Measures to boost tourism pay off for travel operators
Presales have been strong for the Mount Changbai scenic area.
Measures to spur cultural and tourist consumption released by China's top economic planner in late July have shown effects in boosting market confidence and raising itinerary sales, travel operators said.
A notice issued by the National Development and Reform Commission on July 31 heralded a slew of measures to boost consumption amid efforts to sustain economic recovery and promote high-quality development.
Based on the notice, plans to improve domestic tourism quality would be released and the supply of high-quality tourist products would be further enriched.
Staggered and flexible paid leave and ticket discounts and free admission to tourist attractions will be encouraged, and museums, cultural venues, and amusement parks are called on to extend their opening hours.
More music, art, drama and animation festivals and concerts will be held, and the development of rural tourism will be boosted with efforts beefed up in minsu (the Chinese version of homestays), camping and outdoor sports products, according to the notice.
Skiing packages are popular at the scenic area.
Against this background, Shanghai Spring Tour advanced its presales of skiing products for Mount Changbai in the northeastern province of Jilin for the winter vacation, the traditional peak skiing season, and sales revenue surpassed 5 million yuan (US$693,280) within eight hours of the launch on August 1, the Shanghai-based travel agency said on Monday.
As of Saturday, sales had surpassed 20 million yuan, surging 300 percent from those of 2022.
"These measures released the consumption demand of tourists and significantly boosted market confidence, which promoted the presales figure of the products," said Zhou Weihong, a deputy to the Shanghai People's Congress and deputy general manager of Shanghai Spring Tour.
"The end of August is the traditional slack season of the tourism market following the booming summer tourism market and measures such as flexible annual leave and preferential ticketing policies are necessary and timely," Zhou said.
Ski vacations are popular with tourists.
"The notice delivered a strong boost to the tourism industry, which will serve as a belt to spur consumption in different sectors," said Zhang Zhining, an analyst of tourism giant Trip.com.
In the first half of this year, orders for ticket packages at tourist attractions soared 507 percent from the same period last year and surged more than 100 percent from the pre-pandemic level, according to Trip.com.
The sales revenue of relevant consumption package products surged 374 percent between January and June from a year earlier, it said.
