Dai Bin | The Direction, Path, and Policies of Chinese Tourism in the New Era

From February 23rd to 26th, the "World Tourism Alliance Xianghu Dialogue" was held in Hangzhou, and Dean Dai Bin of our institute was invited to attend. On the afternoon of February 24th, Dean Dai Bin delivered a keynote speech titled "The Direction, Path, and Policies of Chinese Tourism in the New Era". The full text is as follows:

The 2023 Spring Festival is the first public holiday after China implemented the policy of "Class B and Class B management" for COVID-19. 308 million people traveled across the country, and the tourism consumption reached 375.843 billion yuan, respectively recovering to 88.6% and 73.1% in the same period of 2019, making it the best Spring Festival holiday in the tourism industry since 2020.

On February 6th, multiple outbound tour groups organized by travel agencies such as China Travel Service, Ctrip, Guangzhou Travel Service, Chunqiu, Caesar, and China Youth Travel Service, as well as the treatment they received in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, greatly boosted tourism consumption expectations and market confidence, further laying the market foundation for the "high opening, stable growth, and sustained recovery" of the tourism economy throughout the year. Based on macro policies such as finance, economy, consumption, investment, civil aviation, transportation, and inbound and outbound management, as well as leading indicators such as residents' willingness to travel, employee recruitment, entrepreneurial confidence, and destination promotion, we have reason to maintain an optimistic outlook for China's tourism economy in 2023. It is expected that the number of domestic tourists, tourism consumption, and inbound and outbound tourists for the whole year will recover to 85%, 75%, and 40% of 2019, respectively, and enter a normal development track and a new stage of high-quality development by the end of the year and the beginning of the year.

In the past three years, the tourism market has been impacted unprecedentedly, with significant changes in consumer behavior and people's perception of tourism. People's previous understanding of tourism was that the farther the distance, the better, cross county, cross city, cross province, preferably international and intercontinental travel; The longer the time, the better. Not staying overnight is not considered tourism; The more typical the tourism scene, the better, with famous mountains and rivers, grasslands, forests, lakes, ancient villages and towns, historical and cultural cities, historical relics, and cultural heritage. During the epidemic, outbound tourism has almost disappeared, while domestic tourism distances have shrunk to around 100 kilometers during holidays. Nowadays, people are more willing to appreciate the beautiful scenery around them and enjoy the beauty of daily life, such as Shanghai Chunqiu's "Architecture for Reading, Urban Micro Tourism" and Mafengwo's "Please Get in the Car on Weekends". The choice of distant places is no longer limited to popular cities and scenic spots. From theaters to food markets, they can all become tourist scenes, including rational consumption decisions for outbound tourism. New demands such as "reverse tourism," "flat tourism," and "stay at home vacation" may seem personalized, but fundamentally rational. Their underlying logic is nothing more than tourists' consumption choices under the "cost-benefit" framework.

From the seven day National Day holiday in 1999 to today, China has entered a new stage of comprehensive development of mass tourism, with the market sinking and consumption upgrading. The changes in tourist demand and consumption behavior will inevitably affect the innovation of commercial supply and industrial momentum, thereby affecting the adjustment of industrial policies and regulatory systems. From a more macro perspective, China has completed the historical task of eradicating poverty and building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and is comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese path to modernization. In this strategic context, the tourism industry requires new thinking and policies to effectively enhance market promotion, destination construction, public services, and industrial innovation levels.

China will continue to adhere to the people-centered development direction of mass tourism. Tourism is a people's right and a daily way of life. The national tourism strategy in the new era is to ensure that every citizen can travel, afford to travel, have fun, and have peace of mind, and to let poetry and distant dreams shine into the reality of comprehensive prosperity. Today, tourism has become a daily life of the general public and a rigid demand for most people. Data from Qunar.com shows that the average age of the main group buying their first plane ticket has dropped to 20-25 years old, with nearly half of the tourists coming from third tier and below cities, including Alshan in Inner Mongolia, Qilian in Qinghai, Kashgar in Xinjiang, Chuxiong in Yunnan... covering 1827 county-level cities. This means that more and more urban and rural residents have the willingness and ability to go to distant places to appreciate different beautiful scenery and experience a high-quality and beautiful life. At the same time, we also need to see that the average national travel rate before the epidemic was 4.3 times, the average travel time per person was 7.82 days, the average travel distance during holidays was 270 kilometers, and the average travel cost per person was 940 yuan. There is still a lot of room for improvement in meeting people's expectations for the dream of a moderately prosperous society in tourism.

China will accelerate the development of smart tourism guided by modernization. The tourism development model of "a sea of people eating dividends and collecting tickets by surrounding mountains and rivers" has passed. The modern era of self-help, self driving, personalization and diversity requires mobile Internet, artificial intelligence, 5G communication and modern finance to create more consumption scenarios and promote the construction of modern tourism system and high-quality development. With the rise of mobile Internet, demand side driven smart tourism has entered a new stage of consumption scenario construction, and will inevitably move towards supply side driven modern tourism in the future. The modernization of the tourism industry means the deepening of market division of labor, the extension of the industrial chain, and the formation of a commercial ecosystem of large-scale enterprise group development, specialized operation of medium-sized enterprises, and collaborative innovation of small and micro enterprises. In the face of global competition in the tourism industry, we must have a clear understanding that technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, innovation is the primary driving force, and new fields, new tracks, new driving forces, and new advantages are the only way to promote high-quality development of the tourism industry.

China will actively practice the green tourism development model guided by ecological civilization. Respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature is an inherent requirement for the comprehensive construction of a socialist country and a fundamental principle that must be followed in the development of tourism in the new era. Green mountains and clear waters are also gold and silver mountains, and icy landscapes are also gold and silver mountains. Mountains, waters, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, and sands are interdependent communities of life. Guided by the concept of ecological civilization, the country will build a number of green tourism pilot zones. The development concept of green tourism will implement the entire process of resource development, investment and construction, product research and development, enterprise operation, and market promotion, and form a batch of replicable and promotable experiences. The country will further increase the promotion of civilized tourism based on documents such as the "Convention on Domestic Tourism Civilization" and the "Guidelines for Outbound Tourism Civilization", guiding tourists to coexist harmoniously with nature, support cultural heritage, and communicate equally with local residents. China will strive to build a new realm of civilized tourism with an open and shared main theme. Tourism is the inheritance and creation of culture, the spiritual enrichment contained in Chinese path to modernization, and the equal dialogue between different civilizations, cultures and nations. Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles has been an excellent tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times, and traveling abroad is particularly desirable for the people. Through the "Asian Tourism Promotion Plan", the "the Belt and Road" initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, APEC and other multilateral mechanisms, as well as bilateral activities such as mutual tourism years, we will give better play to the World Tourism Alliance, the World Tourism Cities Federation, the International Mountain Tourism Alliance and other industry organizations, so that countries and regions can share the development opportunities of China's outbound tourism. In the process of developing outbound tourism, the government will pay more attention to tourist safety and service quality, rather than seeking to maintain a service trade surplus with any country at any time. We also need to implement the inbound tourism revitalization plan at the national level, promote the main image of "Beautiful China" globally, coordinate and coordinate departments such as diplomacy, immigration, customs, ports, industry and information technology, finance, culture, and tourism, implement more convenient visa, border inspection, payment, and logistics policies, and meet the accommodation needs of overseas tourists with higher quality domestic resource development, product innovation, and public services.