.8% of domestic tourists in China. A special survey shows that when tourists choose a destination, 29.3% of them believe that "big cities are rich and convenient in all aspects, although they may have more people and higher prices", and still choose to travel to big cities, with the highest selection rate. There are also many tourists who are concerned about cost-effectiveness and have gone to some small and medium-sized cities with strong smoke and fire, ranking second with a proportion of 26.3%. Big data monitoring shows that cities such as Chongqing, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, Hangzhou, and Tianjin receive a large number of tourists, accounting for 17.2% of domestic tourists in China. The popularity of characteristic cities such as Zhengding, Luoyang, Taizhou, Liuzhou, Chaozhou, Yantai, Quanzhou, Yanji, Nantong, and Maoming has increased relatively significantly.

In this beautiful land, every city full of fireworks and cultural flavor, every village that showcases the beauty of ecology and the happiness of the people, may be a new space for a beautiful life shared by both hosts and guests. The Kaijiang Fish Food Festival tourism season launched by Jilin City during holidays has directly driven a 2-6 fold increase in tourist reception for museums such as Confucian temples, shipyards, and Manchu culture. The 41st Peony Culture Festival in Luoyang, together with Longmen Grottoes and Luoyi Ancient City, has become the top stream of holiday tourism, setting a new historical high in reception and tourism revenue, bringing innovation to tourism formats and experiential projects. The China-Chic performing arts, art experience, camping bazaar, rural stroll and other projects in Wuxi have created a new scene for holiday fun and a new experience for tourism and leisure. During this holiday, we can see that metropolitan areas and central cities are still the tourism spaces that carry the largest tourist flow and consumption. The "three zones and one circle" (scenic spots, blocks, resorts, and commercial districts) receive 62.9% of the total number of tourists, but the destination heat and hotel occupancy rates in lower tier cities, main cities, and county areas have increased significantly. With the growth of the self driving tourism market and the growth of the car rental industry, the rental volume, passenger flow, and consumption of popular self driving routes such as the Qinggan Ring Road, Xinjiang Ring Road, Hohhot Grassland Ring Road, Western Sichuan Ring Road, and Western Yunnan Ring Road have significantly increased.

The ancient town is a nostalgic memory in the process of modernization, a cultural landmark in the international perspective, and also a spatial support for the high-quality development of cultural tourism integration. A survey shows that 93.4% of tourists have visited ancient towns, where historical buildings, local cuisine, and quality of life are the main factors attracting tourists. "Ancient towns", "ancient villages" have become high-frequency words for holiday tourism. Zhouzhuang, Wuzhen, Puyuan, Xitang, Yanguan, and the hometown of Xu Zhimo in Haining have all attracted tourists from all over the country with their up-to-date "cultural, Western, and fireworks atmosphere" during this holiday. Due to the development potential and innovative demand of ancient town tourism, the China Tourism Research Institute will jointly hold a special seminar with Jiaxing City and release a series of research results on the construction of ancient town tourism destinations.

The complementary relationship between government and market, nature and culture is the foundation of contemporary tourism, and also the underlying structure for the high-quality development of cultural tourism integration. We have seen that internet famous cities such as Zibo, Quanzhou, Luoyang, and Dali, which have frequently emerged in recent years, are orderly building institutional, market, and industrial foundations for "long-lasting popularity", and have achieved remarkable results during this holiday. The tolerant innovation of Weifang Kite Festival has brought more relaxation to participants, and high emotional value has become the traffic code for tourism destinations to become popular, making healing tourism a realistic possibility. Whether it is tourists, tourism practitioners, or cultural and tourism system officials, they should all see that a new era of mass tourism with market sinking and demand upgrading has arrived. Tourism is a way of life in different places, and destination cities and rural areas should release more goodwill and warmth to the market, retaining tourists with high-quality lifestyles, comprehensive public services, and modern commercial environments. While attracting foreign market investment, it is also necessary to cultivate the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of local people, and effectively assist tourism market entities in research and development innovation from aspects such as land, taxation, and training. Tourism practitioners should also be able to go to the central towns of Jinzhai County in Anhui Province, like the young people who wrote 'I write youth in the countryside', to the villages rich in natural and cultural resources, and have great potential in the vast world of cultural and tourism integration and development. Every effort made by the government can be felt by tourists. During the holiday season, local governments have vacated parking lots for government agencies and public institutions to improve tourist satisfaction, and added temporary toilets for concerts and popular scenic spots. The "red vests" of various regions in Hunan have drawn civilized "scenic lines". More and more regions such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Zhuhai, Yichang, etc. no longer require tourists to "brush their face" to stay in hotels or enter scenic spots, which facilitates tourists' accommodation and sightseeing activities. 79.9% of tourists expressed satisfaction. Wuhu, Zhangye, Tianshui and other places have explored the construction of a modern tourism governance model through major technological projects, using artificial intelligence technology to assist in holiday passenger flow regulation. It is worth noting that police in Hangzhou, Dalian, Qingdao, Urumqi and other places have become beautiful scenic spots in the itinerary while ensuring the safety of holiday tourism, either due to the patrols of senior police officers, or due to their cool demeanor, or due to their horseback riding.

3、 The boundary of the tourism industry is being reconstructed as it disappears

Tourist attractions and resorts have always been the fundamental resources of mass tourism and classic forms of tourism economy. It is worth noting that historical and cultural blocks, tourism and leisure blocks, and urban commercial districts are carrying more and more passenger flow and consumption, becoming key supports for expanding tourism space, innovating business formats, and creating content. Universal Studios in Beijing, Disney in Shanghai, Chimelong Happy World in Guangzhou, Three Kingdoms City in Wuxi, Changzhou Dinosaur Park, theme parks and tourist resorts such as Happy Valley, Fangte, Yinji, Haichang Ocean World, Mediterranean Club, etc., as well as new paradises such as the "Dream of Red Mansions" tourism performance in Langfang, Hebei, Bubble Mart in Beijing, Lego Paradise, and Luogang Park in Hefei, have become popular choices for leisure, parent-child tourism, and research tourism. Major scientific facilities such as Guizhou's "Tianyan" and Sichuan's "Lasso", as well as popular science parks such as the geographical boundary markers between the north and south of Bengbu, have become new tourist attractions. The screening of "Crossing Dehua Street" in Zhongmou Film Town has sold out and achieved considerable market benefits. Big data monitoring shows that in 2024, during the labor holiday, the Confucius Temple Qinhuai Scenic Belt, Hangzhou West Lake, Zhongshan Scenic Area, Jinji Lake Scenic Area, Hengdian Film and Television City, Datang Furong Park Scenic Area, Mount Taishan Scenic Area, Dali Old City, East Lake Ecological Tourism Scenic Area, Olympic Park and other scenic spots rank first.

With the rapid recovery of the tourism market, culture and tourism are accelerating their integration at a deeper, wider, and higher level. The Palace Museum, China Archaeological Museum, Sanxingdui Museum, Lingjiatan in Ma'anshan City, Haihunhou in Nanchang City and other national archaeological site parks have become hot spots for study tours, and all first-class museums in the country have reached their visitor reception limit. A survey shows that more than half of the tourists participated in two cultural and leisure activities. Museums, popular bookstores, and art galleries in historical and cultural districts are the most commonly visited cultural and leisure places by tourists, while local residents prefer cultural centers, cinemas, and commercial districts. In many places, elements such as performing arts, intangible cultural heritage, cultural heritage, and cuisine are integrated with tourism. Traditional night markets such as Kaifeng, Nanning, and Changsha focus on "taste tours" and "strolling, eating, and traveling". Cities such as Chengdu, Changzhou, Yantai, and Taiyuan are rich in fireworks and cultural flavor. Activities such as Luoyang Hanfu and Wuxi Xiju Classic Drama Exhibition have become new choices for tourists. It is worth noting the rise of cultural and tourism micro dramas, such as "My Way Home is Wind", "Waiting for You for Three Thousand Years", "Escape from the British Museum", "Your Island Has Arrived", etc., which have reached hundreds of millions of views on various platforms.

It is gratifying that as classic tourism formats and representative groups, travel agencies and tour guides have never been absent from the market innovation of holiday tourism. China Travel Service promotes the "World Cultural Heritage Discovery Tour" and "Little Beast Travel Season", while Guangzhou Travel Service launches "Water System Tourism", "Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism", and "Food Tourism". Spring and Autumn Tourism creates multiple new "airplane cruise" products. Fliggy, Heytea, and the China Tea Circulation Association jointly launch a new tea tourism and group tour route to explore the hometown of oolong tea, all of which have achieved expected market feedback and commercial returns. Beijing's "tour guide station", Shanghai Hongkou's "alley tour guide", and tour guides in Xi'an, Nanjing, and other places have been praised by tourists as the "walking encyclopedia of museums". With the care and support of the government and various sectors of society, the 700000 tour guide group is regaining market trust, social recognition, and professional dignity through their own efforts.

The financial indicators such as room occupancy rate, average room price, and operating profit of the tourism accommodation industry have performed well during the Labor Day holiday, becoming a strong support for stabilizing expectations and boosting confidence in the tourism industry. Lingnan Group adheres to the design concept of "life above landscape" in Nansha Garden, Lingnan No. 5 positioned for cultural heritage revitalization, Senbo, a high-end resort hotel brand under Kaiyuan Tourism, and Changcheng Commune composed of 36 designed villas, among other contemporary Chinese resort hotel operators, leading the new direction of the tourism and accommodation industry with their elegant environment, fashionable design, and quality service. Peace Hotel, Beijing Hotel, Huatian Hotel, Hongshan Hotel, Quanji and other mid to high end hotels under the top 20 Chinese tourism groups such as Jinjiang, First Travel Service, Hunan Tourism Investment, Hubei Tourism Investment, Huazhu, as well as economy hotels such as Seven Days Inn, Home Inn, Hanting, and chain hotels such as Dongcheng, have become new choices for holiday tourism accommodation due to their historical heritage, fashionable lifestyle, or digital sense of the future. The tree frog tribe, which is the focus of cultural tourism in rural areas, Beijing Wachang Hotel, Shiguang Great Wall, Mount Huangshan Free Valley, and the home stay brands in Mogan Mountain, which inherit the rural cultural heritage, have launched the package products of accommodation, breakfast, parking, intangible cultural heritage experience of local life for the family market, enabling more tourists to realize their dreams of taste buds blooming and dreams blooming.

Market entities in aviation, railway, shipping and other fields actively invest in the tourism industry, and have delivered impressive results during the Labor Day holiday. In the past five days, Shanghai Cruise Port has operated a total of 8 international cruise ships, ushering in a peak of inbound and outbound cruise tourism. The first domestically produced cruise ship, the "Aida Magic City", which was built and operated by a central enterprise and local government, won the market favor quickly with its cost-effective and five night and six day voyage from Shanghai to Jeju, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, and Shanghai on April 30th. The "Yangtze River Glory" cruise ship under China Changhang Group has launched special themed flights such as "Join Me, Bubble Song Party" and night tours of the two rivers in Chongqing during the Labor Day holiday. On May 1st and 2nd, the ship sailed 8 times and received 6400 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 100%. Both the reception volume and revenue reached new highs. Nanjing Tourism Group, in collaboration with shipping companies, has achieved a historic leap from the Qinhuai River era to the Yangtze River era. To meet the market demand for high-speed rail travel to Jiuzhaigou, China Railway Chengdu Group launched the C6062/3 holiday tourism special train on the first day of the holiday. Fosun Tourism Group and China Railway Group have reached a strategic cooperation, focusing on high-end tourist trains to provide more travel options for remote tourists. Hainan Airlines has partnered with Sofitel, a subsidiary of Accor, to develop cloud based food exploration and sleep art. CITIC Haizhi has opened the first low altitude short distance transportation route in the Shenzhen Zhuhai Greater Bay Area, and Fuzhou Airport has deeply developed "Enjoy Yourself" festival cultural products. With the introduction of highway tourism concepts such as "National Highway 318" and "Hainan Island Tourism Highway" into market practice, the integration of transportation and tourism has entered a new stage of product research and development and market promotion. For example, Guangdong Transport has set up local specialty food zones in 268 service areas under its jurisdiction. The cross-border integration from the field of transportation infrastructure has not only added new players to the tourism industry, but also begun to reshape the new pattern of contemporary tourism industry.

When the demand for self guided and personalized tourism meets industrial capital and artificial intelligence, a cross-border innovation era of capital and technology collusion has arrived. Travel service providers such as Wangshanji, Resignation Letter, and Klook have launched a series of professional small group travel products targeting social, community, theme, small group, and interest groups. Tourist special trains such as "Panda Express" and "Hospitality Shandong Delicious Guangdong" efficiently connect various tourist attractions. One million cruise passengers from Wusongkou, Shanghai have joined the "55 Shopping Festival". With more tourists integrating into local life, there are more new changes in the cultural construction and commercial development of seaside, lakeside, mountainous, and forest resorts, accelerating the reconstruction of the spatial pattern of tourist destinations.

4、 Tourists can walk more freely on this blue planet

Due to policy factors such as visa, customs clearance, and payment facilitation, the inbound and outbound passenger flow at many ports has increased, and the international and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan tourism supply chains have entered a new stage of comprehensive recovery, promoting inbound and outbound tourism from recovery to prosperity. During Labor Day, the total number of inbound and outbound tourists reached 3.672 million, including 1.775 million inbound tourists and 1.897 million outbound tourists. From the perspective of the inbound tourism market, there are more tourists from source countries such as South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, and Singapore, accounting for 59.5% of foreign tourists. The popularity of inbound tourism in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Chongqing, Hangzhou and other places has significantly increased. The policies of Hong Kong cars heading north, Macau cars heading north, and facilitation of customs clearance continue to benefit tourism exchanges between Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China. On the first day of the holiday at the Guangdong Zhuhai Hong Kong Macau Port, the number of inbound and outbound passengers and vehicles increased by 3% and 66% respectively year-on-year. Digital payment, online booking, and intelligent navigation provide better travel experiences for foreign and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan tourists. Inbound tourism consumption is becoming more diversified. In addition to traditional sightseeing tours, specialty tourism such as food tourism, cultural experiences, and outdoor adventures are also popular among tourists.

The outbound tourism market has also achieved significant growth during the Labor Day holiday, attracting high attention from overseas tourist destination countries. In outbound tourism, tourists traveling to Asia, Europe, and the Americas accounted for 61.8%, 15.4%, and 13.1% respectively. Singapore, Japan, Thailand, the United States, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Myanmar, and Indonesia accounted for 60.7% of the total number of outbound tourists. According to data from Qunar, the number of international flight bookings departing on May 1st has exceeded that of 2019, setting a historical high for bookings during the same period. 1035 cities worldwide have accepted hotel bookings from Chinese tourists, and the number of bookings for multiple visa free destinations in China has exceeded 30% of 2019. Bookings for visa free destinations such as Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Georgia more than doubled in 2019, and orders from countries along the "the Belt and Road" such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar grew significantly. Spring and Autumn, Ctrip, Zhongxin and other outbound travel agencies have connected Georgia with Armenia, which offers visa free access for Chinese tourists, and Azerbaijan, which offers visa on arrival services, to form a multi stop "Caucasus Tour". The number of orders during the holiday period has significantly increased.

Countries and regions around the world, especially Asian countries, are highly concerned about China's tourism industry, especially the recovery of inbound and outbound activities. They hold a more optimistic attitude towards policies in areas such as visas, payments, ports, immigration, aviation, and railway passenger transportation in the coming period. The sustained recovery of the inbound and outbound tourism market has attracted high attention from the international community, with mainstream media coverage and social media news tending towards positive and proactive.

The Labor Day holiday has passed, and prosperity continues. Promoting the high-quality development of cultural and tourism integration is still a practical issue that the government and industry must answer, and must be answered well. How to strengthen the foundation of tourism consumption in daily life? How to guide tourism investment and market entity innovation? How to improve the modernization level of governance system and governance capacity in the tourism industry? We need theoretical construction and top-level design, but more importantly, we need to emphasize problem orientation and improve tourist satisfaction and employee satisfaction from details. Practical solutions to the difficulties in booking, parking, and toileting for cultural and museum venues and scenic resorts may not seem as eye-catching as issuing a document, holding a conference, showcasing an event, or hanging a sign, but they are the most important focus of administrative resources. Digitization, artificial intelligence, and new quality productivity have completed concept introduction and technological research and development. Next, we need to enter industrial practice from the laboratory and demonstrate the expected economic and social benefits to society* Unless otherwise specified, the data cited in this article are from special investigations and professional calculations conducted by the holiday duty team of the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism). I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Tang Xiaoyun, Dr. Ma Yiliang, Dr. He Qiongfeng, Dr. Zhang Yang, Dr. Zeng Tian, Dr. Huan Meili, Dr. Han Jinfang, Comrades Bo Chunyuan, Liu Xin, Zhang Jiayi, Xue Shiyi, as well as the teams of China Telecom, China UnionPay, iFlytek, Shenzhen Intelligent, Mafengwo, Lanzhou University, Communication University of China and other major science and technology demonstration city pilot projects in 2030.