How can young people travel without Ctrip?

Author | Wang ...

Edit | Zhao Lei

The May Day holiday is approaching, and the mood of young people traveling is unbearable again. Recently, the "May 1" train ticket has been sold more than three times that of the year before, and the domestic travel volume has reached 200 million, which has rushed to the hot search.

Saving money, convenience, safety and fun are the most important elements in making travel plans, but it is also difficult to give consideration to them, especially at present, various platforms and products are mixed, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and travel has become extremely complicated.

Tian is an old donkey friend. Travel-related software alone accounts for one page of mobile phones. Every link of travel, such as travel guide, reservation, transportation, food, self-driving car rental, travel assistant and so on. In different categories, put the relevant apps in, and even the map takes up a grid. She named it "Easy-to-use Map".

Each grid includes 4-9 applications. In the "traffic", in addition to the common places to go, flying pigs, Ctrip, she also collected a lot of niche software, such as Sky Patrol, iGola Goose Riding, Flixbus, Track Planner and so on. The first two are low-priced ticket platforms, and the last two are European ticketing software. These applications are trivial and repetitive, but Tian thinks each one is very useful.

The "202 1 Young People's Quality Tourism Report" published by Ma Honeycomb, a tourist community, mentioned that Generation Z loves individuality and values quality. More post-90s and post-00s are no longer limited to mass travel channels. At a time when information is highly enjoyed and new platforms are constantly rising, they are more willing to explore more forms of travel on Douban, Little Red Book and Tik Tok.

On May 1 day of this year, Sining signed up for the Northwest Tour through the official micro-signal of the tour group. This route is called "Summer in Qilian". It travels all the way from Zhangye, Gansu to Xining, Qinghai, passing through 10 scenic spots. The reason for signing up for this tour group is that the itinerary pushed by WeChat official account pokes her.

In contrast, the old-fashioned tourism platform started from traditional channels has no bright spots in route optimization, content personalization and even cost performance. "If you brush down continuously, you won't see the attraction." Before signing up for the above tour group, Sining also went to Ctrip and searched for line products, but he didn't want to place an order.

Being attracted by the content shared by others and then generating demand is a preferred mode of travel for young people now, and it is also a low-cost traffic business. Ctrip and other established online travel platforms originally designed products to meet the "search and reservation" needs of tourists, so the cost of obtaining customers is much higher.

Relatively speaking, the products offered on Ctrip are more expensive. According to the data of Analysys Qian Fan, the proportion of people with medium or above consumption level on Ctrip platform is 82.2%, and in the past five years, the compound annual growth rate of Ctrip users with more than 5,000 yuan has reached 29%.

However, the coverage of the mid-to-high-end market is not large enough, and other platforms will also have strong competitive advantages with the help of traffic advantages. Fastdata Pole pointed out in China Online Travel Industry Report 2020 that low-cost traffic is the core competitiveness of Meituan online travel. With this advantage, Meituan has performed fiercely in the sinking market. In 2020, Meituan's income from shops and wine tours was 2125 million yuan, exceeding Ctrip's total annual income of183 million yuan.

In addition, more than 30% of new online travel users are post-95 s. Compared with users of other age groups, the post-95 generation travels more frequently, and there is a huge room for growth in income and spending power.

This means that if you catch young people, you will catch the pulse of the online travel market. China's "Analysis Report on Online Tourism Industry in China in 2020-Market Depth Analysis and Investment Prospect Research" predicts that the OTA industry in China will develop in the direction of youthfulness, periphery and diversification in the future. Under the new industry structure, young consumers are bound to be diverted and the concentration of industry advantages will decline. In addition to brand awareness, cost performance, service experience and personalized content will all become comprehensive factors for young people to weigh.

In this regard, Ctrip actually has a clear understanding. As Ctrip wrote in the risk factors disclosed in the prospectus, "(other platforms) use their own traffic to guide users of their other service products to their own travel services to further achieve synergy." To this end, on the eve of listing in Hong Kong, Ctrip released the strategy of "tourism marketing hub" and began to shift from channel diversion to content distribution.

However, Ctrip is still dominated by high-net-worth users. Despite the high brand awareness, large users and many tourism products, it is no longer the absolute first choice among young consumers. In the face of personalized emerging channels, Ctrip's advantages in terms of price, user experience and content richness have all been discounted.

On the eve of May Day, we chatted with several young people, who chose different ways to travel. Some of them know love through community organizations, some trust Zhixing because they grab tickets, and some carpool with go on road trip in WeChat group. ......

Everyone has different interests and needs. * * * Similarly, established online travel platforms such as Ctrip are no longer the first choice for these Z-generation young people to travel, and more and more travel channels in the market have become their new choices.

Molly | 28-year-old publicist

Before I joined the outdoor club, I was also an ordinary fan of punching cards in scenic spots. Like many people, going out to play is to book a ticket at 12306, then book a scenic spot ticket at Ctrip, visit for three or two days, and send a few exquisite friends circle. But I always feel that something is missing from such a trip.

This year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, I finally got a chance to go to Kubuqi. I reported a low-priced group of 398 yuan on the official account of WeChat. On the evening of March 30th, I left Beijing with dozens of troops and returned to Beijing on April 3rd. The official only provided tents, fares, a breakfast, food and water. I think it's ok. After all, I care more about people, prices and scenery among my peers than food and shelter.

Walking in the endless desert for the first time, I was really touched, my brain was blank and I was impressed by a powerful charm of nature. Especially when I saw desert rabbits and lizards running by, I was so happy that I forgot to take pictures.

Outdoor clubs are generally attended by young students and office workers, and the team leader is also very young. My team leader is very humorous. He took everyone to play ice-breaking games and camp bonfires, and the atmosphere was very good. So although I can't eat delicious food and sleep in a comfortable hotel, I have gained many friends and met love unexpectedly.

1 When the bus first entered Kubuqi in the morning, I suffered from altitude sickness and didn't bring any medicine. I really regretted it at that moment. At this moment, a boy behind patted me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of medicine. I had a rest and my body slowly recovered. After getting off the bus, I quickly thanked others. It happened that he was also a person, so those two days naturally went hand in hand. ...

No, we took part in the Shang Chao Club's "Five-Day Tour of Long Island" during the May Day holiday, and I believe it will be a wonderful travel experience.

Xin | 29 years old game development

It is said that Tibet is one of the places that a person must visit in his life, and I have always wanted to see it.

In March this year, I left my last company and began to brew this big plan. Because I have admired the 3 18 national highway for a long time, I gave up flying to Lhasa, thinking that it is best to find friends to drive by car. Unfortunately, none of my friends around me have any plans to go out to play. As for migrant workers, apart from resigning, it seems that they don't have much time to travel.

After being introduced, I scanned the code into a WeChat group of "Qinghai Travel Companion in Tibet, Xinjiang". After talking with the administrator, I realized that this is the user group of a travel agency, and there are 10 similar groups, each with 500 people, which can be understood as the "private domain traffic" of this travel agency.

So I formed a four-person group with three other netizens, and the travel agency equipped us with a post-90 s driver and team leader. Three days before departure, we formed a small group and got to know each other a lot.

In mid-March, everyone gathered in Chengdu and started a 10-day trip to Sichuan and Tibet. On the morning of departure, it was raining in Mao Mao and the sky was gray, but it didn't affect my excitement at all.

I arrived near Luding Bridge at about noon and had my first meal in a Sichuan restaurant. I have to say that Sichuan cuisine is really the best of the eight major cuisines. Our friends from all corners of the country actually like to eat Sichuan food. I crossed the Luding Bridge with trepidation and arrived at Moxi ancient town in the evening. After shopping for a while, I was so tired that I fell asleep soon after dinner.

At 78 o'clock on the third morning, the car drove to the 18 th bend of Tianlu at an altitude of 3,990 meters and drove all the way on the ridge. It really felt like "once you climb to the top, you will see that other mountains are short in the sky." . Go to Litang County at noon to see what local conditions and customs have made Ding Zhen such a special boy. The tour guide told us that many tourists asked to see Ding Zhen after he got angry.

When crossing the Nujiang 72 turn, it really tests the driver's skills, especially many sharp turns, and there are no guardrails in some places, so the heart beats faster.

From Bomi all the way to Linzhi, it's really like traveling through the virgin forest. It happened to be a cloudy day, full of clouds, so beautiful! After entering Lhasa, looking at the blue sky, white clouds and blue lagoon in front of you, you will feel that heaven is actually on earth!

There is a saying in Lhasa that "there are four seasons in one day, and ten miles in different days". Fortunately, none of our party was sick, mainly because we prepared clothes in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Besides, it may be because of our peers. The ten days together were very harmonious, and the team leader did not force consumption. Almost all of us chose accommodation, which I am quite satisfied with.

Generally speaking, it was a good experience, or maybe I was lucky enough to "find the right place" I will continue to try to bypass the platform and go directly to the local travel agency.

Mango | 24 years old civil servant

I am a little surprised to learn that Zhixing is not the official App of 12306.

After all, in the App store of Huawei mobile phone, the first app that pops up when searching for "12306" is Zhixing. At that time, I took it for granted that this was the official software. It was not until I talked to my colleague Xiao Lai next door about grabbing tickets that it Appeared in my colleague's iPhone app store. 12306 was the first app under the search keyword.

The greater reason for this misunderstanding may be that this wisdom is quite useful.

I seldom wait for tickets in Hohhot, especially after the opening of the Beijing-Zhanggao railway line at the end of 20 19, so I don't have to worry about not getting tickets. Zhixing is fully responsible for grabbing tickets. I haven't worried since I set the number of trains and the time of pre-grabbing tickets in advance. Within 3-4 minutes after the opening, 12306 will send me a successful ticket purchase message including the number of trains and seats on time.

When I made an appointment to grab tickets for the first time, I saw that spending money to speed up success was more likely, because I had never been unable to grab tickets, and I didn't think it was necessary to spend money. I didn't expect to get it for free the first time, but later I decided to choose free ordinary acceleration.

When chatting with many friends, I found that in Ctrip, Qunar, Zhu Fei and Zhixing, Zhixing has the highest popularity and is recognized as the software with the highest success rate in grabbing tickets. This conclusion may not be representative, but it is also true feedback.

Before New Year's Day this year, Xiao Lai and I want to spend New Year's Eve in Guangzhou. In order to save money, we missed the rush hour and chose 1 to start and return on the 4th. Comparing Ctrip, where to go, knowing and doing, I finally chose knowing and doing with the lowest price and a good time period. Plus the fuel cost in 750 yuan, the starting price of the other two platforms is 1000 yuan.

Near New Year's Day, the epidemic spread at many points. A colleague who went back to visit relatives in Liaoning was repatriated at the railway station. Knowing this, we chose to refund the ticket for fear of accidents. At that time, Zhixing had not started the refund process due to the epidemic. If we go through the normal refund procedure, we will not be able to return a lot of money.

I found on the Weibo that many friends from Beijing to Guangzhou are facing this problem. Some friends came up with the idea of calling the authorities for a solution. After the call, Air China responded that tickets before the 3rd day can be refunded free of charge, and tickets after the 3rd day will be charged related fees. However, since you bought the package, you can get a full refund. After I reflected this situation to Zhixing customer service, I opened a free refund window on the refund page the next day, and the refund will arrive one week later. During the outbreak of Spring Festival travel rush in 2020, it took me nearly 1 month to get a refund.

After this incident, I have more confidence in Zhixing, and I have already grabbed the ticket to go home on May 1 with Zhixing.

Ahmad | 27 years old marketing planning

I used to use Ctrip and where to go. When I was a student, my mobile phone had limited memory. There is no need to download two or three problems that can be solved by one application. Bought a ticket, booked a hotel and checked the raiders. The travel plan provided by Ctrip still meets my requirements. More importantly, coupons are always available for hotel and scenic spot tickets, so it is cheaper to buy a package.

But on 20 17, my favorite star Cecilia Han accused Ctrip of bundling consumption in Weibo. After this incident, I began to try other channels to buy tickets, and the number of times I opened Ctrip became less and less.

I also tried other platforms during the period, and the experience was similar to Ctrip. The page is flashy, and many hidden consumption items will fall into the pit carelessly. Finally, 12306 was chosen, which is relatively difficult to use. I believe all the friends who used 12306 a few years ago have a deep understanding. The strange verification code and the system that crashed without saying a word made me seriously doubt whether 12306 is the official software.

Fortunately, 12306 still attaches great importance to the user experience. After the hot search of these problems, the system has been upgraded and optimized many times. The indistinguishable verification code is gone, the number of system crashes is reduced, and the page becomes concise and smooth. In particular, the standby ticketing service was launched last year, and the success rate of grabbing tickets soared, which was much better than the third-party platform that needed to buy an acceleration package to grab tickets. So far, I have become a loyal user of 12306.

After experiencing the benefits, I began to explore more official platforms. Under the recommendation of friends who travel frequently, I downloaded Jinjiang Hotel, which contains official apps of brands such as Mo Lifeng, Vienna, Xi 'an and 7 Days. Most cities will basically be covered, and the range of choices is ok. Most importantly, compared with Meituan, Ctrip and Qunar, the price is more advantageous. After opening vip, you can get 20% discount. At the same time, I promise that if other platforms are more favorable, I can apply for a refund of the price difference, which is too attractive to me.

At present, many official softwares are not inferior to third-party platforms. There is no intermediate channel to raise prices, and there is no invisible consumption and bundled consumption that cannot be prevented. The risk is small and reliable, and the after-sales service is more perfect. The only drawback is wasting time, energy and mobile phone memory, but for the sake of price advantage and service experience, I still choose to join the official embrace.

Wheat | 25-year-old new media operation

what can I say? My attitude towards Ctrip is quite complicated.

20 16, I am a sophomore in Harbin. Previously, I used Ctrip to book air tickets to and from school, and went out with my classmates to book hotels and find restaurants to find scenic spots ... The frequency of use was similar to that of the American delegation.

Later, because Ctrip had more negative news, it was gradually used less.

I changed my job in August last year, just in time for the opening of Shanghai International Film Festival. Because I like art films, I took a vacation for myself and went to Shanghai alone. I heard that there is an online celebrity burger shop "Shake shack" in Xintianjin, Shanghai. I've always wanted to try it, but the price is not cheap and I'm not sure if it's delicious, so I hesitated.

When they spit in the girlfriends group, they said, "You can go to the public comment to see the evaluation. Most of them are quite true." This is my first time pretending to be a public comment, and I have seen many comments are true. The variety of dishes, the taste of single products, the dining environment and the price are all introduced in detail, and I finally have a bottom. I walked along the map to the card and had a good time. After eating, I also wrote a very detailed evaluation on it, hoping to provide some reference for others.

From now on, I will go to the public comment before looking for a restaurant to visit the scenic spots. After watching more, I can tell the difference between real evaluation and water army, and the real one still accounts for the majority.

* The title map is from vision china, and the graphic part is from vision china and pexels. Tian, Sining, Mai, Jasmine, Mango, Xiaoyu are all pseudonyms.