Report Released丨"2018 Tourism Economic Operation Review" Series Report (VII): Summer Vacation Tourism Development

On January 25, the China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) released the "2018 Tourism Economic Operation Inventory Series Report: Summer Tourism Development". The report shows that in 2018, my country's summer tourism developed rapidly and became a new highlight in the development of the tourism economy. In 2019, it is necessary to combine the industrial development and demand characteristics of summer tourism, do a good job in the top-level design of summer tourism, build a summer tourism development ecosystem, innovate and build a flexible mechanism for "migrant" talents, enrich the cultural connotation of summer tourism, strengthen price regulation, intervention and comprehensive regulation of the tourism market in the summer peak season, and solidly promote the high-quality development of summer tourism.

1. Overall characteristics of summer tourism development in 2018

1. Summer vacation tourism has become a national strategy

In March 2018, the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of All-Area Tourism" (Guobanfa [2018] No. 15) clearly proposed "vigorously developing summer tourism products and promoting the construction of a number of summer resort destinations", marking that summer tourism has become a national strategy.

2. Summer vacation tourism has evolved from a concept to a consensus and action of the government and enterprises

Driven by national strategies and industry policies, the summer tourism market continues to develop, and local awareness of summer tourism continues to deepen. The Jilin Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovation and Development of the Summer Leisure Industry". Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Ningxia and other provinces actively deployed the development of summer tourism, issued policies, and increased publicity and promotion. The meteorological departments of Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan and other provinces launched activities such as finding local summer tourism destinations. Tourism companies also pay close attention to the blue ocean of summer tourism, launching summer and summer products, and publishing relevant research and forecast reports.

3. Rapid growth in the scale of summer tourism

In 2018, the summer tourism market scale of major summer resort destinations in China grew rapidly. Guizhou Province continued to implement special preferential measures for summer vacation, and the market continued to blow out. In the summer of 2018 (July 1-August 31), the province received a total of 214 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 30.4%, and realized a total tourism revenue of 243.685 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.5%. Jiangxi Province held the "First Summer Resort Destination Search" event, and the scenic spots that won the title of "Jiangxi Summer Resort Destination" received a 24.1% increase in the total number of tourists in the week after the event compared with the week before the event, a 63.6% increase in total consumption, and a 19.1% increase in the number of students. During the midsummer of 2018 (July-August), the total number of tourists received by various summer resort destinations increased by 40.1% over the same period last year, the total consumption increased by 46.9%, and the number of students increased by 48.5%.

(IV) Comprehensive benefits of summer tourism are highlighted

Summer vacation destinations attract more foreign tourists, driving the comprehensive development of local tourism, transportation, accommodation, real estate, catering, agriculture, etc., and further promoting local economic and social development. Since the summer "entering the dog days" in Guiyang, a large number of tourists from home and abroad have flocked to "Cool Guiyang" to carry out summer vacation tourism activities. The passenger flow of major scenic spots has continued to rise, and rural homestays have welcomed "migratory tourists". The occupancy rate of various types of hotels in the city exceeds 90%, and some economy hotels are even "hard to find a room". The tourist passenger transport company has received hot orders, and all vehicles are fully booked one month in advance. In Lichuan City, Hubei Province, there are as many as 400,000 summer vacationers who stay for more than three months in summer. Moudao Town has changed from a small market town with a permanent population of only tens of thousands to a modern summer health and wellness new city with a peak population of 280,000 in summer and a planned area of 27.1 square kilometers. Driven by the summer health and wellness economy, agriculture, commerce and related service industries have flourished, providing more than 10,000 jobs such as hotel waiters, property managers, and security guards, and driving more than 30,000 villagers in the surrounding areas out of poverty and into prosperity.

5. Summer tourism is becoming more diverse

The service system of summer hotels has been improved, and homestays have become an important summer resort. Homestays in Chongqing, Guizhou and other places have made great efforts in creative design, environment creation, cultural characteristics, product services, etc., taking the road of characteristic brand homestays, creating boutique homestays, and attracting summer tourists. Summer health care has gradually become a new fashion. Elderly care bases and elderly care projects in Guizhou, Hainan and other places have emerged, focusing on improving summer health care functions. Evergrande Cultural Tourism City, Fangtianxia and other companies have carried out a series of summer real estate marketing activities for Chongqing citizens. The combination of cultural industry, leisure agriculture, and research and study industry with the summer tourism market is closer.

(VI) Summer tourism brand building continues to gain momentum

Summer resort destinations continue to polish their summer resort tourism brands, such as "Changchun Summer Festival", "Charming Summer in Harbin", "Cool Guiyang", etc. Emerging summer resort destinations are also beginning to focus on brand building. For example, Xixia County, Nanyang City, Henan Province, is taking mountain summer resort as its guide, aiming to build a mountain summer resort tourist destination, and gradually establishing the brand of "Summer Resort and Health Preservation, Nanyang Laojieling".

(VII) Marketing efforts for summer tourism continue to increase

Summer resort destinations have carried out extensive marketing activities and have made great efforts in promotion. Taking Guizhou Province as an example, in the summer of 2018, Guizhou Province implemented preferential policies on tickets, self-driving tours, air tickets, tourist charters, tourist trains, etc. for residents of ten provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Guangdong Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Fujian Province, Hunan Province, Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Hubei Province, Chongqing City, and Sichuan Province. The preferential period is from July 16 to September 30, a total of 76 days. Summer resort scenic spots mainly carry out marketing activities for specific groups. For example, Longhushan Scenic Spot in Jiangxi Province and Yuntaishan Scenic Spot in Henan Province have launched a series of preferential policies for students taking the middle school entrance examination, college entrance examination and youth groups to seize the market of graduation tours, parent-child tours, and family tours.

8. The quality of summer tourism services has steadily improved

Summer is the peak season for summer resort destinations. With the influx of a large number of tourists, service quality, price level and market order will be affected to varying degrees. Many summer resort destinations and summer resort scenic spots have made preparations in advance to prevent problems before they occur and steadily improve the quality of summer resort tourism services. Enshi Prefecture, Hubei Province, has issued "12" response measures, which will be implemented in all aspects of "food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment" in major scenic spots, homestay resorts, and tourist farms to ensure the smooth and orderly operation of summer resort tourism and steadily improve the quality of summer resort tourism services.

2. Suggestions for the development of summer tourism in 2019

Summer tourism is an industrial economy and a climate economy. We should go beyond tourism, examine and plan the development of summer tourism from a strategic level, do a good job in top-level design, and give full play to the comprehensive role of summer tourism in the economy and society. We should build a summer tourism development ecosystem with enterprises as the main body, meet the new needs of summer tourists, build a new pattern of summer industry, and cultivate new driving forces for the summer industry. We should innovate and build a flexible mechanism for "migrant" talents, so that migratory talents can contribute to the economic and social development of summer tourism destinations. We should explore the cultural connotation of summer tourism, integrate the summer culture with strong local characteristics into product design and development, improve cultural taste, and constantly give summer tourism new connotations through culture. We should strengthen scientific research support, conduct data mining and commercial analysis on the effective demand for summer tourism. We should strengthen price regulation, intervention and comprehensive regulation of the tourism market in the summer peak season to ensure the standardized and orderly operation of the summer tourism market.

Original manuscript: Wu Pu, Xin Anna, Zhou Zhibin, etc.

Edited by: Wu Pu

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

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