The Culture and Tourism Industry is Booming

CCTV reporter of China Media Group: Over the past year, the enthusiasm of the people for participating in cultural tourism has soared, and cultural tourism consumption has been booming. However, different regions and enterprises have different feelings about the heat of cultural tourism. Some have made a fortune, while others have reflected that although the surface is hot, the profits are not that high, and some enterprises have also reflected that they are facing difficulties in production and operation. What is your view on this phenomenon?

Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli stated that the cultural tourism industry continued its booming development last year. From the data, in terms of culture, large-scale cultural and related industrial enterprises achieved an operating income of 14 trillion yuan, an increase of about 6% year-on-year. There are 310,000 operating entities approved and filed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, an increase of about 4.7% year-on-year. It can be said that the basic盘 is very stable, and the development momentum is strong. In terms of tourism, the domestic tourism scale reached 5.6 billion person-times last year, an increase of nearly 15% year-on-year, and domestic tourism spending last year was 5.7 trillion yuan, an increase of more than 17% year-on-year. Inbound tourism also showed a good situation. Last year, the number of inbound tourists was approximately 132 million, and these 132 million inbound tourists spent over US$900 billion, close to US$1 trillion, in our country.

This heat of cultural tourism, the warmth of culture, and the heat of tourism, are not necessarily reflected in numbers. In fact, we all have a feeling. Last year, as soon as a long holiday arrived, almost everyone in famous tourist attractions was shouting, "It seems like 100 million people have come to this place." This is also a feeling of the heat. Last year, famous tourist attractions, museums, and large-scale concerts were all hard to get tickets for. It wasn't just these places; even relatively unpopular cultural night schools and senior night schools were hard to book. Last year, the entire cultural tourism industry was booming, both in terms of people and money, increasing both income and profits.

In terms of profitability, last year, large-scale cultural and related industrial enterprises achieved profits of approximately 1.3 trillion yuan, with a profit margin exceeding 9%, which is quite high and quite good. The ticket revenue of A-level tourist attractions, the reception revenue of resorts, and the operating income of travel agencies all increased by more than 10%, so the overall profitability of the cultural tourism industry is still good. Of course, there is also the situation you mentioned, that is, different regions and enterprises have different feelings about the heat of cultural tourism, and some enterprises also have difficulties in operation. We have also analyzed this.

On the surface, our country is so large, and there are so many market operators, that every year there are always some enterprises in every industry that have poor profits or even exit the market due to poor management. However, the cultural and tourism industry is different. What are the deeper reasons? We think it may be the market differentiation caused by the upgrading of cultural and tourism consumption. With the advancement of our country's modernization process and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, people's demand for cultural and tourism consumption is constantly upgrading. Simply put, in the past, people consumed physical goods, but now they mainly consume services. In the past, people valued the practical value of products, but now they value the cultural quality of products more, as well as their aesthetic value and emotional value. In the past, people paid for their needs, but now they mainly pay for their mood. I spend money not only because I need it, but mainly because I am happy and I love it. This is a change.

From the market performance, those who adapt to the upgrading of people's consumption needs, continuously launch new products and designs, and continuously improve service quality, will have better profitability. For example, the National Museum launched a newly designed refrigerator magnet last year, called the Phoenix Crown Refrigerator Magnet. Because the design was very good, as soon as it was launched, it became a hit, and many people liked it very much. They lined up at the entrance of the National Museum early in the morning just to buy this refrigerator magnet. At that time, they didn't expect it to be so popular. The production capacity was limited, and people often couldn't buy it even if they queued up. Those who bought it showed it off online, while those who couldn't buy it felt very regretful. In half a year, this refrigerator magnet sold more than 800,000 pieces. Therefore, good products don't worry about lack of consumption or lack of money to earn.

In terms of tourism, some places are still worried about attracting tourists to stay an extra night, while Yunnan has begun to cultivate the "Living in Yunnan" project. They are not simply attracting tourists to stay an extra night, but to stay for a month, a season, or even several years. Local officials have reported that last year, the number of people living in Yunnan reached 3.89 million, with an average stay of 80 days. The consumption of these nearly 4 million people staying for 80 days is conservatively estimated to be 400 to 500 billion yuan, which has effectively driven local consumption. Therefore, with good projects and good business models, there is no need to worry about lack of consumption or inability to make money.

Especially popular are new works and products that combine culture, tourism, and technology, such as the immersive experiences and performances launched in some cities. The investment is not high, but the ticket prices are high, and they are very popular and profitable, with hundreds or thousands of performances a year. There is no need to mention animated films. The box office revenue of this year's "Nezha 2" has already approached 15 billion yuan. Therefore, with good products, good services, good projects, and good designs, you can definitely make money. Conversely, if you cannot keep up with the changes in people's consumption needs, and cannot actively launch high-quality products and continuously improve service quality, if your products lack characteristics and do not have good service quality, then people will not buy them.

Therefore, the "temperature difference" you mentioned is actually a kind of pressure difference, a kind of pressure, which forces cultural and tourism enterprises to continuously adapt to the upgrading of people's consumption needs and promote the high-quality development of the industry. I believe that as long as we persistently promote the high-quality development of cultural and tourism enterprises, we can make a fortune.

Observing the modernization process of countries around the world, especially developed countries, the cultural and tourism industries have played a very important supporting role. Even now, the cultural and tourism industries in some developed countries still account for a high proportion of the national economy; in some developed countries, this proportion may even exceed 20%. The added value of our country's cultural and tourism industries accounts for more than 4% but less than 5% of GDP respectively. While this shows a good foundation, there is still vast room for growth. From the trend of our country's economic and social development, the driving role of consumption is becoming stronger. A very important factor currently restricting China's economic development is insufficient consumption. How to expand consumption? Culture and tourism have great potential. The cultural and tourism consumer groups are diverse, the scenarios are rich, and the chain is long. It can be said that there is almost no growth ceiling. Cultural and tourism consumption does have great potential in expanding consumption. Through in-depth study and understanding of the General Secretary's important exposition, we believe that proposing to cultivate the cultural tourism industry into a pillar industry at this time is timely and of great significance for promoting high-quality development in our country.

During the learning process, we have gained some insights into how to cultivate the cultural and tourism industry into a pillar industry, and gradually clarified some work priorities.

For example, we must first strengthen planning and guidance, promote the integration of culture and tourism into the overall planning of economic and social development, link it with major national development strategies, thus creating space for the development of culture and tourism in strategic layout and providing support through macroeconomic policies. At the same time, we also support localities in adapting measures to local conditions, according to their different resource endowments, adopting a "one city, one policy" and "one area, one policy" approach to formulate specific development plans, thereby providing more precise policy support.

Another example is strengthening infrastructure construction. To cultivate the cultural and tourism industry into a pillar industry is a hard requirement, so there must be hard infrastructure support, and there must be real investment. It can be said that since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, our country's investment in the cultural and tourism industry has increased significantly. However, relative to a pillar industry or the rapidly developing and growing demand of the people for cultural and tourism consumption, there are still many shortcomings and weaknesses in the infrastructure construction of the cultural and tourism industry. Next, we will strive for more support from various aspects of finance and taxation to accelerate the improvement of these shortcomings and weaknesses.

Another example is accelerating the cultivation of new formats. In recent years, new formats such as low-altitude sightseeing, marine tourism, and immersive experiences have continuously emerged in the cultural and tourism field. For these new formats, we will adopt an inclusive and prudent approach, gradually improve the policies for service guidance and management, create good conditions for the emergence of new formats, and in particular, vigorously support the combination of cultural and tourism enterprises and technology, so that technology, as the greatest variable, can continuously bring new surprises to the accelerated development of the cultural and tourism industry.

Furthermore, we need to optimize the business environment and regulate market order. Any pillar industry must have a real economy and a group of excellent enterprises as support. The growth of excellent enterprises requires a good market environment and a standardized market order. In recent years, while the cultural and tourism industry has developed rapidly, it has also been a mixed bag, with some problems arising. For example, the unreasonable low-price tours and forced shopping, which have been strongly criticized, particularly forced shopping, damage tourists' travel experiences, infringe on consumers' rights, worsen the local business environment, and damage the local image. Seeing these cases is infuriating, yet they persist despite repeated crackdowns. This year, we plan to launch a special campaign to address this issue. On the one hand, we will increase the intensity of crackdowns and punishment; on the other hand, we will continuously improve the legal system, strengthen standard guidance, and promote and practice integrity culture throughout society, striving to eliminate such stubborn problems through multiple approaches. Of course, there are many other new problems, such as when a new work or product emerges in the cultural and tourism industry, many enterprises rush in, leading to a lot of disorderly and even vicious competition, which also requires further strengthening of management and regulation to prevent "bad money driving out good money".

In short, there is still much work to be done to build the cultural tourism industry into a pillar industry. However, we believe that as long as we resolutely implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and instructions on the cultural and tourism industry, work diligently and persistently, the cultural tourism industry will surely grow into a pillar industry, better serve and meet the people's yearning for poetry and distance, and for a better life, and make greater contributions to China's modernization.