China Business Daily (Reporter Zhao Yiru)On November 15th, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice that inter-provincial tourism business activities will no longer be linked with risk areas. China Business Daily reporter found that once the notice was issued, the number of products for group tours and inter-provincial tours, as well as the search and booking of air tickets and train tickets on various platforms increased rapidly. Various travel platforms and travel agencies have said that the announcement is of great significance to the recovery of the tourism industry.
On November 16th, Hainan Airlines Haikou-Hong Kong flight HU703 took off from haikou meilan international airport, marking the official resumption of international and regional regular passenger routes in haikou meilan international airport. Haikou = Hong Kong route became the first international and regional regular passenger route resumed in Hainan Province since the epidemic, and built a bridge for economic, trade, tourism and cultural exchanges and cooperation between Qionggang and Hong Kong. The picture shows the check-in procedures for passengers flying to Hong Kong. (Image courtesy of CNSPHOTO)
Bookings have increased rapidly.
On November 15th, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing the Prevention and Control Measures of COVID-19 Epidemic, and Doing a Good Job in the Prevention and Control of Culture and Tourism" (hereinafter referred to as the Notice).
The notice proposes to optimize cross-provincial tourism management policies. According to the latest management method of risk zone delineation, inter-provincial tourism business activities are no longer linked with risk zones. Inter-provincial tourists need to take inter-provincial transportation with negative proof of nucleic acid test within 48 hours. In accordance with the requirements of "landing inspection" for migrant workers across provinces, we will actively guide tourists to take the initiative to carry out nucleic acid testing and push forward the prevention and control barriers.
After the announcement, the number of package tours, inter-provincial tour products, as well as the search and booking of air tickets and train tickets on various platforms increased rapidly.
Tongcheng data shows that only one hour after the announcement, the search volume of Tongcheng travel platform and group tour products increased rapidly, up more than 600% compared with the same period of the previous day; The search volume of air tickets, train tickets and other transportation products also increased, with the increase of 182% and 97% respectively. Ctrip data also shows that after the announcement, the search volume of Ctrip’s inter-provincial travel products reached the peak since the National Day holiday, and the search volume of free travel products more than tripled compared with the previous day.
As of 10: 00 a.m. on November 16th, the volume of orders for US delegations and group tours increased by 178% month-on-month, among which the volume of orders for inter-provincial and group tours increased by 255%. As of 15: 00 on November 16th, the number of views on Tuniu Travel Network increased by 161%, the number of orders increased by 132% and the number of products searched for cross-provincial tours increased by 149%.
The data of Qunar platform also showed that on the day of the announcement, the number of train tickets booked on Qunar platform doubled from the previous day, and a small peak was ushered in at 5 o’clock on November 16. At the same time, the number of train ticket bookings in areas with stable epidemic situation has increased significantly.
Industry recovery is in sight
Yang Yanfeng, director of the Online Tourism Research Center of Beijing Union University, told the China Business Daily that the biggest highlight of the notice was the cancellation of the fuse mechanism. For counties (cities, districts, flags) and districts (counties) of municipalities directly under the central government with medium and high-risk areas, there is no need to suspend travel agencies and online travel companies from operating inter-provincial group tours and "air tickets+hotels" business.
"That is to say, travel agencies and online travel platforms operate domestic inter-provincial tours, which have been treated equally with individual tourists and individuals. They are only subject to the control requirements of the national epidemic prevention policy and the destination epidemic prevention policy, and they are no longer special, which provides a gradual normalization opportunity for the operation of travel platforms, travel agencies and tourism enterprises around the country, which has positive significance." Yang Yanfeng said.
Zhang Zhining, deputy director of the Strategic Research Center of Ctrip Research Institute, believes that on the basis of minimizing the number of control personnel and releasing the regional population mobility by "optimizing the 20 epidemic prevention articles", the release of the notice is conducive to further activating cross-regional population mobility in the context of precise epidemic prevention.
"After the publication of Article 20, relevant policies have been implemented in various places and industries. The adjustment of inter-provincial tourism management policies means that group tourism will be restored in an orderly manner, which is of great significance to the recovery of the tourism market. With the increase in product supply of various travel agencies and online travel companies, passengers have more choices. " Yang Guanghui, the person in charge of Qunar’s holiday products, said, "This news has also boosted the confidence of Qunar’s platform merchants. At present, Qunar’s platform has resumed the shelves of inter-provincial travel products in all provinces in China."
Zeng Fali, the head of the first branch of Sichuan Hetu Online International Travel Service Co., Ltd. also said that after the announcement, the tourists from other provinces consulted Ganzi route the most, and they could feel that consumers’ willingness to travel was picking up, and the team also tripled the customer service staff at the first time.
"The release of this notice is the further implementation of the 20 measures to optimize the prevention and control of epidemic situation in the cultural tourism industry, which means that the prevention and control of tourism will be more scientific and accurate. In a short time, domestic cross-provincial tourism will usher in a round of rapid rise, but it will take some time for people’s travel confidence to return to the level before the epidemic. With the gradual implementation of scientific and precise epidemic prevention policies in various places, the entire tourism industry will enter a recovery cycle. " Zhang Mingyang, a senior researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute, thinks.
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