There are new opportunities behind the new changes, and summer tourism is booming | year-on-year | changes

In July, domestic routes operated 430000 passenger flights, an increase of 12% compared to 2019; The daily average number of passenger trains operated by the national railway is 10169, an increase of 14.2% compared to 2019; Popular tourist attractions are crowded with people, making it difficult to get a ticket or book a room

If you go out this summer, you will definitely have a profound understanding of the current popularity of the domestic tourism market. In addition to the hustle and bustle, some new changes have attracted the attention of industry insiders, and many enterprises have begun to follow the new trend and layout for the future.

The rental and self driving market has exploded

The "2023 Summer Car Rental and Self driving Tour Report" recently released by Ctrip shows that as of the end of July, the number of domestic car rental and self driving orders this summer has increased by more than 80% year-on-year, an increase of 352% compared to the same period in 2019; The per capita car rental cost during the summer has increased by 18% compared to 2019; The overseas car rental revenue increased by 164% year-on-year.

"This is the busiest summer season for car rental and self driving tours. We predict that the market will definitely grow, but the current growth rate still surprises us," Chen Ling, the Director of Car Rental Operations at Ctrip, told reporters.

Renting a car for self driving is a popular way of traveling that has emerged with the improvement of economic level, and the rental car market has been continuously growing. During the epidemic, the entire tourism market was impacted, but this segment of the market did not shrink due to convenience and privacy, but instead grew. This year, the concentrated release of travel demand, coupled with the growth of the population holding driver's licenses in the past three years, has led to an explosive growth in rental and self driving.

The 2023 Summer Car Rental and Self driving Tour Report shows that among summer car rental and self driving tour users this year, those born in the 1980s accounted for 43.18%; The proportion of post-90s is 32.3%; The proportion of post-00s increased by nearly 10% year-on-year, and the number of car rental orders increased by 65% year-on-year. In addition, the summer female car rental order volume increased by 14.9% year-on-year, accounting for a 5 percentage point increase. The overall proportion of male and female car rental and self driving users has increased to 6-4.

"From the Spring Festival, to Qingming and May Day, and then to the Dragon Boat Festival, the holiday rental and self driving market has been very popular this year." Chen Ling said that before the summer vacation, suppliers are purchasing more car models, entering more cities, and continuously increasing inventory. In addition, starting from June, the number of merchants joining the Ctrip platform has increased at a rate of 150% per month.

In Chen Ling's view, the explosion of the rental and self driving market is not a flash in the pan, but a long-term positive trend: "In the past 20 years, the domestic rental and self driving industry has only begun to develop rapidly. Considering the number of licensed drivers in China, there is huge development space for the rental and self driving market targeting Chinese consumers both domestically and internationally."

Ctrip began to internally incubate the car rental sector in 2012 and established a car rental platform ecosystem in 2017. At present, Ctrip's domestic car rental business has covered over 98% of prefecture level cities, with a total of 4000 cooperative merchants and over 2000 types of car models; Our global business covers over 200 countries/regions, over 8000 cities, and we can rent 5 million cars, covering 80000 stores.

Chen Ling introduced that different customers will have different needs in different scenarios. For example, many people have their own cars, but may want to experience new car models while traveling, such as driving campers, sports cars, off-road vehicles, etc. The development of the rental car market can revolve around these needs.

In recent years, Ctrip Car Rental has innovatively launched "worry free rental" and "credit rental" to make car rental more convenient for customers. It also plans to launch self-service pick-up and return services and increase ETC services.

In addition, the platform also requires suppliers to standardize and transparent the content and prices of car rental insurance, and to include all products in the system's standardized management. "There may be short-term pains, but in the long run, it will definitely be beneficial for market development. We have taken some incentive measures to guide suppliers to cooperate," said Chen Ling.

Research tours have shifted from segmentation to mainstream

Before the summer of 2023, many people may not have heard of study tours, but starting this summer, study tours have gained popularity and frequently appeared on internet searches. Research groups can be seen everywhere in major historical and cultural scenic spots, universities, museums, and even some people shout, "Everything can be studied.".

This phenomenon also surprised Ma Lei, the chairman of Jingyu Lv Mama Group: "Before this summer, study tours were just an important segment of the tourism market, but now they have become mainstream, and almost all tourism destinations within the group have launched study tour products."

In Dazhou, Sichuan, the Bashan Grand Canyon has been developed into a provincial-level geological research and practice base, as well as a provincial-level primary and secondary school student research and practice base. Currently, it has received nearly 100000 research and study teams of all sizes, and research and study tours have become a new business card for tourism in the Bashan Grand Canyon scenic area.

In Huzhou, Zhejiang, by exploring historical, cultural, and tourism resources such as ancient villages, silk, sericulture, agriculture, clear water, and ancient bridges in the world's rural tourism town, some institutions have developed and designed research products in four major areas: cultural inheritance, knowledge popularization, natural education, and red party building. At present, the scenic area has received a total of about 12000 graduate students, held more than 50 graduate activities, and organized a maximum of thousands of students for graduate activities in a single session.

Huzhou World Rural Tourism Town Research and Learning Team

In the Hongqiao Business District of Shanghai, Qichuang Tourism Group, a subsidiary of Jingyu Lv Mama Group, launched a large-scale immersive art exhibition called "Exploring the Classic of Mountains and Seas" at the end of June this year. Using digital lighting, VR, AR and other technologies, it showcases the magical charm of ancient Chinese civilization and the ancient world of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas". The exhibition has received good feedback, and the exhibition operation team has also increased their development efforts and increased their research and study tours.

A research group exploring the mysteries of the Shanhaijing Exhibition

However, the popularity of study tours has also led to many chaos in the market. Many parents have reported that the so-called "graduate studies" are just waiting in line for a few hours and taking photos for a minute to go to universities and museums, without learning anything at all. For parents, when choosing a study tour project, they not only need to have a clear understanding of the content contained in the study tour products, but also choose reliable institutions to avoid pitfalls and lightning protection as much as possible. For tourism practitioners, it is necessary to make efforts on the supply side of products, use good products to undertake and meet market demand, and rely on good currency to drive out bad currency.

"The rise of study tours reflects the changes in family consumption patterns, which is a trend. Parents hope that the journey is not just about relaxing and seeing the scenery, but also about what their children can hear and gain during the journey." Ma Lei believes that in study tour products, the relationship between people becomes more important. After seeing landscapes and historical relics, children need to explain, interact, and experience in order to truly gain something.

For example, the "Exploring the Classic of Mountains and Seas" exhibition has launched a small guide project, allowing children to tell the story of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" in their own words, increasing more interaction. It is hoped that "after watching the exhibition, children can truly remember these stories and become interested in ancient Chinese mythology."

The "Exploring the Classic of Mountains and Seas" exhibition has launched a small guide project

At present, some popular historical and cultural scenic spots and museums are already overcrowded during the summer. Practitioners can start with age based and personalized needs to develop differentiated products. For example, experiential research and learning products such as local culture, national defense technology, physical fitness expansion, geomorphological investigation, paleontological research investigation, and Silk Road travel are also popular in the market.

The reporter learned that Lv Mama Tourism Network has also made the joint development of research tour products with museums, universities, research institutions, industry associations, training institutions, etc. a key focus of its future layout, with the goal of launching more professional, interesting, and contemporary research tour products.