The Yangtze River Cableway, Hongya Cave, Liziba Railway Station, Ciqikou… Since Chongqing’s tourism became popular, these attractions have soared in popularity, attracting tourists from all over the country to check in. As the epidemic slows, Chongqing’s tourism market has gradually recovered its former vitality. During the Dragon Boat Festival this year, Chongqing has once again become a popular tourist destination, ranking fifth in the list of popular tourist cities in the country.
On the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the reporter followed a one-day group to visit popular scenic spots in Chongqing, and visited the restoration of the Chongqing tourism market, as well as on-site passenger flow and consumption in the scenic spot. From the perspective of visits, the passenger flow in Chongqing during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday has clearly recovered, and the popularity of popular scenic spots is generally higher, but from the perspective of tourism consumption, there is still much room for improvement.
Popular attractions are very popular, and it may be an hour longer when it is 10 minutes late
“This year’s May Day, the queue alone will take 4 hours here. There are not as many people on the Dragon Boat Festival as May Day, but if you are 10 minutes late, you may queue for an additional hour.” At Xinhua Road, Yuzhong District At the Yangtze River Cableway Scenic Area, the tour guide Xiao Cai said to the group of tourists.
In the past, the Yangtze River Cableway was only a means of transportation for citizens to travel between the two sides of the strait. It only took 4 minutes for a one-way trip and only 8 minutes for the round trip. As this means of transportation has become a popular way for tourists to enjoy the scenery of the Liangjiang River, the queuing time is often calculated in hours, which has generally exceeded the riding time.
Due to the early departure, the team had reached the scenic spot before 8 o’clock. At the time of departure, there were almost no people in front of the queue, and when returning, there was already a queue.
The tour guide Xiao Cai told upstream reporters that since Chongqing became popular on the Internet, whether it is the Yangtze River Cableway, the Lizaba Track Station, or Hongya Cave, these scenic spots are inevitably crowded during holidays. “Queues are normal, but the queue time must be reduced for group tours, so as to take everyone to more scenic spots in the limited time.”
In addition to taking the Yangtze River Cableway, the tour guide Xiao Cai also took everyone to the Liziba Railway Station, Shancheng Alley, and Shangqing Temple Auditorium. In the afternoon, the itinerary is more compact, including Bai Residence, Zhazi Cave, Ciqikou and Hongya Cave. Except for the Hongya Cave at the end of the itinerary, the time to stay at the scenic spots during this period is no more than one and a half hours. For a trail like Shancheng Alley that can be visited more deeply, the stay time is only nearly 30 minutes.
“It’s true that the stay at each attraction is relatively short, and there are many people in each attraction. But after all, it’s understandable that it’s a’net celebrity’ city.” Liu Chunhua from Nanning, Guangxi told upstream reporters that this was her first visit. The most anticipated attractions in Chongqing are Liziba Railway Station and Hongya Cave. “After coming this time, I have already developed the idea of doing it again. I hope that afterwards I can take a deep dive and stop at the places I am interested in.”
The passenger flow has recovered significantly, and the level of tourism consumption still has room for improvement
Data shows that during the Dragon Boat Festival, Chongqing’s A-level tourist attractions received 6.38 million tourists, an increase of 139.8% and 1.6% year-on-year compared with 2020 and 2019, respectively. This means that the Chongqing Dragon Boat Festival tourism market has returned to the pre-epidemic level, and there has been a slight growth.
So, what are the characteristics of the tourist groups and consumption of popular attractions in Chongqing? In the process of following a one-day tour, the reporter found that Liziba Railway Station, Shancheng Alley, Ciqikou, Hongya Cave and other scenic spots have higher passenger flow and richer age groups. Among them, Shancheng Alley, Ciqikou, and Hongya Cave are more attractive to tourists, mainly focusing on dining, souvenirs, and leisure experience. While the red attractions such as Bai Mansion and Zhazidong are mainly family and group tourists, everyone is more inclined to visit, and the proportion of tourists buying souvenirs here is relatively small.
Take a one-day tour as an example. There are 16 tourists in the tour, and the overall level of tourism consumption is low. From the point of view of the cost of group registration, the online fee for participating in the group is relatively low, as low as 38 yuan per person, and 80 yuan per visitor to the store. Other consumption mainly comes from catering, tickets for some scenic spots, as well as twists, beef jerky, The cost of purchasing specialty products such as dried tofu. According to observations, the average family spends 200 to 300 yuan to buy local products. In addition, some tourists choose not to buy local products.
If all self-funded scenic spots (WFC viewing platform 100 yuan/person, Yangtze River Ropeway round-trip 30 yuan/person, Liangjiang cruise ship 158 yuan/person) are included, the group registration standard of 80 yuan per person, plus noon A group meal is 35 yuan, and a single person buys 200 yuan of souvenirs, and the total cost is 603 yuan. If tourists report online for a group and do not buy local products, the overall consumption is expected to be lower.
Industry insiders told reporters that the main reasons for the low consumption of one-day tour groups in the city are due to several reasons: one is that one-day tour groups include many classic scenic spots in the city, and the stay time of a single scenic spot is relatively short. Tourists spend less time for in-depth experience; second, most of the tourists who participate in such one-day tours fancy benefits, and their own willingness to travel consumption is not so strong; third, the tourist specialties and experience items offered to tourists in the current market are still To be improved, further efforts are needed to focus on quality, creativity, and service.
“One-day tours are only part of the travel market. The tour fee does not include entrance fees, accommodation, catering, etc., but mainly the fare and tour guide explanation fee. If it is a boutique tour or an in-depth tour, no matter if the tour fee is reported or The consumption level of accommodation, catering, specialty products, etc. will be quite different from that of large group day trips,” the person said.
With the emergence of new characteristics in the cultural tourism market, how should Chongqing seize the opportunity?
Data from the Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism shows that during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday this year, 5A-level scenic spots, urban tours, and red tourism have all been welcomed. For example, the Hongyadong Folk Customs Area received 152,000 tourists, and the Ciqikou Ancient Town Scenic Area received 105,000 tourists, both of which are highly popular.
According to a report released by Fliggy, nearly 70% of this year’s Dragon Boat Festival trips were born in the 1990s, and the number of bookings for afternoon tours at the end of 00 has the fastest growth rate. In addition to the high demand for surrounding tours, niche immersive experiences such as cruise ship script killing and “Mars camp” have emerged, as well as new highlights such as night tours and red tourism.
In this context, how should Chongqing seize the opportunity? Professor Luo Zibo, chief expert of the Yangtze River Tourism Research Base of China Tourism Research Institute and senior consultant of Chongqing Tourism Economic Development, told upstream news reporters: “This year’s Dragon Boat Festival is restricted by the short period of time and the rebound of the epidemic in some areas. The flow of tourists in Chongqing is still It is a good result to be able to reach the level of the same period in 2019, which proves that the tourism market is recovering. After years of development, the level of tourism consumption in Chongqing has been improved, but there is still much room for improvement.”
He suggested that, from the perspective of tourism products, for traditional festivals such as Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, each scenic spot should combine its own characteristics, integrate traditional cultural experience activities into it, pay attention to the development of cultural connotation, and extend to tourism specialties and cultural and creative products. Currently, the development of this area is still not enough. Second, the Chongqing tourism market needs to further improve the quality of tourism products, do a good job of stratification of customer groups, and provide corresponding products according to the needs of different customer groups; third, pay attention to the needs of young tourists. Post-90s, post-95s, and post-00s have quite different travel preferences from those born in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. It can focus on entertainment, entertainment, performing arts, catering, etc., to enhance fashion, sense of participation, and enrich the types of tourism products.
In addition, regarding the improvement of tourism experience, an industry source pointed out: “First of all, Chongqing should seize the needs of high-end tourists, upgrade the hotel construction and development, and build the hotel in a deep, high-quality, and themed direction. The second is , Chongqing can develop more night tourism projects, in addition to traditional catering consumption, add more tourism-derived experience forms, more night tourism gameplay, and create unique night tourism IP.”
Regarding souvenirs, Liao Wei, general manager of Chongqing China Travel Service Group, believes: “Compared with the previous two years, Chongqing’s tourism consumption in eating, playing, and housing has improved significantly. However, in terms of buying, due to travel companions The souvenirs are still concentrated on twists, rice crackers and other delicacies. The packaging lacks quality and creativity, and cannot fully meet the gift-giving needs of consumers everywhere. It is recommended to develop a collection of special gift packages for gift-giving needs in the future, and enhance the fashion of outer packaging , Aesthetics; in addition, we should continue to explore the characteristic cultures of various regions, develop practical and beautiful products, so that more Chongqing intangible cultural heritage culture can be accepted by more foreign tourists.”
Upstream News Reporter Tang Xiaoyin Wen·Picture·Video
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