BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- From overall stagnation of the tourism industry to recovery of trans-provincial group tourism, from continuous rise of travel frequency to intensive signing of tourism investment and financing projects... In 2020, China's cultural tourism industry is facing a rapid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the epidemic has forced tourism enterprises to accelerate digital transformation and innovative layout, indicating accelerated quality increase and upgrading in the tourism industry.
According to industry insiders, in the new era of mass tourism, the industry has entered the new stage of well-off tourism, and a super domestic tourism market with 10 billion tourists and 10 trillion yuan of consumption scale will gradually take shape.
With deepening of supply-side structural reform and acceleration of demand-side reform, the cultural tourism industry will witness fast vitalization and high-quality development.
-- Cultural tourism industry accelerates recovery from the epidemic
Affected by the epidemic, the whole tourism industry has undergone unprecedented challenges in 2020. Nowadays, the dark days are over, and consumer confidence is steadily recovering, according to the Report of China Tourism Groups Development 2020 released by China Tourism Academy.
According to the report, in the first quarter, the number of China's domestic tourists and tourist income decreased by 83.4 percent and 87.02 percent year on year, respectively, and the tourism economy index hit a record low.
However, in a few months, the domestic tourism industry began to resume. In the first half of the year, the number of domestic tourists and tourist income decreased by 69.7 percent and 77.3 percent respectively when compared with the same period last year, suggesting a smaller declining range. During the National Day holiday 2020, national tourist reception volume and income on a comparable basis recovered to 79 percent and 69.9 percent, respectively.
With resumption of the industry, more and more tourism companies are feeling the recovery. The third-quarter financial report released by China's Ctrip Group on December 2 showed a net profit of 1.6 billion yuan and a net profit margin of 29 percent, up by 99 percent of net profit attributable to the owner of the parent company year on year, with performance far exceeding the industry's previous expectation. It was also the first time for Ctrip Group to make profit since the epidemic outbreak.
The epidemic has also given rise to a series of new demands and supplies in the tourism market. Healthcare tourism, suburban tourism, parent-child tourism, self-driving tourism and other new forms of tourist consumption have expanded rapidly. Tourism companies have accelerated online and smart progress, which promotes transformation of the industry towards "Internet + tourism".
-- China intensively implements supporting policies
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, many government departments have studied the impact of the epidemic in a timely manner, understood demands of enterprises, and issued a series of fiscal, tax, social security and financial bailout policies to benefit enterprises, so as to stimulate innovation potential of market players, and create a favorable development environment.
In terms of financial support, local governments have been permitted to regulate part of tourism development fund expenditure allocated from the central budget in advance in 2020, with the focus on supporting discount interest on loans to micro, small and medium-sized tourism enterprises.
In terms of tax and fee reduction, such policies as VAT reduction or exemption for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, extension of loss carry-over period for enterprises in difficulty, periodic exemption of social insurance premium for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, deferred payment of housing provident fund, and rent reduction or exemption have all benefited the cultural tourism industry.
At the market end, there have been tourism coupons issued by the local governments, price reduction or free admission at scenic spots, big discounts by merchants and other consumption promotion measures in the cultural tourism industry.
More good policies are still on the way. According to proposals about the cultural tourism industry in the 14th Five-Year Plan, there are many signals such as improving the holiday system, inheriting and carrying forward excellent traditional Chinese culture, and promoting integrated development of cultural tourism industry.
-- A 10-trillion-yuan market is expected
Looking ahead, the cultural tourism industry will embrace a larger market. In the next five years, China will form a super domestic tourism market with 10 billion tourists and 10 trillion yuan of consumption scale, which will maintain an overall contribution rate to national economy and social employment at more than 10 percent, said Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Academy.
Many companies also see the great market potentials. According to Wan Min, chairman of China National Travel Service Group Co., Ltd., China is about to become the world's largest consumer market. Tourism is a strategic pillar industry of national economy, contributing more than 10 percent to GDP in the past five years, and the resident travel index has reached 18.8 percent. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's population structure will undergo profound changes, which will bring new tourism consumption demands. Recreational tourism, as a consumption model of high-frequency and low-density, will become an important area for development in the tourism industry.
Reform and opening-up is still required as fundamental driving force for upgrading and continuous vitality of tourism. For large cultural tourism groups, efforts should be made in system and mechanism innovation by establishing a more effective incentive mechanism, and creating an innovation-encouraging institutional environment, so as to make more enterprises more active and stronger, said Kang Guoming, chairman of CYTS.
(Edited by Gao Jingyan with Xinhua Silk Road, gaojingyan@xinhua.org)
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