Six major tourism trends reflected in the 2022 Spring Festival

According to estimates from the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday in 2022, there will be 251 million domestic tourism trips across the country, a year-on-year decrease of 2.0%, and a recovery to 73.9% of the same period during the Spring Festival holiday in 2019 on a comparable basis; Domestic tourism revenue was 289.198 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.9%, recovering to 56.3% of the same period during the Spring Festival holiday in 2019.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism stated that during the Spring Festival, while doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control and safe production, various regions will increase the supply of cultural and tourism products and services to enrich people's festival life. During the Spring Festival holiday, visiting relatives and friends, urban leisure, rural vacations, and ice and snow leisure have become the mainstream of the market. Self-driving travel, family travel, small group customization, and "study + intangible cultural heritage" have become the mainstream holiday travel modes. Most tourists go to the suburbs to "pack a small hotel" "Celebrating the New Year in the courtyard" and staying in B&Bs have become the new holiday favorites.

Lanyu Cultural Theme Development and Design Institute learned that during the 2022 Spring Festival holiday, the proportion of intra-provincial travel and inter-provincial travel were 78.3% and 21.7% respectively. Short-distance leisure activities such as short-distance self-driving tours, parent-child tours, theme park tours, and ice and snow tours have increased significantly. Finding "New Year's flavor" locally has become a New Year choice for more and more people. "B&B is the destination" and "bathing in B&B hot springs" have become important ways for family travel and parent-child travel during holidays.

It is worth mentioning that, driven by the continued enthusiasm for the Winter Olympics, ice and snow tourism, mainly ice and snow sports, has become a fashionable and trendy way to play during the Spring Festival holiday in the Year of the Tiger. 14 premium ice and snow-themed sports and tourism routes during the Spring Festival holiday in Beijing, Liaoning, Jilin, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Xinjiang were released, bringing skiing, hot springs, intangible cultural heritage, study, food, hotels and other businesses in the surrounding areas.

In addition, traditional folk culture is organically integrated into the Spring Festival activities, creating a strong cultural atmosphere to welcome the Spring Festival. Various places are decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations to decorate ancient villages and towns. New Year paintings, Spring Festival couplets, window grilles, temple fairs, dragon dances, lion dances and other New Year elements create a strong "New Year flavor". Temple prayers, intangible cultural heritage experiences, folk New Year greetings and other activities are very popular among tourists. .

1. Six Keywords for Spring Festival Tourism

According to Xinhua News Agency’s summary, this Spring Festival’s tourism can be summarized by the following six keywords.

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Keyword 1: Winter Olympics

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics "encounters" the Spring Festival holiday, and consumption of ice and snow sports and ice and snow tourism is heating up.

On the one hand, residents of northern provinces are still the main customer group for ice and snow tourism; on the other hand, residents of first- and second-tier cities in the south have shown strong consumption "stamina". Ctrip platform analysis believes that the professionalism of ice and snow consumers continues to improve, and the year-over-year increase in the repurchase rate of ice and snow travel and sports products confirms this trend.

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Keyword 2: Avoid the cold

"One south and one north" has become the trend of long-term travel during the Spring Festival holiday in recent years. While ice and snow tourism destinations in Northeast and North China are heating up, Hainan's tourism consumer market is also booming.

On the Ctrip platform, the number of air ticket bookings to Hainan during the Spring Festival increased by more than 40% year-on-year. Young, middle-aged and middle-aged users are most interested in Hainan's rich health and wellness tourism resources.

Data from Shanghai Spring and Autumn Tourism shows that hotel orders in Hainan increased by 60% year-on-year, and scenic spot ticket orders increased by 25% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that the number of ticket orders for local night sightseeing spots increased by 90% year-on-year.

Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that the number of hotel room nights booked in Hainan during the Spring Festival holiday this year increased by 96% year-on-year, and the Hainan tourism market ushered in the "Little Indian Spring".

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Keyword 3: Short-distance

Data shows that the short-distance and short-term travel market is quite strong during the Spring Festival holiday.

Fang Zeqian, an industry analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, believes that the trend of short-distance local travel during the Spring Festival this year is obvious, with major scenic spots, bustling urban business districts, and historical and cultural districts across the country attracting citizens and tourists to leave their homes.

Data shows that more than 80% of tourists choose to visit local scenic spots during the Spring Festival holiday. Ticket orders for local scenic spots on the Ctrip platform accounted for 82%, and local hotel orders accounted for about 60%, showing that the popularity of local tourism is even more obvious.

Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that the urban areas centered on Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou have become the areas with the largest inflow of holiday crowds. These cities are also the most popular departure places during the Spring Festival.

On the Mafengwo platform, 70.8% of young people choose “one-day trips” within their city or suburbs.

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Keyword 4: Hotel

Data shows that “hotel + New Year’s Eve dinner” and “hotel vacation” are favored by consumers.

From the perspective of destinations, the number of hotel room nights booked in Xinjiang on the Tongcheng travel platform increased by 110% compared with last year’s Spring Festival. Hotel bookings in Jilin, Anhui, Hubei and other places also experienced significant growth. Ctrip data shows that as of February 5, the proportion of accommodation customers from third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities increased by 13% year-on-year and 34% compared with the 2019 Spring Festival holiday, indicating that hotel consumption activity has declined.

From the perspective of consumption characteristics, people pay more attention to safety and experience. The person in charge of Tongcheng Travel said that people traveling and returning home in the Yangtze River Delta region are more likely to choose hotels with guaranteed health and safety. Hotels with high star ratings and convenient transportation locations are more in line with people's needs for "hotels to celebrate the New Year."

Ctrip data shows that as of February 5, the number of orders for two-day stays during the Spring Festival has increased by 26% year-on-year, and the number of orders for three-day stays has increased by 35% year-on-year; ice and snow, e-sports, and script sales have , audio-visual and other special hotels further enrich tourists’ accommodation experience. For example, the number of holiday orders for e-sports rooms increased by more than 80% year-on-year.

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Keyword 5: Parent-child

This year’s Spring Festival holiday coincides with the first winter holiday after the “double discount”, providing a comfortable “ Time to walk the baby”.

Data from Lvmama Travel Network shows that the peak travel period during this year’s Spring Festival holiday is from February 2 to February 4. Among travellers, those born in the 1980s and 1990s are still the most active, accounting for more than 60% of the total, with families being the main force.

Ctrip’s ticket data shows that during this year’s Spring Festival holiday, parent-child orders accounted for nearly 40% of total orders, and parent-child families spent 31% more on visiting scenic spots than orders by non-parent-child customers. Among them, the parent-child orders of "post-80s" are six times that of "post-90s", and the cost of "post-80s" taking their children to visit scenic spots is 10% more than that of "post-90s".

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Keyword 6: Humanities

Although the radius of people’s travel has been reduced due to the epidemic, the Spring Festival atmosphere in various places is not weak, and the Spring Festival tourism market It shows the characteristics of “promoting tourism through literature”.

Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that the number of orders for cultural scenic spots during the holidays increased by 200% year-on-year. Check out the ancient town, historical gardens, "Watch the Tiger in the Year of the Tiger", and see the New Year exhibition in the museum, etc., which are very popular among young tourists. Data from the Lvmama Travel website shows that cultural themed tours such as lantern festivals, New Year customs experiences, and intangible cultural heritage performances make the New Year flavor even more intense.

Taking Shanghai as an example, there were more than 5.98 million tourists in the first four days of the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, and there were nearly 500 New Year cultural and tourism activities with the theme of "Have a Happy New Year with Intangible Cultural Heritage". People also have an in-depth experience of urban cultural tourism resources in the "Shanghai Urban Archeology".

2. Six major trends

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Return to nature again

Before the COVID-19 vaccine is available in 2020, outdoor activities All the rage (and people’s only option). Starting in the summer of 2021, travelers are beginning to return to city centers - eager for more social activities and nightlife, having stayed indoors during the winter months. But renewed interest in the outdoors isn't going away, and may be stronger than ever.

For example, bookings at Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham timeshare resorts near U.S. national parks increased by 71%.

At the end of 2021, outdoor travel destinations dominated the list of popular travel destinations on the travel search engine Kayak. Colorado and Montana occupied four of the top ten popular travel destinations in 2022. Search share increased by at least 46% from 2019. New York, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and other cities have always been shortlisted for Kayak's list of popular tourist destinations, but now these destinations are being replaced by outdoor beach towns such as Cancun, Honolulu and Maui. This is the first time in many years that New York City has not cracked the top ten.

Kayak CEO Steve Hafner told Fortune: “Beach towns in Mexico and Florida have always been popular with American tourists, but what’s even more interesting is that Calis Emerging cities such as Pell, Bozeman, and Steamboat Springs are also popular. “Destinations with fast flights, few or no COVID-19 restrictions, and a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities seem to be the right choices for U.S. travelers right now. first choice.

But they're not just going camping or glamping. The Greek islands are Contiki's most booked travel destination for tourists in 2022. The travel company, which typically attracts travelers aged 18 to 35, said Costa Rica is the most booked travel destination for its visitors in 2022. One of the most booked countries, with bookings up 375% year-on-year, a recent survey by Contiki revealed that young travelers are particularly interested in beach vacations in 2022, with nearly 70% choosing "beach views over mountain views." ". Wyndham Hotel Group's bookings to Hawaii also increased by 69%.

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Last-minute bookings

According to Kayak data, with Advance booking periods for flights are shrinking compared to two years ago, especially for international travel: searches for flights within seven days are up 50% as travelers become more flexible with their travel plans (Kayak also offers flexible. Cancellation filters to help travelers determine which airlines and hotels are waiving cancellation and change fees)

“The demand is there,” Hafner said. People want to travel again, and they are becoming more flexible and less constrained in their travel planning. Due to the unpredictability brought about by the epidemic, more and more people are choosing to book at the last minute, especially for international travel, and this situation is likely to continue into the first half of next year. ”

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House-swapping vacation

People who have watched the movie "Love Vacation" starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet , have always been longing for a wonderful house-swap vacation, just like other popular things on the Internet, TikTok has made this concept popular again. The hashtag "#houseswap" (meaning house-swap vacation) has been used on the social application. It triggered about 10 million views and spawned a large number of widely circulated videos of users swapping homes for vacation.

Love Home Swap, a global vacation home swapping platform, operates in more than 110 countries. Last year, its number of member registrations exceeded 2019. It has soared by nearly 300% this year, and the number of new registered users this year has exceeded the level before the epidemic. The company said that this stay-at-home vacation model helps to offset the increase in travel expenses. Through the Love Home Swap platform, members can save an average of 3,500 per year. USD accommodation costs. (Memberships start at $11 per month.)

Celia Pronto, Managing Director of Love Home Swap, said, “Our members will be amazed when they start swapping their homes for vacation. You can save a lot of money yourself. Not only does a home swap give you the use of the entire house, but it often comes with additional benefits such as use of each other's cars, children's toys, and even gym memberships and ski equipment. 36% of our members travel more than four times a year and 85% are looking for new travel experiences, so home exchange really fits their needs.

We’ve found that home swapping has quickly become a lifestyle choice for our members, with their most popular travel destinations in the United States being New York, California, Florida and Colorado.

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Travel while working

Data provided by Kayak shows that with the growing demand for flexible remote work combined with leisure travel, More than 40% of Gen Z employees plan to take a "work sabbatical" (essentially traveling while working, but not for work or as a vacation trip) in 2022.

Kayak’s Hafner said: “Younger generations like Gen Z may be more flexible in their lifestyles (i.e. don’t have kids, pets, etc. yet) and therefore travel continuously to different places (and Work) is a little easier for a few weeks. For people who already have families, it's a lot more complicated and cumbersome. Once people can actually start traveling more freely again, we'll start to see people traveling more on both sides. Work. Companies that support the combination of work and leisure travel will be more attractive to talents. There are many people who want a change of environment. ”

Kayak also sees this internally. Such a phenomenon. Last September, Kayak launched a "work from virtually anywhere" policy that lets employees choose how often they work in the office, if needed. Hafner said: "We are a travel company, so we want our employees to be able to work in different cities and countries and let them choose."

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Continuously travel to multiple places Travel

Travel stacking—the practice of booking trips to multiple destinations back-to-back—has really taken off in the summer of 2021. There are many reasons behind this: people want to travel abroad as much as possible (especially when international borders are open); air tickets are more cost-effective if the trip is far; and many people are eager to fill the gap after more than a year at home. Lost time.

Adam Armstrong, CEO of Contiki, said that Generation Z and young Millennials looking for Contiki tend to book trips to multiple places at once. Young professionals also take longer vacations, with an average travel time of nine to 11 days.

“They are traveling for longer periods of time – some are exploring the world for months at a time, taking advantage of the benefits of remote work, taking advantage of the freedom of being out of work, or seizing the opportunity between college and the workplace,” Armstrong explains. Take a gap year between lives. We analyzed preliminary booking patterns for 2022 and found that 18 to 35 year olds are commonly traveling to Greece, Italy, Egypt and Costa Rica (up 375% in bookings from last year), choosing to travel more in a row It is not difficult to find the above 6 trends. , have appeared in the past few years. Some experts pointed out that “the hot market phenomenon in the past two years does not represent the true optimization of the overall market supply structure. In the third and fourth years, with the large-scale innovation and continuous iterative updates of tourism products, it can be determined that it is truly Trend. "The tourism industry has entered the next stage and is worth looking forward to!

The article was collected and compiled by Lanyu Cultural Theme Development and Design Institute from Xinhua News Agency, Fortune Chinese Network and other online channels