Summer tourism heats up China's "summer economy" tourists | scenic spots | economy
On July 4th, tourists visited the Yungang Grottoes Scenic Area in Datong City, Shanxi Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jie Yuan
Taiyuan, July 9th (Xinhua) - In the scorching summer heat of Yungang Grottoes Scenic Area in Datong City, Shanxi Province, tourists can enter the cool cave to appreciate the grotto statues, and also stop and rest in the scenic area covered by green trees.
"Datong has a pleasant temperature and profound cultural heritage. Our family drove here specifically to escape the summer heat," said Wang Quanshun, a tourist from Beijing.
The World Meteorological Organization recently announced that the formation of El Ni ñ o conditions in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years may lead to a surge in global temperatures. In recent days, Beijing, Hebei, Henan and other places have issued multiple high-temperature warnings. As of the 6th, it was the first time in the history of the same period in July that Beijing experienced consecutive weather temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
With the advantage of being cool with the highest average temperature of 26 degrees Celsius in midsummer, Datong has become a popular summer resort for nearby areas.
"Compared to the same period in 2019, the daily average number of tourists received has increased by nearly 50%," said Xia Lijun, a ticket staff member at Yungang Grottoes. The local transportation department also predicts that during this summer, Datong South Station may face the busiest summer passenger flow peak since its opening in 2019.
On July 4th, tourists visited the Yungang Grottoes Scenic Area in Datong City, Shanxi Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jie Yuan
Under the continuous high temperature, summer vacation is becoming a new growth point for China's "summer economy". The data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently conducted a survey on the summer tourism market in traditional high-temperature cities, showing that the overall willingness to travel to these cities reached 94.6% in the third quarter of this year. Among the respondents, 38.4% of residents planned to travel twice, and 35.1% planned to travel three times.
"After nearly a decade of cultivation, summer tourism has completed the concept introduction period and is entering a new stage of policy promotion and commercial practice," said Dai Bin, President of the China Tourism Research Institute.
To meet the increasing personalized and diversified needs of passengers, popular summer destinations such as Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast are actively exploring experience and practices.
In order to attract students from neighboring areas, the Yungang Grottoes, Hengshan Mountain, and Hanging Temple scenic spots in Datong City have implemented free entrance ticket discounts for students from five provinces and cities, which will last until September 30th.
In Enshi, Hubei Province, relying on the local characteristic culture, the Zajiu Song and bamboo woven intangible cultural heritage culture are introduced into daily life scenes from museums and cultural centers, forming normalized performance projects and tourist experience projects, allowing tourists to appreciate cultural charm in the experience.
Harbin, Heilongjiang Province has upgraded its business model through "self driving+camping+tourism" and recently attracted more than 500 self driving vehicles from all over the country to gather at the Yuquan International Hunting Ground. In addition, Heilongjiang has also built a series of camping bases, including Shuangyashan Qixingshan Automobile Campsite, Hegang Lihuagu Mountain Wilderness Park, etc., allowing tourists to enjoy summer fun under tents.
On July 4th, tourists visited the Yungang Grottoes Scenic Area in Datong City, Shanxi Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jie Yuan
The National Development Report on Summer Vacation Tourism released by the China Tourism Research Institute recently pointed out that the scale of China's summer vacation tourism and related markets has reached 1.2 trillion to 1.5 trillion yuan. Dai Bin believes that summer tourism will provide important support for the growth of the summer tourism segment market, which is also an important basis for the optimistic expectations of the tourism market in the second half of the year.
In addition, with the continuous improvement of the quality of life of Chinese people, more and more consumers are paying attention to summer health preservation. The report shows that 89.1% of tourists pay attention to health preservation in summer, and 90% of respondents believe that avoiding summer heat is beneficial for summer health preservation. At present, a new type of business model of "health preservation+summer vacation" is rapidly emerging nationwide, further promoting the prosperity of the health preservation and summer vacation tourism market.
In the future, China will base on improving the modern tourism system, accelerate the supply side structural reform of tourism, and increase the supply of high-quality tourism products. The "14th Five Year Plan" for the development of tourism industry issued in 2022 mentions promoting the development of summer tourism and other forms of products.
"Summer tourism has become a new consensus among tourists, investment institutions, and market entities at the right time." Dai Bin said that we should promote the deep integration and healthy and sustainable development of summer tourism, health tourism, and cultural tourism.
