Original title: What makes young people fall in love with group tours?
Niu Jiaxin, a trainee reporter of China Tourism Daily
Blue sky, sacred snow mountain, clear lake water, flocks of cattle and sheep... The scenery of western Sichuan in May was pleasant. The "Little Cookies" of the post-00s girls in Beijing and more than 20 peers from all over the country opened an unforgettable group tour in Ya'an, Sichuan Province. "This trip for peers was very special." "Little Cookie" recalled, "We gathered at the Ya'an Duan Tianquan service area of Ya'an Kangding Expressway, waved our arms to greet the snow mountain and exchange experience of playing SLR with the roar of drones, which was really very happy."
"Little Cookie" said that what attracted her to sign up was a video released by Chengdu and Sichuan Yuantu Travel Service Co., Ltd., the developer and reception agency of self driving travel products in western Sichuan, on a small red book, which mentioned two interesting questions: "How fun is it to travel with all young people of the same age?" "What is the experience of playing with 20 strangers from all over the country?" In order to find the answer, "Little Cookie" decided to give the newspaper group a try. Unexpectedly, Li Xiao, a Macao student in the same group, is as curious as her. After a journey, Li Xiao said that traveling with peers is not only a way to expand social circle, but also a way to reduce social burden. "What impressed me most was the specially arranged activities for making friends during the trip. Everyone drank and strung together, shared photos taken during the trip, and told interesting stories about their hometown. The distance was suddenly shortened."
The investigation of Chengdu and Sichuan Yuantu Tourism Service Co., Ltd. found that the details of self driving travel products in western Sichuan that young people like to talk about include: young leaders of the post-90s generation, who are interesting and professional, and can be funny; The tank 300, BJ40, Toyota Hedao and other hardline off-road vehicles are very cool; Professional photographic equipment+UAV shooting, photo and video daily transmission services are of a high standard; Sleep until you wake up naturally, and decide what to eat at each meal.
From this case, it is not that young people don't like to travel in groups, but they hope to find a comfortable and interesting way to travel in groups. In the past two years, non-traditional group tour products that focus on "small and refined" and emphasize individuation and customization have been favored by them, and have become a market segment that tourism enterprises focus on developing. The reporter found that these products have some commonalities, such as special team leaders, small car groups, social attributes, and customized in-depth tours. The route design breaks through the thinking of superposition of conventional tourist attractions. The tour guide leads tourists to stagger peaks and enjoy the local cultural experience and the tourist attractions hidden by the tour guide.
The change of young people's demand for group tours has also led to a wave of trends. "Up to now, on the Ctrip platform, the number of travel orders for one person in the domestic private group has increased by 70% compared with the same period in 2019; the number of short day trips has accounted for nearly 35%, and the proportion of local group products has reached 50%. At present, the number of private group products on the Ctrip platform is nearly 300000, covering more than 700 destination cities in China and more than 100 countries overseas." Qian Jun, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Ctrip International Travel Agency Co., Ltd., believes that in the future, user groups will become more fragmented.
Last July, Ms. Wang, a post-95 tourist, followed a small group of tourists to experience the spectacular migration of wild animals in East Africa. "The itinerary this time is very interesting. It is difficult to go to places where free travel is very difficult. It is also very good to have expert guides explain and photographers follow." Ms. Wang noticed that now, customized group tour products are more and more interesting.
Walk into the desert without people and enjoy the sunset in the camel bell; Crossing the grassland and observing the spectacular migration of animals... Not long ago, "knowledge-based theme travel" emerged on the tourism social platform. Different from traditional outdoor tourism, whether it is a local ecological investigation or an intangible cultural heritage route, the scientific research tourism group has a clear investigation theme, and pays more attention to the exploration and research of natural and cultural landscapes, becoming another choice for young people who like non-traditional.
In addition, the customized boutique group jointly developed by KOL (an influential person in some aspects) and Xiaozhong Travel Agency is also favored by some young people. Tourism experts share their experiences in tourism through video, which is more vivid and powerful than traditional graphic forms. The podcast "left and right" cooperates with travel agencies to jointly launch an 8-day Georgian tour group. Fans of the group have the opportunity to visit Stalin's hometown with red wine, together with the translator Lu Dapeng and the famous podcast Cheng Yanliang. One netizen left a message: "I was thinking about traveling with you when listening to podcasts."
As for the "small and excellent" and group tour products, some people believe that this largely reflects the change of tourism consumption psychology. The factors that tourists pay attention to are changing from brand, price and quality to health, refinement and personalization, and their emotional appeal is constantly improving.
Is it expensive to sign up for such a tour group? This is also the concern of young people who pay attention to cost performance.
The reporter learned that the per capita price of private groups now exceeds 3500 yuan. Among them, the delegation at the starting place is more expensive, with the per capita cost of more than 5000 yuan, while the delegation at the destination is relatively cheap, with the per capita cost of two to three thousand yuan. "But this small group of tourists has more guaranteed quality in all aspects of food, housing, travel, shopping, entertainment, car guide, and personalized arrangements, so we are willing to spend more money to buy a better service experience," said Xiao Xin, a post-00 tourist.
Demand forces product upgrades. Li Xieju, the general manager of Guangdong China Youth Travel Agency Co., Ltd., believes that perhaps this is just a way to solve the problem that the traditional group tour products have to struggle in the low price competition because they are easily copied due to lack of characteristics. For travel agencies, those who can make features will be able to gain a larger market.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Chengdu and Sichuan Yuantu Tourism Service Co., Ltd. said: "Now everything is available online, and the information and prices of restaurants and hotels are transparent. We don't earn the difference. What we can offer and attract is the service of good friends. Next, we plan to arrange more distinctive social activities. For example, on the first day of the trip, ice breaking games are arranged and task cards are distributed. Tourists can form their own teams according to their fields of interest, and the tasks will be designed in combination with the folk customs of the destination; The leader will also be arranged to tell stories at the bonfire party to further improve the tourists' experience. "
"At the moment when demand continues to rise and supply self reforms, group tours are entering a new stage at a small pace, expecting more products that young consumers like to appear," said Xu Feng, a professor at the School of Management of Shandong University.
