'October' Golden Week is approaching, merchants accelerate 'rebirth', tourism companies set off a battle to grab customers

Just after the summer vacation, tourist businesses set their sights on the next "Eleventh" Golden Week. On September 8, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned from Ctrip, Qunar, Tongcheng, Mafengwo and other tourism companies that tens of thousands of tourism products have been launched around the "11th". It is not difficult to see that in the face of the "Eleventh" Golden Week when travel is relatively concentrated, tourism companies have started a battle to grab passengers. What's more noteworthy is that prices of hotels and air tickets are on the rise in many popular tourist destinations due to the surge in booking demand. Take tours around Beijing and Shanghai as examples. Due to the hot sales, it is difficult to find a room in hotels, homestays and other accommodations, and the prices are higher than in previous years. According to industry insiders, in the first half of this year, the sudden outbreak of the epidemic caused many tourism companies to stagnate, and the arrival of the "Eleventh" Golden Week is expected to further "recover blood." At the same time, because outbound tourism cannot be released for the time being, domestic tourism has also achieved a "return" of tourists.

Marketing wars

With the approach of the "Eleventh" Golden Week, tourist businesses have also come up with their own "packaged goods." It is understood that more than 4,000 domestic travel agencies on Ctrip have launched tens of thousands of National Day tourism products, covering dozens of themes and sub-cultural fields. The product forms include private groups, theme tours, customized tours, etc. The sales progress of some personalized lines is far beyond that of conventional products. The relevant person in charge of Ctrip said that the products currently on the line cover the "Safe Tour" label. At the same time, we will also implement safe tour standards such as code verification, temperature measurement, and disinfection. If tourists order early, there will be discounts. The above-mentioned person in charge also stated that when Ctrip makes reservations for Golden Week products, generally there will be an "early bird" discount of several hundred yuan if you book 2-3 weeks in advance. In addition, if you book a packaged product, such as a machine wine package, it will be more than a single It's cheaper to order.

Not only Ctrip, but some other OTA platforms are also offering discounted products to grab customers. It is understood that the same trip will release a "1 billion subsidy" event for the "Eleventh" Golden Week, which will last from 9th and 15th to October 8th. Among them, Tongcheng Travel will not only launch nearly one million special travel products, covering hundreds of tourist destinations across the country, including Beijing, Sanya, Chengdu, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guilin, Zhangjiajie, Jinggangshan, Xi’an, and Shenzhen, but also launch a variety of Air tickets, train tickets, hotel product spike activities, and special products for surrounding tours.

OTA companies including Qunar, Tuniu, Fliggy, and Mafengwo also launched their competitive "Eleventh" products.

In addition, many homestay platforms have also joined this "Eleventh" promotion war. On September 7, the Tujia Homestay platform also launched the second wave of "Live at Weekend" products. It is reported that tourists can snap up the "Weekend Live" products on the Tujia platform at low prices before September 11, and choose to stay during the "November" and Mid-Autumn Festival.

According to industry insiders, this year’s “October” and the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday are combined, and the holiday is as long as 8 days. Although outbound travel cannot be released temporarily, the demand for domestic travel is still very large. In addition, many tourism companies have suffered losses due to the epidemic in the first half of this year Disastrous, I definitely hope to further "recover blood" with the help of "Eleventh".

Both volume and price rise

Preferential promotions are more of a marketing strategy aimed at "October" by merchants. Facing the release of a large number of travel demands during the holidays, many popular destinations have also seen an increase in bookings and prices. According to the data provided by Ctrip, as of September 2, Sanya, Lijiang, Kunming, Xiamen, Zhangjiajie, Jiuzhaigou and other tourism products have the most popular booking searches, related to free travel, group travel, customized travel, car rental, etc. The product has entered the National Day reservation stage in advance, and some routes are expected to be hard to find. The data also shows that in popular destinations such as Hainan, Sichuan and Yunnan, bookings for National Day free travel products increased by more than 100% from the same period in September.

In addition, according to the data provided by Qunar.com, tickets for many tourist destinations are also "hard to find." Since August 31, searches for train tickets during the National Day holiday have increased by 83% year-on-year. On September 30 and October 1, there are no more tickets for some trains departing from Beijing to Harbin and Shenzhen.

At the same time, after the epidemic this year, the proportion of tourists traveling by car and renting a car has also increased significantly. According to data from Ctrip, reservations for popular models in popular provinces such as Hainan are in short supply, and the prices of some models have increased compared with the off-season.

The increase in bookings of tourism products in popular destinations has also brought about the rise in air tickets and hotel prices. It is understood that during the "October" period, the price of round-trip air tickets from Beijing to Sanya has exceeded 5,000 yuan, which is almost double the usual price, and the single-night room rate of Atlantis Sanya is also 4500-4800. Around Yuan, it has risen by nearly 50% compared to usual.

In addition, it is worth noting that the Beijing outing market during the "October" holiday is also extremely hot. Many high-end B&Bs in the suburbs of Beijing have also been fully booked, and their prices have increased by about 20% compared to previous years.

Peng Liang, a researcher at the Ctrip Travel Big Data Lab, said that there will be several major tourist hotspots during the Golden Week this year. The top destinations include major tourist provinces such as Hainan, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Shaanxi and famous domestic tourist cities. At present, Sanya is free to travel. The number of bookings ranks ahead. In addition, the distinctive cities such as Chongqing, Xi'an, Kunming, Hangzhou, etc. are not diminishing. The 3-5 day tour centered on these cities will become the first choice for National Day trips.

Quick blood return

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been madly placing orders in the past few days.” A Ctrip store owner said that he hopes to make up for the losses caused by the epidemic in the first half of the year with the help of the “November” holiday. It can be seen that Golden Week has also become a good time for tourism businesses to quickly "recover blood".

Feng Rao, head of the Mafengwo Tourism Research Center, said that this year's "October" and the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday combined, as long as 8 days, will also bring a strong consumption boom to domestic medium and long-term tourism. In previous years, the "Eleventh" Golden Week was the peak season for outbound travel, but this year, affected by the epidemic, a large number of outbound travel demand has returned. These tourists have high spending power, which will drive the domestic mid-to-high-end tourism and vacation market.

Peng Liang further pointed out that Sanya has a strong domestic high-end leisure and vacation property, and it has undertaken part of the travel needs of converting outbound tours to domestic tours. In addition, it benefits from the island property, which is relatively safer. At the same time, the Hainan Free Trade Port has a favorable tax exemption policy. Catalyzed by such effects, a large number of tourists will come, which will also bring a wave of tourism dividends to tourist businesses.

Wang Xingbin, a senior researcher at the Institute of Chinese Culture and Tourism Industry of Beijing International Studies University, also said frankly that the increase in volume and price of popular tourist destinations also highlights the insufficient supply of quality tourism products in some regions, and domestic tourism companies can also respond to market demand , Increase the supply of high-quality tourism products, and avoid the congestion of pedestrians and cars in popular scenic spots and popular routes. In the short term, due to the impact of the global epidemic, outbound tourism cannot be opened for the time being, and tourism demand can only be shifted to China, which also provides a boost for the development of domestic tourism products.

Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge officer and senior economist of Huamei Hotel Consulting, also said that, in fact, the liberalization of inter-provincial travel in the summer has given the tourism market a trend of recovery, and some businesses have also made adjustments to the domestic travel market. For example, out of people's health and safety considerations, many hotels have improved their epidemic prevention and sanitation inspections. In addition, some homestay platforms have also paid more attention to the quality of accommodation and launched products such as "Relaxed Living" to attract tourists. In the future, with the flow of outbound tourists, domestic tourism products will become more qualitative development.