Participating in the China Tourism Group Development Forum is a journey of learning and cooperation for me, and I would like to share three points of experience.

First, two points are the characteristics and challenges of current tourism investment. Currently, tourism investment presents four characteristics: First, the scale of tourism investment continues to expand, with a year-on-year increase of about 28% in the first three quarters of this year; second, the investment structure is diversified, shifting towards sightseeing tourism and immersive tourism; third, the integration of business formats is significant, giving rise to investment enthusiasm in emerging business formats; and fourth, the sources of funds are diversified, covering government, state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, insurance, and investment funds. At the same time, tourism investment also faces challenges: First, the degree of marketization needs to be improved, and the relationship between government and market needs to be handled well; second, investment efficiency is low, and traditional projects have large investments and long cycles; third, there is serious homogeneity of projects, leading to consumer aesthetic fatigue; and fourth, due to the neglect of operation in the early stage and the lack of professional talents and experience, the operational capacity is obviously insufficient.

The third point I would like to share is the group's main practices: First, seize strategic high ground and integrate resources across the region. Focusing on five major sectors, key projects are launched for in-depth docking, such as the joint construction of the Xuefeng Mountain Tourism Alliance and the "You Xiang You" smart cultural tourism platform; second, revitalize existing assets and adhere to the concept of rational investment. In accordance with the deployment of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, participate in asset revitalization projects through models such as "operation management + project cooperation"; third, excavate regional culture and create characteristic products. Drawing inspiration from Hunan's regional culture, such as the integration and innovation of Shaoshan's red culture; fourth, promote the integration of cultural tourism and technology, highlighting the digital transformation of cultural tourism, and building a three-level linkage matrix; fifth, put operation first, build an integrated investment and operation platform, invite planning companies to plan in the early stage, and establish a research institute to break through the bottleneck of resource transformation into products; sixth, utilize fund support, establish a whole region tourism fund and municipal and prefectural sub-funds, and build a "1+N" system to meet the demand for investment funds.

Speaker: You Yong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Sichuan Tourism Investment Group

The history of Sichuan Tourism Investment Group can be traced back to 1949. It was officially established in 2017. It currently has assets exceeding 20 billion yuan and revenue reaching 10 billion yuan. It covers 11 business entities, including tourism hotels and scenic areas. It holds a controlling stake in SiMei Media and occupies a leading position in Sichuan's cultural tourism field. The group adheres to the "one body and two wings" strategy, namely, strengthening the hotel and scenic area industries, improving investment, and expanding the platform. In terms of the forum's theme, the core of tourism investment lies in "rationality" and "investment." Rationality means that opportunities and challenges coexist, while investment requires upholding the right path and innovation.

Tourism investment must first build confidence. Currently, confidence comes from many aspects: First, the opportunities brought by the national tourism strategy. The tourism industry has grown into an emerging strategic pillar industry, a people's livelihood industry, and a happiness industry. Building a strong tourism country has become a national strategy; second, the pursuit of a better life by the people. Since 2023, domestic tourism has strongly recovered, and this year has entered a track of normalized rapid development. The proportion of domestic tourism revenue to GDP has returned to the 2019 level, moving towards prosperity; third, the opportunities for state-owned enterprise reform. Deepening the reform of state-owned capital investment and operation has provided opportunities for enterprise development. At the same time, we must also face challenges. Three years of the epidemic have caused tourism to shift from high-speed development to rational and high-quality development, facing slow investment returns and the need to handle the relationship between industrial and business attributes; the traditional bundled model has changed, and new profit models need to be clarified; tourist needs are changing, and the investment direction in emerging fields still needs to be explored.

Upholding the right path is the foundation of tourism investment. State-owned enterprises must serve the overall situation, focusing on poverty alleviation and the development of ethnic minority areas; they must focus on their main responsibilities and businesses, such as scenic areas, hotels, travel services, properties, and cultural tourism digitalization; they must also balance input and output, carefully plan the entire industrial chain of projects, and ensure investment returns. Innovation is also the driving force for the development of tourism investment. Sichuan Tourism Investment Group has innovated the "1+N" cooperation model in terms of systems and mechanisms to promote tourism across the region. It uses the capital market to raise funds to accelerate financial model innovation and build a closed loop of investment, construction, operation, and withdrawal. It carries out investment field innovation around the concept of tourism as life. In terms of revitalizing existing assets, through investment to activate assets, the scale is nearly 10 billion yuan, laying a solid foundation for the group's development and helping tourism investment to move forward steadily.

Speaker: Jiang Cunwen, Vice President of Huangshan Tourism Group

Thank you very much for the invitation to this meeting. Regarding the theme of rational cultural tourism investment, I would like to share a few of my personal experiences. Currently, the global political and economic landscape is changing, and China is in a new period of expanding domestic demand and transformation and development. The cultural tourism industry is showing three major changes:

First, overall consumption downgrading. In recent years, domestic and foreign consumption recovery has not met expectations, and market confidence is insufficient. As can be seen from the financing market, although bank annualized interest rates are low, the proportion of residents' deposits has increased significantly, reflecting a lack of consumption momentum. In the cultural tourism industry, high-priced or low-value-for-money products will face severe challenges. Second, the end of the large-scale investment model in cultural tourism. In the past, cultural tourism investment was mostly attached to real estate and property, which was a capital-intensive investment model. With the development of the Internet and the rise of Generation Z, local life has become more geographically dispersed, and investment has returned to rationality or even super-rationality. Large-scale capital-intensive investments have long cycles and slow returns, and are no longer adaptable. The logic of industrial investment needs to be reconstructed. Third, the requirements for refined operation are increasing. The concept of "new productivity" has prompted the cultural tourism industry to move towards an era of meticulous cooperation. In the era of heavy assets, there was insufficient attention to the profitability of cultural tourism projects. Now, it requires government support, state-owned capital control, and private enterprise assistance, relying on market-oriented innovation to ensure the profitability and reasonable cash flow of products, and achieve a closed business model loop.

In the face of these changes, we need to focus on three aspects: First, adapt to new consumption trends and stimulate and guide consumption when confidence is insufficient; second, reconstruct a rational investment model; and third, improve the ability of refined operation and service, returning to the common sense and fundamental needs of investment.

The specific implementation path is as follows: In terms of boosting consumer confidence, differentiated services are provided for different customer groups, focusing on the middle class and parent-child and elderly groups, and developing sectors such as health and wellness resorts, parent-child study tours, and the silver-hair economy. The quality of tourism and cultural consumption products will be comprehensively optimized, with enriched experience content and themes, and refined experience processes; in terms of investment model reshaping, moving towards light assets and diversification. Tourism investment will move towards a content + operation model, with content integrating tourism assets and new lifestyles, and operations led by those who understand market operations, providing team resource support. The high-quality development of the tourism and cultural industry has also given rise to a content + industry win-win investment model, which requires the integration of diverse tourism and cultural themes, the integration of elastic tourism and cultural consumption and rigid demand, and the activation of new consumption through innovative products; in terms of upgrading operational capabilities, leveraging technological empowerment. The integration of tourism and technology is a major trend, and we should seize the opportunities of technological transformation to inject smart vitality into the traditional tourism industry.

Speaker: Bao Chengcheng, Deputy General Manager, China Green Development Happiness Industry Department

Thank you to the China Tourism Academy for the invitation, allowing us to discuss tourism investment from a rational perspective at this forum. In May 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on tourism work highlighted the importance of the tourism industry. As a central enterprise, China Green Development actively responds to the national tourism strategy, operating 40 high-quality hotels in 18 core cities and hot areas, and developing 5 integrated tourism resorts in multiple locations. Today, tourism investment is returning to rationality. Combining China Green Development's practices, there are the following points to consider:

First, the investment direction shifts from heavy asset facilities to segmented field product content. The domestic tourism economy has entered a period of high-quality development, with market customer segmentation, and diversified, high-quality, and personalized products becoming key. Investment models mainly revolve around the creation of light-asset brand IPs and the upgrading of business brands. China Green Development has innovatively developed products targeting the needs of segmented markets such as outdoor exploration, and created a resort brand.

Second, from expansionary incremental investment to the transformation and upgrading of existing assets. Currently, tourism investment is trending towards rational prosperity, and activating existing space has become a key focus. China Green Development uses existing assets as new driving forces, optimizing evaluation and activation methods, and improving economic efficiency. In 2023, the renovation project in Dongcheng District integrated Beijing's traditional culture, transforming an old hotel into a mid-to-high-end business hotel, significantly increasing space efficiency.

Third, from investment in traditional first-tier core cities to high-potential strategic regions. With the adjustment of national strategies, tourism opportunities in Xinjiang have become prominent and its popularity has soared. China Green Development is planning a grand resort cluster across Xinjiang, deploying in multiple key cities, introducing the first stores of international hotel brands, building service platforms, and providing customized one-stop services. The first phase of the project will be put into use in the middle of next year.

Fourth, from tourism industry integration to the construction of a modern tourism industry. The modern tourism industry needs to be open and integrated, expanding the breadth and depth of the industrial chain. In terms of industrial breadth, tourism and multiple fields are developing synergistically, and China Green Development, relying on resort areas and cooperation with the General Administration of Sport, holds events to transform tourism and cultural consumption increments. In terms of industrial income, the value chain of the tourism industry is extending and upgrading to a composite type, and group development focuses on building a customer-oriented system. China Green Development is also exploring the supplementation and strengthening of the chain, building a modern tourism industry system.

Speaker: Xu Guohua, Party Secretary and Chairman of China Unicom Tourism Development Group

As a subsidiary of China Unicom Group focusing on the hotel and tourism and cultural industry, China Unicom Tourism Development Group operates more than 200 member hotels nationwide and has accumulated experience in asset activation and other aspects. This participation aims to learn from industry seniors.

Based on its own investment practices, here are some thoughts on tourism investment from a rational perspective:

Tourism investment must be accurate. The tourism industry is highly comprehensive and has a strong driving force, being an important engine for economic growth. From 2014 to 2019, its comprehensive contribution to GDP steadily increased, and in the first three quarters of 2024, the number of domestic tourists continued to grow, with stable volume and price. Unicom Tourism Development's main business is hotels, and it relies on business travel demand to deploy investments, continuously improving the scale and quality of guarantees, and providing high-quality services to the public.

Tourism investment must be well-invested. In the past, tourism investment focused on real estate logic and neglected operational profitability and product quality. Now this needs to change. In the era of existing hotel assets, existing assets face many problems, and renovation is key. Unicom Tourism Development focuses on its main responsibilities and businesses, investing in the activation of inefficient assets. For hotel product lines with many idle assets, Unicom Tourism Development has summarized the experience of the "five-step renovation method".

Tourism investment must be strong. To obtain good returns, comparative advantages must be leveraged. Currently, the red tourism market is showing significant growth and is an important growth point. Unicom Group has a long history of development, and some hotels have accumulated unique resources, which will be used to create unique products through the integration of tourism and culture.

Tourism investment must be new. The demand-side market is becoming more refined, and consumption is becoming more rational, shifting from "whether there is" to "whether it is excellent." Unicom Tourism Development has more than 20 hotels located in famous scenic areas, and will demonstrate and incubate the feasibility of product lines with both national defense education and military-themed study tour functions, opening up new segmented fields. In the future, we hope to discuss with the industry and promote the innovative development of domestic tourism investment.

Speaker: Ma Wenmei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Gansu Tourism and Cultural Industry Group

It is an honor to participate in the 2024 China Tourism Group Development Forum, and I thank everyone for their support of Gansu tourism. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the development of tourism and culture in Gansu, and the provincial Party committee and provincial government are actively implementing the instructions, promoting high-quality development of the industry.

In 2024, Gansu tourism and culture achieved remarkable results, with highlights emerging, and a significant increase in tourist reception and tourism revenue. Established in June 2019, the Gansu Tourism and Culture Group, as a key force in provincial tourism and cultural integration development, has built a full industrial chain service system and a new tourism and cultural ecosystem, covering four major business sectors. In recent years, it has been deeply cultivated, with assets exceeding 10 billion yuan and annual revenue exceeding 5 billion yuan.

Regarding investment strategies, three points should be considered: First, what to invest in? Integrate resources through a combination of strategy and tactics. For strategic high-quality resources, such as Zhangye Geopark, key mergers and acquisitions and holdings have yielded significant results. For regional high-quality resources, cooperation with local governments is used to obtain franchise rights to create projects, such as the Lanzhou Lantian Scenic Area. For operating tourism and cultural resources, brand management services are output through various methods. Second, where does the money come from? Achieving a balance between "blood transfusion" and "blood creation," strengthening the "blood creation" function of the products themselves, optimizing the capital structure to broaden financing channels, and at the same time balancing investment and synergistic feedback. Third, how to invest? Promote the precision of three mechanisms: obtain accurate information through the creative design institute, etc.; clearly divide responsibilities between government and enterprises to form a precise investment calculation mechanism; and build a precise decision-making adjustment mechanism based on market feedback.

However, the industry also faces challenges. Although the phenomenon of internet celebrity tourism has increased its popularity, there is a mismatch between traffic and economic benefits in places such as Tianshui and Dunhuang. Faced with this phenomenon, enterprises need to rationally respond to the internet celebrity economy and achieve both popularity and prosperity.

I look forward to strengthening cooperation with everyone and achieving win-win development. Welcome everyone to Gansu to explore the magnificent scenery of tourism and culture and pursue poetry and the distance.

Speaker: Wu Jian, Co-founder of Tongcheng Group and CEO of Tongcheng Holdings

Good afternoon, everyone! It's an honor to discuss rational tourism investment here. In the first three quarters of this year, Tongcheng Travel's revenue reached 13.106 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.6%, serving 1.88 billion people, with a net profit of 2.128 billion yuan. It ranks 103rd among the Top 500 Private Enterprises and 25th among the Top 100 Private Service Enterprises, and has advanced towards a full-industry chain cultural and tourism comprehensive group. Currently, tourism investment shows rational characteristics, reflected in two aspects: First, investors are more cautious in their choice of tracks, focusing on long-term value and synergy with their main business. Tongcheng, having experienced both being invested in and making investments, understands the difficulties involved; second, the selection of benchmark companies is more cautious, especially focusing on financial health indicators.

In the face of market trends and investment directions, Tongcheng Travel's investment strategy has the following three points:

First, adhere to technology innovation empowerment. Although cultural tourism is an old track, new tools must be used well. Investment methods are determined based on multiple dimensions such as the maturity of the investment track. For mature tracks with good synergy with the company, we tend to invest in mergers and acquisitions. When incubating internal brands, taking hotel management investment as an example, we leverage the platform's scale and technological advantages. After three years of polishing, the ELong Hotel Technology Platform has formed eight empowerment systems. At the same time, we attach importance to technology investment, and the Chengxin large model has completed multiple registrations and has been selected as a demonstration project, and is currently being applied.

Second, focus on the mass tourism market. China's core tourism consumers were once concentrated in some cities. As early as 2016, Tongcheng focused on the sinking market through WeChat Mini Programs, which has faster growth and greater consumption potential. The group continues to make steady investments based on industrial chain layout, exploring the upstream and downstream industrial chain around the main cultural and tourism business. For example, in 2016, it invested in an airline (later renamed Hunan Airlines), and last year it invested in the Sanya scenic spot, Yaduoda, to enhance supply chain and service capabilities.

Third, adhere to the unity of efficiency. After 20 years of entrepreneurship, Tongcheng has adhered to its original intention and attaches importance to the unity of economic and social benefits. In response to the Rural Revitalization Strategy, it launched the "Thousand Villages Plan," investing in the Lindun Warm Village project to create a rural resort. This year's May Day saw the launch of the "Qingdian Luzhi" night tour project, which, based on analytical planning upgrades, enriches the business formats, and received numerous tourists during the National Day holiday, achieving unified efficiency. It also pays attention to international market opportunities, launching an international travel platform in Hong Kong and establishing overseas institutions in multiple locations, optimistic about the potential of the international market.

Conclusion

Based on their rich practical experience, the seven guests shared their profound insights into tourism investment from diverse perspectives. Hunan Tourism Group's integration of resources across the region and digital transformation; Sichuan Tourism Investment Group's adherence to the right path and innovative development amidst opportunities and challenges; Huangshan Tourism Group's keen insight into and response to industry changes; the practical results of the change in direction of China Green Development Investment; China Communications Travel Development's precise investment and innovative exploration focusing on the hotel industry; Gansu Cultural Tourism Group's resource integration and rational investment considerations; and Tongcheng Holdings' investment layout based on technological innovation, focus on the mass market, and the concept of unified efficiency, comprehensively present the diverse exploration and profound transformation of the cultural and tourism industry under the perspective of rational investment. The positive actions and innovative practices of the above-mentioned enterprises not only fully demonstrate their firm determination and responsibility in contributing to the construction of a strong tourism country, but also provide a reference sample for the practice of rational tourism investment.