2023 is a year of special significance for China's tourism industry. This year, all localities have taken tourism as an important industry to expand domestic demand and boost consumption, introduced support policies, launched measures to benefit the people, and carried out rich activities to accelerate the recovery of the tourism market.
The tourism industry leverages new business opportunities
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism**, according to the statistical results of the domestic tourism sampling survey, in the first three quarters of 2023, the total number of domestic tourists was 367.4 billion, an increase of 15 over the same period last year8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 755%。Among them, the number of tourists in the city is 284.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 780%；The number of tourists in rural areas is 82.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 676%。Quarterly: In the first quarter of 2023, the total number of domestic tourists will be 121.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 465%；In the second quarter of 2023, the total number of domestic tourists was 116.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 869%；In the third quarter of 2023, the total number of domestic tourists was 129 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1019%。
The morning fog of Shicheng Scenic Area in Wuyuan County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province attracts many photography enthusiasts and tourists to come here for sightseeing. Photo by Yuan Xinyu by China News Service.
Under such a momentum, a number of tourism companies have collectively turned losses into profits.
Zhongxin Travel disclosed that benefiting from the recovery of the third batch of countries and regions for outbound group tours, the tourism industry accelerated its recovery, and the company's business environment continued to improve, with revenue of about 12 in the third quarter6.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 74828%, net profit attributable to the parent company 486560,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19551%。In the first three quarters, the revenue was about 205.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 64746%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company is about 1413270,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11072%, achieving a year-on-year turnaround.
BTG Hotel's net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first three quarters of 2023 turned around compared with the same period last year, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 68.5 billion yuan. Lingnan Holdings, which owns its holding subsidiary "Guang Journey", has a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first three quarters of 2023 of 5,727910,000 yuan, a year-on-year turnaround.
Jiuhua Tourism's revenue in the first three quarters of 2023 is 56.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11844%, net profit 15.2 billion yuan to turn losses into profits. **Tourism's net profit for the first three quarters of 2023 was 2453470,000 yuan, a year-on-year turnaround.
There is great potential for the integration of culture and tourism
Against the backdrop of a comprehensive recovery in demand, this year's tourism industry is different from previous years, and the consumption that satisfies the spirit is very popular this year, so the integration of culture and tourism is closer.
In 2023, the integration of the domestic performance market and the tourism market has also become a major feature, from parent-child tours to night tours to the fiery "City Walk", "performance + tourism" has derived many new scenarios of cultural and tourism consumption, demonstrating the huge potential of cultural and tourism integration.
According to the "2023 China "Performance + Tourism" Consumption Trend Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by Tongcheng Travel and the China Performance Industry Association, more and more consumers are willing to go to a city for a performance, and the cumulative number of audience members in the first three quarters of 2023 will reach 11.1 billion passengers, exceeding the level of the whole year of 2019. The boom in the performance market has a significant driving effect on tourism consumption, and during large-scale performances, the premium rate of hotels in the core areas of popular cities is up to more than 40%.
In the first three quarters of 2023, the national performance market will show a booming situation of supply and demand. According to the report, in the first quarter of 2023, a total of 6890,000 performances of all kinds, a year-on-year increase of 1835%；The second quarter was held on 12440,000 games, a year-on-year increase of 7131%, an increase of 806%；In the third quarter, the number of performances across the country further increased to 14910,000 games, a year-on-year increase of 5777%, an increase of 199%。
The rapid growth of the supply side of the performance market has received a positive response from the consumer side. According to the report, the cumulative number of viewers in the first three quarters of 2023 will reach 11.1 billion passengers, exceeding the level of the whole of 2019. Among them, concerts and festivals are the two formats with the largest number of viewers, accounting for 596%。In contrast, the proportion of viewers of relatively professional segments, cross talks, dramas, children's dramas, etc. is less than 5%.
In Shanghai, Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, a tourist landmark "China's first commercial street", is popular among tourists, and cultural tourism consumption continues to be hot. Photo by China News Service Chen Yuyu.
In order to take advantage of the hot performance market, well-known scenic spots have introduced various performance programs to attract visitors. Taking this year's summer tourism season as an example, the number of summer tourism performances in 2023 will increase compared with the same period last year in terms of box office revenue and the number of spectators. 20% and 71785%。According to the ticket booking data of the Tongcheng travel platform, the number of visitors to the park for performances and performing arts held in key scenic spots across the country in the summer increased by about 60% year-on-year, which is significantly higher than the overall passenger flow of scenic spots across the country.
In the first three quarters of 2023, the popularity of the traditional tourism and performing arts market in famous historical and cultural cities such as Xi'an and Luoyang has fully caught up with the same period in 2019, which has greatly boosted the number of performances and performing arts in key domestic scenic spots. According to the report, in January and September 2023, the increase in the number of visitors to the park for performance tickets was 40% higher than that of tickets**, and the increase in the number of visitors to performance tickets in July and August was 38% higher than that of tickets**. In January and September, among the popular travel themes in national tourist attractions, the theme of "performance events and exhibitions" ranked among the top four.
The huge group of parent-child tourists has generated a huge demand for parent-child cultural tourism projects related to children's theaters, museums, theme parks, etc., which has also stimulated the prosperity of the "performance + parent-child travel" market. According to the report, a total of 1370,000 performances, 186 spectators610,000 people, box office revenue 55.7 billion yuan, accounting for each type of performance in theaters and new performing arts spaces. 07%。According to the statistics of the number of viewers, children's dramas accounted for 28%, the number of spectators exceeded 3 million, of which the summer accounted for more than 60%.
It is worth noting that the hot performance market has a significant driving effect on tourism consumption. Tongcheng Travel data shows that during large-scale concerts held in popular cities, the average hotel room rate (average per room night**) in the core area is at a different premium than the average hotel price in the city during the same period. In the first three quarters of 2023, the cities with higher premium rates for hotels in the core areas of the performance are mainly Suzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, etc., with the highest premium rate of more than 40%. In the same situation, having popular cultural tourism facilities or holding large-scale performances is one of the core conditions to support the hotel room rate in a certain area. In January and September 2023, the per capita revenue contribution of tourism and performing arts was 5 times that of the average revenue contribution of large tickets to scenic spots in the same period. In terms of passenger flow, the growth rate of key scenic spots in cities with high performance market popularity is also significantly higher than the average level of major cities in the country, and the peak season of summer months with more performances accounts for more than 40% on average, and the cities with the highest proportion even exceed 50%.
Segment products by sales
After three years of the epidemic, this year, consumers have higher requirements for the quality of tourism products, and people need more segmented products. Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Spring and Autumn Tourism, said, "What we used to see was based on production and sales, and what products were designed by travel agencies, consumers would accept them. But now we are determined by sales, and what consumers need, we will design and produce what products. ”
As the founder of Jinlv Consulting, Wei Changren has witnessed the development of tourism for more than 10 years, and in 2023, he is most impressed by the fact that products must be produced around consumers. "We can no longer use too homogeneous products to attract consumers, but we must arrange them according to consumer needs. There are many products that may not have been arranged on the tour route before, such as skiing, because this is a more specialized project, but now more theme tours and sub-tours that combine these special activities are customized. Of course, this will also require a higher degree of professionalism from the team leader. ”
Tourists skiing in the ski resort. Photo by China News Service reporter Tian Yuhao.
It is reported that Spring and Autumn has recently established a ski club, which is also an innovation in the field of travel agencies in the country. However, such a segmented service also puts forward new requirements for tourism practitioners, such as the leader of a ski tour needs to have certain professional qualifications for skiing.
In addition, online live broadcast has also become one of the new channels in the tourism industry this year, more product sales no longer occur in stores, and many tour guides, sales and other personnel are opening up the first number to carry out on-the-spot promotion and product sales through the live broadcast room.
Shanghai Lotus Trip Travel Agency *** hereinafter referred to as "Lotus Tour") used to conduct mainly offline tourism wholesale business, and even sold local products for a time. Since entering 2023, the "main battlefield" of Lotus's journey has been on the list, and its Douyin new channel business has grown significantly this year, and the overall business volume of online channels in the first half of this year has exceeded the business volume of last year.
The holiday economy has been significantly pulled
Holiday economy refers to the consumption activities carried out by people through tourism, shopping, catering, entertainment and other means during leisure time such as statutory holidays or weekends, as well as the development of related industries driven by them. The holiday economy is an important window to observe China's economy, and it is also an important means to stimulate domestic demand and promote consumption upgrading.
This year, the scale of China's holiday economy market continues to expand, the consumption structure continues to be optimized, the quality of consumption continues to improve, the consumption environment continues to improve, the vitality of consumption continues to increase, and the holiday economy is obviously pulled, showing a blowout trend of tourism. This year's major first-class weeks have achieved a substantial increase in the number of tourists, which has also allowed the major tourism enterprises that have experienced the impact of the epidemic for three years to collectively turn losses into profits, and the number of family tourists this summer has also increased sharply year-on-year.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, citizens and tourists play on Tianjin Fifth Avenue. Photo by China News Service reporter Tong Yu.
The data shows that the number of domestic trips during the "Spring Festival" in 2023 will be 30.8 billion, compared with 88 percent in 20196%, tourism revenue was 375.8 billion yuan, recovering to 731%；The number of domestic trips on May Day was 27.4 billion, compared with 119 in 201909%, tourism revenue of 148 billion yuan, recovered to 100 in the same period of 201966%；The number of domestic trips to the "Dragon Boat Festival" is 10.6 billion person-times, compared with 112 in 20198%, tourism revenue of 37.3 billion yuan, recovered to 94 in the same period of 20199%；The number of domestic trips to the "Mid-Autumn Festival + National Day" was 82.6 billion, compared with 104 in 20191%, tourism income 7534300 million yuan, recovering to 101 in the same period of 20195%。
This set of data fully demonstrates the strong recovery momentum of China's tourism industry after the impact of the epidemic gradually subsides.
First of all, with the gradual control of the epidemic, people's willingness to travel and travel demand have been released. Many tourism enterprises and scenic spots have launched various preferential policies to attract tourists to come and play. In addition, as the domestic tourism market continues to mature, consumers' demand for tourism products and services is also escalating, which brings more opportunities and challenges to the tourism industry.
Secondly, green, environmental protection and health have become the new keywords of China's tourism industry in 2023. In the context of the epidemic, people are paying more and more attention to health and environmental protection, and the tourism industry is also actively adjusting its development strategy to meet the needs of consumers. For example, green tourism products such as rural tourism and ecotourism have received more and more attention and become new highlights of the tourism industry.
Finally, digitalization and intelligence have become the trend of China's tourism development. During the epidemic, the online tourism business has developed rapidly, and many tourism enterprises have begun to deploy a new tourism model that integrates online and offline. In the future, with the continuous progress of science and technology, digitalization and intelligence will play a greater role in the tourism industry, bringing consumers a more convenient and personalized travel experience.
2023 is a year of recovery and revitalization for China's tourism industry, and the development status and characteristics of the industry are worth paying attention to. In the context of the gradual recovery of the global economy, China's tourism industry is expected to continue to maintain rapid growth and make greater contributions to China's economic development.