Our reporter Li Qiaoyu
On the evening of June 5, data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday in 2022, 79.61 million domestic tourist trips nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 10.7%, and a comparable recovery to 86.8% of the same period in 2019; domestic tourism revenue was 258.2%. 100 million yuan, down 12.2% year-on-year, and recovered to 65.6% of the same period in 2019.
It is generally seen in the industry that due to factors such as current restrictions in some areas, the number of tourism trips and tourism revenue during the Dragon Boat Festival this year fell, but "the hardest days are over."
The popularity of local tourism pushes up B&B prices
During this Dragon Boat Festival holiday, local tourism is still the mainstream.
"During the Dragon Boat Festival, homestays in the Yanqing area of Beijing were basically in a state of being difficult to find. When we checked out on June 5, there were still tourists checking in." Mr. Wang, a tourist from Beijing, told the "Securities Daily" reporter. Before the 'May Day' holiday, he also went to Beijing suburban homestay for vacation."At that time, it was very deserted and there were few tourists. The price gap was also huge. During the 'May 1' period, the price of a private courtyard was around 1,800 yuan per day, and during the Dragon Boat Festival, it rose to more than 3,000 yuan."
The price increase of travel bookings like Mr. Wang is not an isolated case.According to the data disclosed by a number of online travel platforms, the "Securities Daily" reporter learned that the Dragon Boat Festival holiday has become the first peak travel season in the first half of this year. , B&B bookings have resumed the upward channel; the recovery of accommodation prices shows that the entire tourism industry has turned warmer.
"Judging from the current data, for the tourism industry in Beijing, the hardest days are over." CYTS spokesperson and chief brand officer Xu Xiaolei told the "Securities Daily" reporter.
According to the reporter's understanding, before and after the Dragon Boat Festival holiday this year, the tourism industry ushered in a lot of good news.On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, tourism in Beijing and Shanghai resumed work one after another.On June 5, the Beijing tourism industry welcomed the news of the resumption of the Beijing travel agency's business of "group tourism in Beijing" for citizens.At the same time, various scenic spots, scenic spots, and parks in the Beijing area are required to adhere to "limits, reservations, and staggered peaks", and open according to the 75% current limit, which has been relaxed from the previously required 50% current limit.
"Gubei Water Town has resumed normal operations since June 1. During the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, it basically operates at full capacity according to the 50% current limit requirement." Xu Xiaolei told reporters that with the gradual relaxation of current limit in the future, It is expected that passenger traffic will increase in an orderly manner.
In Xu Xiaolei's view, it is time to relax the current limit."Summer vacation tour is coming soon. The college entrance examination is over this week, and the summer vacation tour is officially opened. With the gradual relaxation of the current limit, the situation of summer vacation tour is worth looking forward to."
Changes in the prices of popular homestays also reflect the travel popularity of the Dragon Boat Festival.A homestay operator in the suburbs of Beijing told the Securities Daily reporter: "During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the price of the homestay he manages increased from 2,000 yuan per day to about 4,000 yuan per day."
According to Qunar platform data, this year's Dragon Boat Festival tourists still mainly travel within the province, and the proportion of tourists within the province exceeds 85%.During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday (June 3 to June 5), hotel bookings in Beijing increased by about 50% from the previous weekend (May 27 to May 29).
According to Tujia data, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the homestay market in Beijing and Shanghai accelerated, and some popular country homestays were hard to find. Although Beijing suburban homestays need to limit the flow of tourists according to 50%, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Beijing suburban homestays The number of bookings in Guangdong has recovered to 70% of the same period last year; the homestay market in Guangdong Province surpassed last year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, and the number of homestay bookings doubled compared with last year's Dragon Boat Festival.
The relevant person in charge of Zhongxin Tourism told the "Securities Daily" reporter: "At present, although the Beijing area has not resumed inter-provincial tourism, with the resumption of local tourism in Beijing, scenic spots, hotels and homestays centered on Beijing can gradually return to normal. The opening of the business will inject a 'strengthening shot' into the recovery of the tourism business around Beijing and even the future inter-provincial tourism business."
29 provinces resume inter-provincial travel
From a national perspective, as of the press release on June 5, 28 provinces and cities have announced the resumption of inter-provincial travel, and many large scenic spots have introduced preferential measures for ticket reduction and exemption.
According to Yang Guanghui, head of Qunar Vacation Product Operations, as of now, the 29 provinces that have resumed inter-provincial travel include Henan, Hunan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Jiangsu, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei, Chongqing, Hainan, Gansu, Qinghai, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Guangdong.
"With the arrival of the summer vacation, some provinces have resumed inter-provincial travel, indicating that the tourism industry will usher in a turning point of recovery." said Qunar.
Data from an online travel platform shows that the Dragon Boat Festival long-term travel has shown a recovery trend: the number of long-term travel orders has increased by 82% compared with the "May Day" holiday, and the growth rate has exceeded that of local travel.Judging from the search popularity of Qunar during the Dragon Boat Festival, Sanya, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Changsha have the highest search interest in inter-provincial travel, and the search interest in Sanya, Chengdu, Kunming and other places has tripled from the previous week.
"During the Dragon Boat Festival, about 74% of our orders came from within the province, which is a drop compared to the previous 'May 1' holiday." Huang Wei, head of public affairs at Xiaozhu Homestay, told the "Securities Daily" reporter: " This means that more than 20% of tourists travel across provinces, and cross-provincial and long-distance travel is increasing."
In Huang Wei's view, on the eve of the summer vacation, the resumption of inter-provincial tourism in many places will undoubtedly release a positive signal, but he is still cautiously optimistic about the long-term expectations of the tourism industry in the future.
In Xu Xiaolei's view, it will still take some time for cross-provincial tourism to truly resume.The travel confidence of tourists is still in the process of recovery.The product design of cross-provincial tourism under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control still needs to be implemented as soon as possible.
