Both the distance that domestic tourists travel and the number of places they visit for fun are getting smaller. During the National Day holiday in 2021, the average distance that tourists travelled was 141.3 kilometres. This is about 71.7 kilometres or 33.66 percent less than what it was during the same time in 2020. Government data showed that the average distance between places for recreation was 13.1 km, which was 1.1 km or 7.75 percent less than the year before.
When it comes to tourist groups, people who live in cities like to see faraway places. They make up 12.2% of tourists who travel more than 300 km. Under these conditions, tourism players need to improve their skills and get a better handle on the resources they have. As long as they keep up with how their customers live and can meet all of the needs of tourists, they will probably find many new ways to grow in the years to come.
Information asymmetry has been a way for travel businesses to make money for a long time. Outbound flight tickets were the most profitable part of their business, followed by outbound travel, domestic travel between provinces, and travel to the edges of the country. The more difficult it was for people to get information, the more money travel agencies made.
With so many people using smartphones and other digital tools, people in the tourism industry will have to find other ways to make information less equal to stay competitive. The old ways of getting customers, like handing out flyers and holding parties in the area, don’t work anymore. Today, travel agencies need to be able to do more than just make itineraries. They also need to be able to run e-commerce platforms.
They have to offer consumers things that are both useful and fun. A fragmented travel experience can make people happy.
For example, since the COVID-19 outbreak, many Chinese travel agencies have been sending monthly or quarterly emails to suppliers around the world to find out what’s going on in their local tourism industry and to find out which hotels or restaurants have closed and which management teams have been replaced or changed. When the pandemic is over, the key to getting customers back will be first-hand information and resources that can be shared.
After many years of growth, the tourism industry in China has reached a clear point of division.
Its developed eastern coast is where most tourists come from, while the west has a lot to offer tourists. Since the western region is growing quickly, tourism between the eastern and western parts of China will help them become more economically connected.
Due to the unique way the eastern region’s economy has grown, business tourism and tourism related to shows and exhibitions have slowly replaced traditional sightseeing. But sightseeing has stayed one of the most popular things to do in the western region. This is because the region has a lot of beautiful scenery and a diverse landscape.
As a key part of the economy and one that uses few resources and makes a lot of jobs, tourism will continue to help China’s economy grow, especially with the help of the fast growth of digitalization, urbanisation, and transportation infrastructure.
