The integration of culture and tourism makes the New Year more festive, and hosts and guests share a better life

The 2019 Spring Festival holiday has passed. The total number of tourists received nationwide reached 415 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%; tourism revenue reached 513.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.2%. Where did everyone go? Where did the money go? Please read the special report of the China Tourism Academy.

1. Where are all the people going? The tourism market in the south is more active

The China Tourism Academy and China Telecom Joint Laboratory calculated based on signaling big data that, unlike the relatively balanced tourism across the country during the National Day holiday, the southern tourism market was hotter during the Spring Festival. The top 10 provinces in terms of tourist reception are: 1. Guangdong 2. Sichuan 3. Hunan 4. Henan 5. Guangxi 6. Shandong 7. Jiangsu 8. Chongqing 9. Hebei 10. Anhui.

Affected by the return of migrant workers to their hometowns to visit relatives, the provinces with large labor exports have increased their tourist output. Among them, the top 10 provinces in terms of tourist output include: 1. Guangdong 2. Jiangsu 3. Shaanxi 4. Sichuan 5. Shandong 6. Hubei 7. Zhejiang 8. Henan 9. Hunan 10. Guangxi.

Insights into the Spring Festival passenger flow trajectory show that most tourists moved from the eastern and central regions to the central and western regions. There was a significant net inflow of tourists from Hunan, Anhui, Chongqing, Jiangxi and other places, and a large-scale net outflow of tourists from Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Shanghai and other places.

2. Where are the people going? Third- and fourth-tier cities are not lagging behind in receiving tourists

Further analysis of the reception volume of each city revealed that a large number of migrant workers returned home during the Spring Festival, which promoted a rapid improvement in the tourism boom in third- and fourth-tier cities. The number of tourists received by cities such as Hengyang, Shaoyang, Yulin, and Ganzhou was higher than that of many provincial capitals.

3. “Celebrating the New Year with Culture and Tourism” Becomes a New Folk Custom

Cultural and leisure consumption is more active. During the Spring Festival in 2019, according to the "Survey on the Willingness of Chinese Urban and Rural Residents to Travel" conducted by the China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) in 60 sample cities across the country, the willingness of Chinese residents to travel in the first quarter of 2019 was 85.95%, and the proportion of choosing to travel during the Spring Festival was relatively high. Tourism has become a new folk custom for residents to celebrate the New Year. During the Spring Festival, the proportion of tourists visiting museums, art galleries, libraries, science and technology museums, and historical and cultural blocks reached 40.5%, 44.2%, 40.6% and 18.4% respectively, and the proportion of tourists watching various cultural performances reached 34.8%. Moreover, during the Spring Festival, the per capita expenditure of tourists on cultural tours was mostly between 501 yuan and 1,000 yuan, accounting for 41.25%; the second largest expenditure was between 301 yuan and 500 yuan, accounting for 38.28%. During the Spring Festival, online ticket purchases for theater performances across the country increased by 23.5% year-on-year.

"Reverse Chinese New Year" allows more people to enjoy the beautiful life in the city. "Celebrating the New Year in reverse" has become a new trend during the Spring Festival, and "empty cities are not empty" will gradually become the norm. Online travel agent (OTA) platform data shows that in the week before the Spring Festival, air ticket orders to cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou increased by 40% compared with the previous year. Among them, the proportion of children passengers increased by 39% compared with the previous year, and the proportion of passengers over 50 years old increased by 42%.

Traveling during the Spring Festival pursues quality of life. According to the data from the China Tourism Academy and the UnionPay Business Joint Laboratory, the number of consumers in high-quality accommodation facilities during the 2019 Spring Festival increased by more than 45.3%, an increase of 7.7 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, men aged 35-44 accounted for the highest proportion of payments, reaching 28.1%. In addition, the average daily number of tourists' catering consumption during the 2019 Spring Festival increased by 43.7% compared with before the festival, among which the total amount of catering consumption by those born in the 1980s was the highest. The joint research team of the China Tourism Academy and Shenzhen University Intelligence found that among tourists who purchased tickets for tourist attractions through online platforms, those born in the 1980s also took the lead, and the gap with those born in the 1990s was significantly narrowed.

Young people have a preference for cultural landscapes. A joint research team of the China Tourism Academy and Shenzhen University Intelligence found that online ticket purchases for cultural landscapes during the 2019 Spring Festival increased by 15.9% year-on-year. Among them, online ticket purchases for historical sites, celebrity residences, religious temples and red tourist areas increased by 12.1%, 68.1%, 26.8% and 78.5% year-on-year respectively. In terms of age groups, those born in the 1980s and 1990s are no less fond of cultural landscapes than their elders, with online ticket purchases accounting for 31.0% and 33.6% during the Spring Festival, respectively, while those born in the 1960s and 1970s accounted for 36.7% and 32.4% of online ticket purchases for cultural scenic spots during the same period. In contrast, those born in the 1960s and 1970s prefer natural landscapes, with ticket purchases accounting for 43.4% and 43.9% respectively, more than 5 percentage points higher than those born in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, the proportion of ticket purchases for leisure and vacation scenic spots by those born in the 1980s and 1990s is higher than that of those born in the 1960s and 1970s, accounting for 7.7% and 8.0% respectively, reflecting the obvious generational differences in cultural and tourism consumption in the new era.

Source: China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism)