How to build and develop my country’s tourism data system

1. Unification of the system

The indicator system must be unified. The indicator system of tourism data must be unified across the country, so that it can truly reflect the current status and trends of the entire tourism industry and local development. If the indicator systems adopted by provinces and cities are inconsistent, the data will not be aggregated and will not reflect the overall situation across the country, and horizontal and vertical comparisons between provinces cannot be made based on statistical data. For example, if Sichuan implements one data indicator system, Hunan implements another, and Beijing implements another indicator system, each system will be different from each other and cannot be compatible. The data systems of various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are in conflict with each other, which will inevitably directly lead to the inability to conduct horizontal comparisons between provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, let alone measure the overall tourism development level and development trend of the country.

The names, connotations and denotations of statistical indicators must be consistent. It's just like railway tracks. Vietnam's railway tracks are meter gauges that are only 1 meter wide, while our country's international standard gauges are 1.435 meters wide. Since the rail standards in my country and Vietnam are different, we cannot directly connect with Vietnam's railway transportation. When crossing the border, you have to unload and change vehicles. Not only will things be delayed, but it is also easy to make mistakes. Statistical indicators are similar to railway track standards. If the standards of different provinces and cities are inconsistent, there will be no way to effectively connect them. Railways can still change tracks, but data derived from different standards is difficult to integrate. If each of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and corps establishes its own set of data indicators, with different calibers and different organizational methods for data collection, the data obtained will be difficult to use and may even be junk data. That's why we're conducting national training this afternoon. We need to let everyone know and understand it through training, and ultimately establish unified statistical indicators.

Everyone must realize the importance of tourism data and the need for a unified data system. The situation of tourism data work in various provinces and cities is different, and there is an obvious imbalance. Some places have a relatively good working foundation, such as the Sichuan Tourism Commission, while some provinces and cities have a weak foundation. Some places do not fully understand the importance of tourism data and regard it as dispensable and insignificant. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to do a good job in tourism in the new era. If the family background is unclear, the situation is unknown, and no one cares about what they do, then they are a blind team, and a blind team will definitely not be able to win. We must realize the importance of tourism data and understand the necessity of unifying the data system. This is the first problem we need to solve in this training.

2. Scientific application

The setting of indicators must be scientific and standardized. The setting of statistical indicators should be supported by theory. Pure numbers are boring or even meaningless. If numbers want to become a vital and meaningful data system, they cannot do without the guidance of theory. These theories come from economics, sociology and other disciplines, especially economics. Take GDP as an example. This indicator evolved step by step from national income to total domestic income after World War II. This is not a simple replacement of nouns, but an update of indicators brought about by the evolution of economics. Tourism data also needs to have an economic foundation. Data without economic meaning is unimaginable and meaningless. In this sense, it can be said that statistics is a branch of economics. Data is the product of theory and also the basis of theory. Theoretical research and data production are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Therefore, the National Tourism Administration has placed its data center in the Tourism Research Institute, hoping to use this theoretical research base to achieve a leap from numbers to data and achieve the combination of theory and data.

The construction of indicators must meet realistic needs. It is necessary to have theoretical support for data indicators, but theory alone is not enough. The data must also be able to illustrate and explain reality and cannot be divorced from reality. At present, the theoretical models in the Western economics community are becoming more and more complex, with various mathematical models piled up. It even requires PhDs in mathematics and physics to switch to economics to develop models. The theoretical model is complex enough and mysterious enough, but it cannot explain many financial phenomena on Wall Street, which loses the value of the model. A few years ago, some economics students from famous universities in the United States boycotted economics, partly because its overly complex, mysterious and mysterious economic models were getting further and further away from economic reality. The construction of the tourism statistics system must take this as a lesson. It must be based on theory, but it must not be too theoretical. It must be close to reality and adapt to actual needs.

The selection of tourism statistical indicators must be appropriate and moderate, neither too broad nor too narrow. It is too broad and cannot be implemented in practice. Just like examining a person's body, it is certainly good to examine all organs and parts of the body at once, but is there such a condition and necessity? If a comprehensive inspection is necessary, it is a question of what tools and means to use to achieve it. At the same time, overly broad indicators may lead to overly broad descriptions and make it difficult to present the more nuanced aspects of the tourism economy. On the other hand, statistical indicators cannot be too narrow. Statistical indicators that are too narrow cannot reflect the macro situation of the industry, which is not conducive to macro decision-making and is not conducive to the department's overall grasp of the tourism industry.

3. Method innovation

To be honest, few people would associate innovation with the field of statistics, and many people think that innovation is just a scientific and technological activity. In fact, this is not the case. The data field needs innovation. For a long time, statistical work has not been taken seriously in the tourism sector, and data has been considered dispensable. Data work has been marginalized, resulting in lagging innovation in this field.

In fact, the data center is equivalent to the eyes of the General Staff and is related to the success or failure of the war. Tourism departments at all levels must truly realize that statistics is not an optional task, nor is it a task that can be completed with simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but a task that requires continuous improvement in concepts, methods, means, etc. Continuously innovative systems engineering.

Innovation in statistical concepts. Statistics and data are not just different names. The latter also includes innovation and progress in connotation, methods, etc. 41 years ago, in 1975, I started working in statistics as a statistician in the People's Commune, which was also the most basic statistical position. At that time, there were at least more than a hundred indicators of economic and social statistics that our country needed to understand from the grassroots level. The statistical indicators were very detailed and could be said to cover all aspects of production and life at that time. A commune is actually the cell of a country, and all indicators are included. Chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, poultry, and eggs are all involved. For a period of time, even revolutionary critical articles were included in the statistics. Taking rice transplanting as an example, the rice transplanting report is divided into ten days and monthly reports. The task of rice transplanting must be completed in the Yangtze River Basin before August 1, otherwise the farming season will be missed. Some communes have noticed that they look forward and backward, and their reports are logical. Some communes are not like that. They only care about showing enthusiasm for work without looking at the actual progress. They have reported all the acres for rice transplanting before July 10, which makes a joke. In fact, before the rice seedlings have been planted, the report has been completed. This kind of statistics is just a slap in the head. Of course, statistics at that time was a product of the times, and the entire theoretical and methodological basis as well as statistical methods were very rudimentary. In the past, we only talked about statistics, not data. The biggest difference between the two is that the latter has made great innovations in theory and methods. This is why we named the statistical work department of the National Tourism Administration as the data center instead of the statistics center. Obviously, the past statistical system that only focused on statistics but not data is no longer applicable in the new era.

Innovation in statistical methods. We have technically gone through the process from abacus to small calculator, to computer, and then to the Internet. Now is no longer the primary stage of the Internet, but the era of "Internet +". As computing methods continue to advance, we should also make corresponding innovations in statistical methods. The China Tourism Industry Operation and Construction Platform built by the National Tourism Administration does not collect data from each household as in the past, but relies on mobile phone signals. This is a method of tourism data collection in the new era. This kind of big data may not be accurate to a few decimal places, but it does reflect macro development trends and is of high reference value. It must be noted that the current methods are not perfect. With the development of practice, new questions will inevitably be raised. Only by advancing with the times and constantly innovating can we adapt to the new situation.

Basic theoretical innovation. Our data system must be supported by theory, which is the basic theory. In fact, basic theory must keep pace with the times and innovate continuously. As for the contribution of China's tourism to the national economy, according to the figures given by the Bureau of Statistics, it is only a few percent, less than 5%. However, the data given by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) exceeds 10%. The international average is about 10%. As the second largest economy, is China not even below the average? This shows that our relevant statistical theory lags behind and remains at the primary stage of statistical thinking and theoretical levels in the planned economy era. At that time, there was no deep integration between industries, but now that the economy is highly developed and the degree of industrial integration is deepening, the statistics calculated based on traditional statistical thinking and statistical theory are no longer applicable to the current development reality. Take rural tourism as an example. Agriculture and tourism are both intertwined with each other, and their output should not be attributed unilaterally to agricultural or tourism output value alone. This is true for industrial tourism, sports tourism, educational tourism, etc. Situations like this require us to innovate in relevant statistical theory.

4. Cooperation and Integration

As mentioned earlier, the various integrations of the modern industrial economy will inevitably require tourism statistics and tourism data to be integrated with other industries, such as with the agriculture and forestry departments. Data integration with aviation, railway, highway and water transport data from the transportation department. Industrial tourism cannot be separated from cooperation with industry, and the establishment of a popular science tourism base cannot be separated from the scientific research system. Tourism data collection and processing need to be integrated and cooperative relationships with these relevant departments. The economic contribution rate of the tourism industry in some provinces and cities is relatively accurate, while others are not. The reason is that the integration of data construction has not been done well. Rural tourism data is not only used as agricultural output value, part of it should be classified as tourism output, which requires data integration between tourism and agriculture. In tourism data statistics oriented towards industrial integration, there is no set of intact statistical systems and statistical methods that can be applied universally. This is especially true when the division of labor in today's society is so developed. Today, when we promote the construction of a tourism data system, we must start from basic work, and in particular, we need to establish a linkage working mechanism with the statistical systems of related industries.

5. World perspective

It is necessary to connect with the world data system. At present, some comrades have not yet realized the importance and necessity of tourism data work, and data construction has a long way to go. Our data work not only needs to establish a unified system domestically, but also consider integrating with international standards from the beginning. Otherwise, our data will not be able to communicate and dialogue on the international stage. People will not understand what we are saying, and we will not understand either. That's what people said.

In the process of building a tourism data system, it is necessary to consider the particularity of my country's tourism development, and more importantly, the generality of international tourism data, in order to achieve barrier-free communication and international comparison at the global level. Then we can use our strengths and avoid weaknesses to better provide data support for the development of my country's tourism industry, and continuously improve the voice and influence of my country's tourism industry in the world.

Change from passive to active. International docking is not only for barrier-free communication and international comparison, but more importantly, it is to change from passive to active. We should have this ambition. In the near future, we will make China’s voice heard in the field of world tourism data and have a say in the construction of indicator systems. To this end, there must be corresponding planning and guarantees. Among them, it is very important to not only analyze our own data, but also collect, analyze and even publish tourism data from countries around the world. We are planning to establish a non-governmental international tourism organization to target countries Establish a mechanism for collecting, analyzing, and distributing tourism data, thereby learning from international experience and making our own voice heard. Once the national and local tourism data centers are built, there will be a foundation for this work. Although it seems that this project is extremely difficult and the road to achieving this goal is far away, I believe that as long as we work hard and work hard, and work hard, we can do it in a short time. We must have this ambition and confidence!

6. Talent Guarantee

As mentioned above, so many practical needs and ideal expectations must ultimately be realized by talents. In the construction process of tourism data system, talents always come first. First of all, our talent team needs to be greatly strengthened. Although it will take time for a spark to start a prairie fire, this talent team must have the ambition of being a national tourism data builder, and at the same time have the ambition to influence global tourism data. Secondly, it must be supported by corresponding theoretical knowledge and practical experience. In the “515 Strategy” launched last year, there is a tourism talent plan for 10,000 people, which can allocate a certain proportion to the training of data talents and provide them with financial, intellectual and work platform support. Now we need to have clear goals to cultivate a group of professional talents, starting from the undergraduate and master's level to cultivate the relevant talents needed in the next five, ten, and twenty years. Several universities can be selected for pilot projects to cultivate tourism with a purpose. Expertise in data construction.