Xinhua All Media+| Summer Tour "Popular" Experience Tour Reintegration - New Trends in Summer Tourism Observation Tourists | Tourism | Trends

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 14th (Xinhua) - Summer tourism is becoming popular, and experiential tourism is reintegrating - observation of new trends in summer tourism

Xinhua News Agency reporter

Since the summer vacation, with China entering the hottest "three dog days" of the year, the tourism market in various regions has shown a significant recovery. Journalists have conducted research in multiple parts of the country and found that the supply of personalized tourism markets such as summer vacations, study tours, and parent-child tours is more abundant. Tourists' travel concepts have evolved from "visiting and checking in" to more immersive "experiences.

Unprecedented popularity of "summer vacation"

Just as the summer falls, the Jiangman Beach Wetland in the center of the city, located in the Sun Island Scenic Area of Harbin, Heilongjiang, attracts a constant stream of tourists from all over the country. While tasting specialty cold drinks, people take photos and check in, enjoying the comfort of summer.

"The temperature in Harbin is very comfortable in summer. This year, the whole family will come and experience the summer of the Ice City." Wang Lin, a tourist from Shandong, said that summer resorts like Harbin are their first choice for summer travel.

Jiang Fei, Deputy General Manager of Sun Island Asset Company, introduced that since the summer of this year, the number of tourists received by the scenic area has not only been much higher than the same period last year, but also more than 10% higher than the same period in 2019.

With many parts of the country gradually entering the "barbecue" mode, the "summer vacation" driven by high temperatures has become a keyword in the summer tourism market this year. On major online travel platforms, routes related to summer vacation, drifting, night tours, and other projects are abundant.

The data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently conducted a survey on the summer tourism market in traditional high-temperature cities, and the overall willingness to travel in these cities reached 94.6% in the third quarter.

Many places regard summer as an excellent period to enhance the image of summer brands and establish a good reputation as a destination, and have launched characteristic tourism activities. Enshi, Hubei Province, relies on local cultural characteristics to introduce Zajiu Ge and bamboo woven intangible cultural heritage culture from museums and cultural centers into daily life scenes, forming normalized performance and experience projects; Harbin focuses on characteristic activities such as mountaineering, camping, and self driving, and continues to launch summer eco-tourism products.

"In the process of tourism transformation, climate has become one of the important attractions for tourism destinations. People are increasingly concerned about healthy consumption and travel comfort." Dai Bin, President of the China Tourism Research Institute, said that summer tourism is at the right time and has become a new consensus among tourists, investment institutions, and business entities.

Recently, tourists are visiting and playing at the Sun Island Scenic Area in Harbin, Heilongjiang.

From "Visit Here" to Deep Experience

In the Zhangbi Ancient Fortress Scenic Area in Jiexiu City, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, Huang Haolei from Inner Mongolia is attentively listening to his research supervisor's explanation of the history of the castle. He and more than twenty elementary school students were divided into two groups, and based on the clues provided by their mentor, they competed to complete the puzzle task in the dimly lit millennium tunnel.

On July 4th, tourists were visiting the Yungang Grottoes Scenic Area in Datong City, Shanxi Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jie Yuan

"Studying tours can not only enhance historical knowledge, but also enhance the ability to analyze and solve problems, which I cannot learn from books," said Huang Haolei.

In 2018, Zhangbi Ancient Fortress was selected as one of the first research and education bases by Jinzhong City. Relying on rich historical and cultural resources and unique military tunnels, the scenic area has developed research and education courses with ancient military sites and traditional culture as the theme, involving radio, rubbings, cloth tiger sewing and other contents, attracting research and education tourists from all over the country.

On July 5th, children experienced rubbings at the Zhangbi Ancient Fort Scenic Area in Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jie Yuan

"Since the establishment of the project, the most obvious feeling is that the needs of tourists have changed from the past 'tourism oriented' to 'learning guided tourism'," said Zhang Leilei, the research manager of the scenic area.

The changes in study tours are a microcosm of the transformation and development of China's tourism market this summer. Many tourism product designers have realized that products such as parent-child tours, urban tours, and cultural tours can no longer rely solely on concepts to attract tourists, but need to enhance their attractiveness to tourists through unique cultural scenes and authentic experiential processes.

"The increase in national income level and per capita travel frequency has driven cultural and tourism consumers to shift from materialistic to experiential. People are no longer satisfied with just looking at the scenery, but are deeply experiencing the customs and culture of the destination," said Zhang Yang, deputy researcher at the Data Analysis Institute of the China Tourism Research Institute.

Research needs to tap the market potential

The "14th Five Year Plan for the Development of Tourism Industry" issued in 2022 points out that during the "14th Five Year Plan" period, China will fully enter the era of mass tourism. With the continuous improvement of national income, product supply, and supply chain level, the demand for tourism consumption by Chinese tourists is shifting towards high quality and diversification, from focusing on sightseeing to balancing sightseeing and leisure vacation.

"The arrival of the era of mass tourism is often accompanied by the flourishing development of niche markets." Zhang Yang pointed out that the evolution direction of demand is usually segmented, which is also the direction of upgrading the tourism industry.

The interviewed experts pointed out that practitioners need to conduct in-depth research on the fine-grained demand analysis of segmented groups, tap into market development potential, strengthen the design and delivery capabilities of tourism products and services, and government departments should also guide and cultivate the development of segmented markets with potential, creating a better policy and business environment.

In response to the characteristics of summer tourism, Heilongjiang Province has further improved policy measures and guarantee mechanisms. He Jing, Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Heilongjiang Province, stated that he will guide and support the characteristic development of small and medium-sized tourism enterprises, and formulate preferential policies for summer summer summer tourism.

Experts point out that providing high-quality products should be given top priority, the level of supply capacity should be improved, and efforts should be made to create more tourism boutiques that reflect cultural connotations and humanistic spirit. Fang Shizhong, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, stated that in the future, Shanghai's cultural and tourism industry should highlight its inherent characteristics of being "urban, comprehensive, and international", attracting, infecting, and retaining people with cultural charm and urban style.