Performance of government support for tourism discovery

First, the China government's support for tourism since the reform and opening up:

The government-led development strategy, as a formulation, began after the mid-1990s. However, as a development practice, it existed objectively before, and it was more direct in the strength and involved aspects of government support. Under the planned economy system at that time, tourism did not exclude the role of market channels. Although the role and scope of the market-oriented mechanism were limited at that time, it showed that the market-oriented means had a long history in the development of tourism in China, and did not appear until the establishment of the socialist market economic system. As for the whole industry is vigorously implementing the "government-led" development strategy, the government's investment in tourism has actually evolved from the initial direct investment to a very limited guiding investment, while foreign capital and market-oriented financing have occupied a dominant position. Therefore, the development of tourism in China has never excluded the means of market-oriented allocation of resources, which is a background that should be clarified when discussing the government's support for tourism development mode under the market economy.

Second, "government-led" is a summary of the tourism development model supported by the government:

When China introduced the concept of government-led tourism and upgraded it to a "development strategy", China has proposed to establish a socialist market economy system and accelerate the transformation from a planned economy to a market economy. This shows that the tourism authorities at that time mainly considered the development model, not the national economic system. At that time, the whole country was vigorously promoting the experience of Yunnan and other provincial and municipal party committees and governments in attaching importance to the development of tourism, and carrying out the work of creating excellent tourist cities led by government promotion. The concept of "government-led" was quickly recognized and popularized in the whole industry. Since then, this concept has risen to the development strategy and guiding ideology of tourism. Therefore, it cannot be said that the government-led development model is compatible with the planned economic system; "Government-led" is a "model" and a model. No matter whether it is taken out of context or not, it is enough to cause ambiguity and misunderstanding to separate it and discuss its relationship with market economy.

Three, the government role and market role clear division of labor:

As a model to promote the development of tourism, government-led tourism has a clear connotation. First, do not exclude the market; Second, it does not do everything for the government; Third, there is no division of labor between the government and the market. Therefore, the government-led model does not mean that the government does everything, nor does it mean that resources are allocated by administrative means and planning methods, let alone the conclusion that it goes against the development trend of market economy.

In the practice of tourism development, the division of labor between the role of government and the role of market should be relatively clear. Generally speaking, tourism should fully rely on and play the role of the government in development planning, infrastructure construction, overall image improvement and market environment optimization. We should give full play to the role of the market in tourism investment, product development, market price and service quality. This division of labor is not purely theoretical and formal, but is manifested in the specific practice of tourism development. As far as tourism investment is concerned, the government has long been the main body of tourism investment. In addition to the guiding investment of some large-scale tourism projects, more than 99% of the capital investment is raised through market channels. In addition, since the mid-1990s, the whole industry has cancelled the pricing practice of the competent authorities, and the tourism departments above the prefecture level have gradually decoupled from the directly affiliated enterprises. Compared with civil aviation, railway, transportation and other industries, the degree of marketization of tourism is obviously in the forefront. Of course, we should also see that there are still acts that disrupt the market order in the tourism industry, such as local tourism barriers, disguised administrative intervention in prices, forced tying of tourist routes, and obstruction of foreign enterprises' entry, which all reflect that the marketization mechanism is not perfect, but solving these problems cannot rely entirely on marketization means, but requires the combination of market mechanism and government role, otherwise it will take a very long time and may lose excellent development opportunities.

Fourth, the role of the government is compatible with the market economy model:

There are many countries engaged in market economy in the world, but there has never been a unified model. Under the condition of market economy, how and to what extent the government should play its role is consistent with the model of market economy. As far as the relationship between governments and markets in the world is concerned, it can be roughly divided into three views: one is basically non-intervention, and the government is limited to intervention that affects macroeconomic stability and market failure; The second is government intervention, that is, administrative intervention replaces the role of the market; The third is market promotion, that is, the government actively participates in development, but the main way is to support the development and cooperation of non-governmental organizations (enterprises, finance, agricultural associations, etc.). ). From the development of China's market economy, the role of the government has not reached the first type of "inaction", nor does it belong to the second dominant situation, but should belong to or be close to the third type. Countries that adopt the third type are generally in the primary stage of market economy, and their economies are still at an underdeveloped level, and their marketization level is not very high, and some areas are not open enough to the outside world. Obviously, China's "government-led" tourism is not a model of government intervention, but a development model closer to the market.

The characteristic of market economy is that the market plays a fundamental role in resource allocation, but it does not play a full role. Whether it can play a driving role in the development of tourism depends on the level of economic development and the degree of market mechanism development. From the perspective of tourism investment alone, this leading role is established, which is already the case under the so-called "government-led" model, but it is far more than investment that affects tourism development. At present, the role that the government should play in the development of tourism mainly includes three aspects:

1. The government's tourism development strategy, overall image enhancement and crisis response measures are indispensable for any country. For example, the tragedies that attacked tourists in Luxor, China, Qiandao Lake, China, and Bali, Indonesia, and the SARS epidemic that once prevailed in China were all events that endangered the tourism image and tourism environment. In the end, the government came forward to eliminate the adverse effects as soon as possible; Take the promotion of tourism image as an example. At present, developed countries have not completely divorced from the role of the government. For example, in order to promote the development of American tourism, President Clinton held a White House tourism conference with 1500 people. After the Asian financial crisis, the Hong Kong SAR government set up an event fund with hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars to accelerate the recovery of tourism by holding large-scale promotion activities; In WTO negotiations and bilateral intergovernmental negotiations, developed countries have listed tourism service trade as an important topic.

2. Public and public welfare construction that needs to be organized and implemented by the government due to economic underdevelopment, such as infrastructure construction such as road traffic, golden week tourism supply, social security, environmental sanitation, shopping environment, public information and graphic symbols. Most of them are public goods or public welfare affairs, which cannot be done by market forces alone, and it is difficult for tourism departments and tourism enterprises to go all out. Of course, if the economic and social development reaches a fairly high level, the government's functions in this regard can be weakened and reduced.

3. Because the market economic order is still not perfect, the government has come forward to solve the problems of disorderly competition in the tourism market, local barriers to tourism management, and irregular tourism services. Because tourism products have obvious comprehensive characteristics, the satisfaction of tourism consumption is often restricted by many factors, which not only involve the six major elements of tourism, but also have regional relevance, including the combination of tangible products and intangible products. Therefore, market means and market functions can only solve some problems of tourism development, but not most of the above problems. To what extent will these problems affect the development of China's tourism industry at this stage? This is not an easy question to answer, but it is a question that anyone who tries to draw a conclusion about "government-led" or "market-led" cannot ignore.

Five, the role of government and market in promoting the development of tourism can not be generalized:

To sum up, it can be seen that whether China's tourism development should change from "government-led" to "market-led" after the transition from planned economy to market economy is not only a question of development theory and guiding ideology, but also an objective evaluation of the current situation of tourism development in China. Whether it is "government-led" or "market-led", its superficial significance is not important. What matters is what is the difference between the two, and what kind of support is needed for the reality of tourism development. At present, the party and government leaders in some economically underdeveloped areas believe that it is difficult for local governments to directly take out money to "dominate" tourism development, and that the leading role of the government cannot be brought into play, so let the market take the lead. This view is not only a misunderstanding of the "government-led" development model, but also a simplification of thinking and understanding, just like the view that "since a market economy has been established, it should be led by the market". It is wrong to replace the role of the market with the role of the government;

Similarly, it is wrong to expect the role of the market to replace the obligations of the government. From a realistic point of view, in the case of poor infrastructure, it is impossible for a truly "market-oriented" investor to take this risk by attracting investment to solve the shortage of construction funds. Only when the necessary infrastructure is available can developers and investors see that the cost or risk of making money is not too high, and it is possible to make substantial investment, which shows that the basic role of market in allocating resources is not unconditional. In some underdeveloped areas, the effect of attracting investment from tourism is not obvious, or there is no investment at all. The problem lies in the problem that the government should try to solve, but the government has not solved it. Therefore, for economically underdeveloped areas, the idea of "market-oriented" to solve all problems can not stand the test of tourism development practice.

Development is the last word. At present, who should or should not lead the development of tourism in China? The most important thing is not a literal argument, but to distinguish which should be solved by the government and which can be solved through the market. If this is the basis of all parties' arguments, then the differences between them should not be great. As long as the government and the market play their respective roles, it will help promote the accelerated development of tourism. Under this premise, the development model can temporarily avoid the problem of who has the advantage.

The current reality is that some people question the idea of "government-led", while others disagree with the idea of "market-led". From the perspective of the role that the government should play under the market economy, it seems that we can consider only talking about "government promotion" and "government guidance", without mentioning the role of the market, so as to reduce the ideological confusion caused by unnecessary arguments. As for the changes in the responsibilities of the government and the market under the conditions of market economy, I think it is only a quantitative change compared with a few years ago; However, as far as the national tourism development is concerned, the role that the government and the market should play cannot be generalized. The eastern region with a high degree of economic development and marketization can appropriately weaken the role of the government and give full play to the market function, while the western region with an underdeveloped economy and a low degree of marketization should still give full play to the role of the government and give consideration to the market function. If we don't fully consider the differences of regional development and talk about what development model in general, it will not only help the development of China's tourism industry, but will cause endless harm to the development of tourism industry.