The number of tourists dropped by 30%, tourism income dropped by 42%, and the May Day holiday cultural tourism market ushered in a dark moment.

Lv Wen Research Report of Focus Research Institute

Report on May Day Holiday Tourism Market in 2022

Reporting period: April 30th to May 4th, 2022.

Researcher: Cultural Tourism Research Group.

Write in front

The May Day holiday in 2022 came to an end. For the cultural tourism industry, there is no doubt that a "tragic" report card has been handed in. From the Spring Festival to Tomb-Sweeping Day and then to the May Day holiday, the number of tourists dropped from 2.0% to 26.2% and 30.2%, and the cultural tourism market seems to have entered a real "dark moment" in the post-epidemic era. However, from another perspective, does this mean that a bailout is coming?

(A) the word "minus" is the first sign, indicating the decline of the cultural tourism market during the May Day holiday.

According to the data of the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the five days of May Day holiday in 2022, the number of domestic tourists was 654.38+0.6 billion, down 30.2% year-on-year, and recovered to 66.8% in the same period before the epidemic. Domestic tourism revenue was 64.68 billion yuan, down 42.9% year-on-year, returning to 44.0% in the same period before the epidemic. As far as railway and civil aviation transportation systems are concerned, in the four days before the holiday (April 30 to May 3), the national railways sent an average of 3,063,800 passengers a day, a year-on-year decrease of about 80%; During the May Day period, the actual number of passenger flights on domestic routes was 654.38+0.67 million, which was 75.30% lower than that of 2026.5438+0.

Figure1Comparison between the number of domestic tourists in May Day, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Spring Festival in 2022 and 20021.

Fig. 2 Comparison of domestic tourism income in May Day, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Spring Festival in 2022 with that in 20021year.

Focus Comments: Since the Spring Festival and the Qingming holiday, the number of domestic tourists and tourism revenue have once again "double down" during the May Day holiday, which is also the "three consecutive declines" in this year's holiday tourism market (the number of tourists and tourism revenue during the Spring Festival holiday in 2022 decreased by 2.0% and 3.9% respectively; The number of tourists and tourism revenue decreased by 26.2% and 30.9% respectively during the Qingming holiday. At this point, this year's holiday tourism market can be described as "losing ground". From the perspective of consumption, the decline of tourism consumption is obviously higher than that of the number of tourists. The per capita tourism consumption is 404.25 yuan, which is 17.89% lower than last year's 492.30 yuan. It can be seen that the May 1 Golden Week is no longer "arachidonic acid", but more reflects the sharp drop in transportation and accommodation consumption caused by the difficulty of long-distance travel across provinces, as well as the weak consumption expenditure and the collapse of consumer confidence caused by the increasing downward pressure on the economy. According to official data, in March 2022, the total retail sales of social consumer goods was 3,423.3 billion yuan, down 3.5% year-on-year, and the growth rate slowed down1-0.2 percentage points. Once consumers dare not spend money and have no money to spend, then the travel behavior that is just needed for non-consumption is bound to bear the brunt.

(2) Camping is hot but difficult to support, and good prospects need to bring "good Qian Jing"

This May Day holiday, the only carnival in the cultural tourism industry is almost all around the word "camping". People all over the country are either camping or on their way to camp. Ctrip data shows that on the first day of the May Day holiday, the camping popularity of the platform reached a historical peak, and the search popularity increased by 90% compared with last week. Where to go data shows that the booking volume of camping and related products during the May Day holiday this year is three times that of last year. The "camping+"game derived from camping is widely sought after. Forest camping, island camping, park camping, starry sky camping, and new projects and products such as "camping+frisbee", "camping+music festival" and "camping+tree trunk market" have become the new favorites of urbanites during the May Day holiday.

Focus comment: It goes without saying that camping economy is full of vitality, but for the cultural tourism industry, camping is good, but it is difficult to support itself. At least, it is unrealistic for market players to gamble on camping. On the one hand, for cultural scenic spots, the restriction of venue conditions makes it almost impossible to carry out corresponding camping activities, and it is difficult to share the camping bonus. On the other hand, the unit price of camping activities is far from high enough to fill the "black hole" caused by inter-provincial travel and long-distance travel. After all, camping activities mainly focus on self-driving travel, self-brought equipment and catering, and make little contribution to the three elements of "food, shelter and transportation" on which tourist destinations depend. If you really want to enter this track, you must make great efforts in supporting facilities and services, activity operation level and camp brand building to face the deep competition in the camping industry in the future.

(3) Is it a terrible business or a real tragedy, "sacrifice" or "legacy"?

There is no doubt that this year's May Day holiday is really "miserable", and there are gloomy clouds and fog everywhere. From the data point of view, 65.438+0.6 billion trips seem to retain the effective strength of the industry, that is, tourists are still there and demand is still there. In fact, the sense of acquisition of market players is quite poor. For example, travel agencies, "0 reservations, 0 customers" is almost the normal state of travel agencies all over the country during May Day, while the so-called "tour bus" to COVID-19 in Pinggu Jinshan Scenic Area and Hudong Waterfront Scenic Area has poured cold water on the operation of travel agencies in Beijing and even the whole country. For example, in tourist attractions, A-level tourist attractions that are normally open in China account for 6 1.3% of the total, but the passenger flow of traditional popular scenic spots such as Jiuzhaigou, Hangzhou West Lake and Huangshan has dropped significantly compared with previous years. For example, performing arts, the May Day holiday in previous years was a time when various music festivals and performances blossomed everywhere. This year's offline music festival was "completely annihilated". According to the real-time monitoring data of China Performance Industry Association, there were about 5,900 national performances (including tourism performances) during the May Day holiday, which was 53% lower than that during the May Day holiday last year. The box office revenue of the performance was about 65.438+0.43 billion yuan, down 79% year-on-year; More than 2 million people participated in the performance, down 67% year-on-year.

Focus comment: Many practitioners are constantly asking questions. Is there still a chance for the cultural tourism industry? Has the whole industry become the dust of the times? In fact, we believe that just as people will seize all available time to go camping, go for an outing and take part in any city outing or day trip, the demand for mass tourism and national leisure will not be erased, and the people's pursuit and yearning for a better life is also real. These are by no means illusions, and the cultural tourism industry is by no means abandoned. Therefore, where tourists are, the cultural tourism industry should follow. Tourists are responsible for leading innovation and consumer feedback, and practitioners are responsible for providing innovative products to release new kinetic energy and feed back tourists. At the critical moment of the industry, tourists and practitioners should closely unite and fight side by side to strive for an opportunity for the future.

There are of course other options besides self-help. For cultural travelers, complaining and complaining blindly will not only kill their ambitions, but also affect the perception of the industry as a whole. After all, all walks of life are carrying heavy burdens under the epidemic. Just as the impression of the cultural tourism industry is "resilient", cultural travelers have never lacked the spirit of "thinking about change if they are poor, and never falling into the blue sky". Therefore, in addition to waiting and persisting, we might as well change our thinking, that is, take a break or do something else in a different direction, and then return to our bank after the future policy is loosened and the market picks up (for example, Huangshan tour guides pick tea). "Green hills are there, not afraid of burning firewood", and winning the epidemic will not be in the foreseeable future. No matter "save yourself" or "lie flat", you will not feel ashamed.