Pengpai News Reporter Wang Yu
Recently, the topic of "#Xinjiang is crowded by tourists across the country" has become a hot search on social media platforms, attracting the attention of many netizens.
According to the data from Tongcheng Travel , since mid-June, the popularity of tourism search in Xinjiang has increased by 78% month-on-month, and it is difficult to find a hotel and homestay in some popular scenic spots. The sales of scenic spots have increased by more than 300% month-on-month, and the sales of products such as air tickets and vacation routes have also increased. Netizens joked that with the arrival of a large number of summer tourists, Xinjiang's famous Duku Highway has become a "crying road".
With the precision of epidemic prevention and control policies, favorable policies of the cultural and tourism industry have been continuously released, and many destinations across the country have ushered in the peak summer tourism season. In addition, many places across the country have generally entered the "high temperature mode". How to escape the summer heat and where to go is the core issue of many passengers this year. Therefore, high-altitude areas represented by Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, etc. and coastal cities such as Sanya, Haikou, Xiamen , Qingdao have become the main destinations for "summer vacation".
But behind the popularity of "summer vacation tours", has the domestic tourism market really recovered? How do industry players think about the “high temperature of tourism”?
Along the Duku Highway in Xinjiang, the pleasant scenery is Duku Highway. Visual ChinaPicture
Shanghai tourists are concentrated on summer travel, the number of short-term rental tourists increases
As the end of the high school entrance examination, schools in various places are on holiday, and parent-child travel naturally becomes the "main force" of the summer tourism market. According to the "2022 Summer Tourism Market Trend Report" released by Ctrip on July 13, since July, the number of parent-child air ticket orders has increased by 804% compared with the same period in June; the number of orders for summer parent-child hotels has recovered to 80% in the same period in 2021, and has increased by 20% year-on-year compared with in the same period in 2019, of which more than 75% are cross-city orders, and 90% are concentrated in high-star hotels.
It is worth noting that since Shanghai resumed work and production on June 1, the number of parent-child customers from Shanghai has increased significantly compared with the May Day and Dragon Boat Festival, and the popularity of travel in the Yangtze River Delta region has also been increasing.
"In fact, before the restrictions on personnel from Shanghai and Beijing were relaxed, the number of reservations from other provinces was already very large. After Shanghai resumed work and production, the occupancy rate of many hotels we took over immediately rose to more than 80%. "Zhao Jiao, director of the operation of the travel agency "Colorful Holidays", said in an interview with Pengpai News .
Zhao Jiao told reporters that starting from early June, more than 200 customers in Sanya can reach more than 200 in a day. And after mid-to-late June, hotels in Sanya have gradually begun to experience "no room" phenomenon.
"The main reason is that the policy has a great impact, because at the end of June, the Sanya government issued a policy, in which non-epidemic areas (without travel history in the epidemic area within 14 days) go to Hainan to not force the nucleic acid report, and just use the green code to implement the nucleic acid. Therefore, many tourists come for this "welfare". "
Zhao Jiao also noticed that in addition to the common "three days and two nights" orders this year, short-term rental orders have also shown a significant growth trend, with the lease period ranging from one week to one month, mainly from parent-child families.
"Families who take the elderly and children out to play prefer hotel apartments that can provide short-term rental services, because the room has a kitchen, and unlike ordinary residential communities, it can also provide hotel services, with restaurants, swimming pools and other facilities." Zhao Jiao said.
July 18, 2022, in Sanya, parents took their children to play in Sanya Bay . Visual China Picture
"overlapping effect" makes the market hot, and Sanya B&B upgrades quickly
As mentioned above, in the "summer vacation tour" market, Sanya's position as a "old internet celebrity destination" is still standing firm. Tourists who prefer islands have not diminished their enthusiasm for Sanya at all.
According to People's Daily , as of July 13, the passenger throughput of Sanya Phoenix International Airport has reached more than 590,000 in July. The latest tourist market sampling survey report in Sanya shows that it is expected to receive 4.3135 million overnight tourists in the third quarter of 2022, with increasing by 311.82% year-on-year; it is expected to achieve a total overnight tourism revenue of 13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.28%.
The flock of tourists has also made the local accommodation industry very popular, with hotel prices increasing exponentially, and some even price increases in the afternoon in one morning.
"The hotel prices in Sanya have risen very well, especially some luxury brands, such as the Ritz-Carlton in Yalong Bay . Ordinary swimming pool rooms are usually sold for three to four thousand nights, but now they are more than eight thousand, and it is still difficult to find a room." Zhao Jiao introduced.
Santi Hotel Haitang Bay, Sanya. Visual China
Mr. Jing runs a B&B in Tianya Town, Sanya. He told reporters that from the end of June this year to the present, the occupancy rate of B&Bs has basically remained at around 90%, which is not only much better than last year, but can even exceed the level before the epidemic. Behind this popularity, he believes that in addition to the charm of Sanya itself, there is also the "overlapping effect" brought by the epidemic.
"For example, before the epidemic, everyone still has the opportunity to travel abroad and choose to go to the islands in Southeast Asia. Now, because they cannot go abroad, Sanya has become one of the few choices. In addition, from March to May this year, due to the fluctuations in the epidemic, tourists from many places in China did not have the opportunity to go out to play, so the demand for travel to Sanya during the summer is even stronger." Mr. Jing told reporters.
However, many tourists who come to Sanya seem to prefer to stay in resort hotels with complete facilities. Especially in recent years, many luxury hotels have also equipped children's playground , providing a "one-stop service" integrating medical care, shopping, entertainment, etc. to attract parent-child families.
Compared with this, Sanya's homestays seem to be a bit "short". But Mr. Jing feels that consumers' high demand can help Sanya B&B update and iterate.
"There are too many new homestays in the past two years, such as the Tianya Town where we are. The upgrade of the homestay is very fast. After almost two years of decoration, your products will be lagging behind."
"But in recent years we can also see that homestays are becoming more and more accepted by everyone, and the investment in single homestays is getting bigger and bigger, but how to increase the value of homestays, benchmark or compete with five-star hotels, and more humane may be the direction of the homestay's future efforts." Mr. Jing said.
Maling Village in Tianya Town, Sanya City, Hainan Province, tourists leisurely walk through the streets and alleys, or come to the beach. Visual China Picture
Some merchants fell before dawn, Dali Ancient City gradually recovered
During the summer vacation, Dali, Yunnan also ushered in the long-lost peak tourist season.
According to the 2022 China International Tourism Fair series press conference, from July 1 to 10, Dali Prefecture received more than 2.3 million tourists. From July 10 to 16, Dali Fengyi Airport guaranteed a total of 376 flights, an increase of 19.75% year-on-year from 314 last week. From July 11 to 17, more than 370,000 passengers arrived at Dali Station, with an average of more than 50,000 people per day, an increase of about 50% from 10 days ago.
"Last summer vacation, Dali was very deserted. This year, our occupancy situation almost returned to the pre-epidemic level. It has been full since mid-July." Ms. Liu, who runs an inn in the Dali Ancient City Center, told reporters.
And unlike Sanya, most tourists who come to Dali want to experience the authentic ancient city culture, so they are more willing to choose to live in homestays and inns. Some high-end homestays with strong sense of design and better service quality are even more popular among casual customers, and the occupancy rate is often overflowing.
Tourists who come to Dali are more willing to choose to live in homestays and inns. Visual China Picture
However, in contrast to the heating up of the catering and accommodation industries, other types of business activities in the ancient city seem to be not as expected. Ms. Liu said that the secondary consumption level of tourists is still not high.
"Eating and living are all urgent needs, but some shops selling gifts or entertainment venues, such as bars, obviously feel that their business is not as good as before."
In addition, due to the fluctuations in the epidemic this spring, many businesses have fallen down before the summer "peak season" has arrived. Many shop owners in the once popular bar street choose to rent at low prices, and some bosses who resigned to open shops and inns in Dali were forced to go back to work. It can be said that the ancient city has undergone a "big blood change".
Many merchants fell down before the summer "peak season" came. Visual China Picture
Faced with this situation, the local government is also trying to stimulate consumption. From April to November this year, Yunnan Province will issue cultural and tourism consumption vouchers of 200 million yuan and self-driving tour refueling vouchers in four batches based on the May Day holiday, summer vacation, and National Day holiday. Consumers can receive coupons through four online travel platforms including "Traveling Yunnan" Ctrip, Tongcheng, Meituan .
In March 2022, Yunnan Province issued the "Several Policy Measures on Accurate Epidemic Prevention and Control to Accelerate the Restoration and Development of the Tourism Industry", in which travel agencies that attract customers to Yunnan will be rewarded according to the corresponding standards. The provincial finance will reward the provincial group travel agencies (including branches of travel agencies outside the province) that attract more than 1,000 overnight tourists from outside the province within the year, at a standard of 5 yuan per tourist received by one tourist. Through charter flights, special trains, etc., travel agencies with tourists from outside the province entering Yunnan with an attendance rate of more than 50%, the provincial finance will give a one-time reward of 30,000 yuan per flight (travel).
Of course, there are also scenic spot ticket reduction policies, etc. Yunnan Province expressed its hope that under the premise that the epidemic has stabilized and controlled, the tourism industry will return to the level of 2019 by the end of 2022. Although
did not wait for the expected consumption, Ms. Liu said that the increase in the number of tourists during the summer has brought confidence to a certain extent to the merchants, but how long the situation will last is still waiting and watching.
Mr. Jing from Sanya also told reporters that since the epidemic situation in various places is still fluctuating, the tourism market is still not optimistic in the second half of the year. "Recently, new epidemics have emerged in Chengdu, and many customers in Sichuan have returned their booked houses. We encounter similar things almost every day. So after all, it depends on the epidemic situation and the epidemic prevention and control measures in various places. These have the greatest impact on the tourism market."
Editor in charge: Xu Ying
Proofreading: Ding Xiao
