The 2024 China Tourism Group Development Forum was held December 9-11, 2024 in Beijing Gehua Kaiyuan Hotel. The theme of this forum was “ A Strong Tourism Nation: Responsibility and Commitment ”, jointly organized by the China Tourism Academy and the China Tourism Association. Dean Dai Bin presided over the “Dialogue between Tourism Group Leaders—A Strong Tourism Nation and Corporate Commitment” session, and discussed the development direction and responsibilities of tourism enterprises in the context of building a strong tourism nation with Ding Yi, Chairman of Shandong Tourism Group; Ding Lei, General Manager of China Yangtze River Shipping Group; Zheng Bei, CEO of Jinjiang Tourism; Li Feng, Deputy General Manager of Lingnan Group; Zhou Yongbiao, Deputy General Manager of Hubei Tourism Group; Wang Wei, President of Spring and Autumn Group; and Feng Bin, Chairman of Ctrip Group. The main viewpoints of the dialogue session guests are shared below.

Dai Bin: Comrades, before releasing the top 20 tourism groups, there is an important dialogue. Yesterday, the Central Political Bureau meeting was just held, and a very important point is to comprehensively expand domestic demand. In this process, what role should our tourism play, and how can it play a role? First, let's invite General Manager Zheng to introduce it to us.

Zheng Bei: The theme of the forum is “A Strong Tourism Nation and Responsibility and Commitment”. For the tourism industry, we have always been talking about promoting tourism through culture, highlighting culture through tourism, and the integration of culture and tourism. Tourism is both an emerging industry and a happiness industry. In the process of economic transformation, what can we do as a traditional tourism enterprise? First, I think we need to pay attention to new demands, new tracks, and new developments in the industry—in short, “new”. Therefore, Jinjiang Group has been focusing on new demands and new tracks in the past three years to promote reform and transformation. This has been a major issue in our work over the past three years. Because we continuously face new demands, we also continuously guide cadres and employees to pursue lifelong learning through reform and transformation.

Our reforms over the past three years have actually gone through 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 stages. Jinjiang is a comprehensive tourism group with a relatively complete industrial chain, with hotels, tourism, and passenger transport as its core sectors. Our hotels have achieved a global international layout. Tourism is more concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta region, and passenger transport focuses on Shanghai. Therefore, in this round of reforms, we have two keywords: “integration of hotels and tourism” and “multi-industry synergy”.

Before talking about what the tourism industry can do for the country, let's first look at what we can do. I think each group needs to refine its core competitiveness. For our group, the core competitiveness is that the industrial chain is relatively complete, and the operating model is light-asset brand output management. Therefore, the integration of hotels and tourism and multi-industry synergy have become the core competitiveness we want to build. In terms of hotels, our core competitiveness is now summarized in two aspects. The first aspect is our operational capabilities, based on how we can improve our operational capabilities, so that owners can make money and consumers can have a better experience. The second aspect is customer service capabilities, which is the construction of our membership system, including member experience, member contribution, and the true feelings of members. These two points are the core competitiveness of our hotels.

As for tourism, we have always been talking about products and themes. I think we should first look at what tourism actually provides to consumers—it's probably emotional value. At present, we need to provide better and deeper emotional value. Therefore, Jinjiang Tourism has always advocated the “high-quality, refined, and customized” strategy. Through the development of these two core competitive advantages, we hope to contribute our part to the development of new productivity in the tourism industry.

Dai Bin: Thank you. Can you give some examples of this new demand? What new demands have we discovered?

Zheng Bei: For example, we are now paying attention to the fact that tourism has always been a “high-quality, refined, and customized” strategy. However, the “high-quality, refined, and customized” strategy is not just a strategy for high-end customers with money. Our new demands need to pay attention to the characteristics of the new era. For example, among young people, there is a “valley economy”, which is actually a derivative economy of the second dimension. From this perspective, today's young people actually have strong spending power and are willing to pay for their emotional value, but sometimes the products we provide do not meet their requirements.

Dai Bin: Thank you. We welcome General Manager Feng Bin. At present, our tourism economy has re-entered a new stage of prosperous development. What new demands do you think we need to meet, and what demands have we not seen?

Feng Bin: Through Ctrip's years of cultivation, such as investment or expansion, there have been successes and failures. With the end of the epidemic, especially after General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to accelerate the construction of a strong tourism nation, I have also had some thoughts on how enterprises can go global and occupy a place. Some things Ctrip has done very well, but some have been relatively blind. After the epidemic, I may still have a dream of a strong tourism nation in my heart. But from a realistic point of view, we still have to work down-to-earth and cultivate it slowly. Dreams may not be achieved overnight, but need to be slowly accumulated through internal experience. After better accumulating strength, we can gradually realize our dreams.

Of course, Ctrip has always been engaged in business and outbound tourism. Currently, business and outbound tourism are still relatively optimistic, especially outbound tourism. Currently, our focus is on inbound tourism. I have always believed that China, as a destination with abundant tourism resources, should not only be Chinese people going out to appreciate the world, but should also attract global tourists to visit and appreciate China. Therefore, recently I have been frequently in Southeast Asia, visiting countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines, to promote China to local tour operators.

Dai Bin: Compared to the Southeast Asian countries you have visited, where is the gap in our enterprises? Or what are we confident about? What are we better at than them?

Feng Bin: If we talk about Southeast Asian countries, China is relatively strong, and there is less to learn. I often confidently introduce the many good tourism resources and scenic spots in China. Through our travel agency media, it is important to confidently output these resources to foreign tour operators. In particular, I believe that this confidence is indeed a source of strength for Chinese tourists or travel agencies. Because I have basically visited the tourism resources of the world, China's resources are definitely better than theirs, or there are definitely places that can compare with them. Therefore, I still hope to quickly promote the development of inbound tourism, at least starting with Southeast Asian tourism, and achieve Ctrip's second take-off by attracting Southeast Asian tourists to China.

Dai Bin: Just now you mentioned inbound tourism. I very much appreciate you, as an entrepreneur, being closely related to national strategy. Ctrip's advantage was previously in outbound tourism. What are its advantages now in inbound tourism?

Feng Bin: I think the most important advantage is that because we have been engaged in outbound tourism for a long time, we have established long-term business dealings with local governments and tourism agencies. Before, Ctrip only sent a large number of consumers to them, and did not think about using them to attract more local tourists to China.

Dai Bin: In the past, they were sellers and we were buyers. Can this advantage be transformed?

Feng Bin: This advantage is sufficient for transformation. One is that our tourism resources are something they yearn for. Second, we provide a large number of tourists to the largest local tour operators, and now we have the conditions to promote inbound tourism in return.

Dai Bin: Mr. Wang is a relatively international entrepreneur. In this process, as Mr. Feng mentioned, can the advantages of buyers and sellers be transformed?

Wang Wei: Yes, definitely. China is vast and rich in resources, with a long history. It has the world's largest number of World Cultural Heritage sites and is one of the four ancient civilizations, possessing a vast market and tourism resources. If we want to develop inbound tourism, we need to make full use of and promote these resources and solidify the content. From another perspective, it is also very difficult for China to develop inbound tourism. From 2018 to 2019, China's 80 million inbound tourists ranked fourth or fifth in the world. In terms of quantity, it is a very large number, but in terms of the basic population, the number of inbound tourists received per citizen is lower than that of France, Spain, and Italy. France receives one foreigner per citizen, Spain receives 1.2 foreigners per citizen, and China receives 0.2 foreigners. In terms of inbound tourism, on the one hand, we now have a certain influence due to the base number, and there is great room for development. However, from another perspective, we need to do better in the basic content.

Dai Bin: Inbound tourism faces so many difficulties, including the promotion issue of destination governments and the issue of resources that cannot be transformed into products. Can we say that there is still a lot of room for effort for our enterprises in this process?

Wang Wei: Yes. Only by discovering and solving problems can enterprises have room for development. During the epidemic, because Chunqiu has branches in the United States, Japan, and South Korea, when it was very difficult during the epidemic, we organized Japanese people to go to the United States, Americans to Japan, and outbound tourists to travel abroad. After the epidemic was lifted, we actively responded to the national call and used our branch offices in Thailand and Japan to attract customers. Let me give an example of pain points. Shanghai is the first stop for inbound tourism that we actively develop. Targeting the characteristics of international tourists, our company internally requires that guests arriving in Shanghai must have a "three-piece set upon arrival": the first is iced mineral water, the second is napkins, and the third is alcohol. Grasping the pain points of customers to solve problems is something our company must do.

Dai Bin: Let me ask again, recently I also heard a view that some foreigners have concerns about safety in China, believing that we are not a safe destination. Is this what you understand?

Wang Wei: There are many foreign media, especially self-media, that are very biased in their propaganda. This is a common phenomenon.

Dai Bin: What can enterprises do in this situation?

Wang Wei: In the European, American, and Japanese markets, including the Thai market, we promote that China is safer than Europe.

Dai Bin: Do you think they will believe you? Will they trust you?

Wang Wei: Yes. Because there is sufficient factual basis, China vigorously promotes online payment. With online payment, there is no wallet, and without a wallet, thieves cannot steal anything. Moreover, China has a large number of security devices. We have a case where a person in Shanghai had their car stolen, and the police helped him find the car within half a day.

Dai Bin: Is the foreign evaluation of China's safety only about the safety of money and property? Are there any other factors? I will ask you again later.

Dai Bin: In the process of building a strong tourism country, in addition to market expansion, as Mr. Ni Yangping from CYTS mentioned earlier, the "strong" in a strong country refers to the capacity of a powerful tourism market. There is also a very important "strong," namely, strong product operation capabilities, product R&D capabilities, and market reception capabilities. Lingnan is very strong in local hotels, accommodation, and travel agencies. In the process of building a strong tourism country, province, or city, what role should enterprises play, and what should we do for the government?

Li Feng: From the perspective of Lingnan Group's integration of culture, commerce, and tourism, we focus on three aspects in the construction of a strong tourism country: leading consumption, innovation and transformation, and activating the market. In leading consumption, from the perspective of travel agencies, after the end of the epidemic, we combined outbound and inbound tourism into "international tourism." International tourism integrates many of our services and channels, including the integration of destination and departure resources. For example, we have some large hotels in various parts of Guangdong, with a total building area exceeding 180,000 or 200,000 square meters. We upgrade a large number of work areas as new cultural destinations, adding more content. In addition to museums and art centers, various new cultural contents are combined with hotels. From shopping malls to hotels, and then turning hotels into part of daily life, this reflects a leading role in consumption supply.

Second, in the process of innovation and transformation, we have seen many cases of large groups in this area today, and we are deeply inspired. From Lingnan's perspective, let me give an example—study tours. Now Guangzhilv has also invested a lot of resources in study tours, including the design competition for the first study tour route that we launched. We promote the innovation of many original study tour brands and jointly develop them with some institutions, gradually transforming study tour content and products. Another point is that we, as the main body, must continue to activate the market. At present, the strong call for a strong tourism country in May and the domestic demand promotion mentioned by Dean Dai just now are all opportunities for us. Therefore, as market players, activating the market will be a very important opportunity.

Dai Bin: What are the opportunities for us in the construction of the Greater Bay Area?

Li Feng: The overall construction of the Greater Bay Area is an overall extension for us.

Dai Bin: I bought a plane ticket to Zhuhai but arrived in Shenzhen, and then found that it was very quick to get to Zhuhai via the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Expressway, only 50 minutes. What impact does the improvement of local traffic patterns have on the tourism demand and market of a place, and is it an opportunity or a challenge for enterprises?

Li Feng: For us, it is primarily an opportunity, but there are also challenges. In terms of opportunities, the blurring of regional boundaries will inevitably lead to the integration of a stronger market. For example, now from Shenzhen to Guangzhou, via the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel, it takes about half an hour to travel from Futian to Nansha. After its opening, many cultural and tourism activities in Nansha have now become the focus of the bay area. Guangzhou is about to cooperate with Shoulu on the Lantern Festival, serving the entire bay area in Nansha. Therefore, cross-boundary integrated tourism may lead to the emergence of more and larger destination opportunities. Of course, traditional urban hotels may face greater shocks and challenges, but in any case, integration will definitely have more opportunities than challenges. In particular, the first tourism development conference will be jointly held in the three cities of the Greater Bay Area next year, which will also lead to greater expansion in tourism and sports.

Dai Bin: In this process, what role will we play in Guangdong's "Hundred Million Ten Thousand Project," and have we ever tried to cooperate with Chairman Guo?

Li Feng: We have a lot of project exchanges with Chairman Guo. In the "Hundred Million Ten Thousand Project," such as tourism planning and rural hotels, the province and city are already coordinating. Because purely rural hotels need to be integrated with the development of rural destinations, the joint promotion is needed in the process of developing rural hotels and rural destinations in the entire "Hundred Million Ten Thousand Project." Today, General Xiao Liang's mention of destination construction was very inspiring to me. The government's investment and overall effect in this area have a very important mutual integration function with our rural hotels. At the same time, because we need to promote good rural products, we also need to pay attention to the training of tourism practitioners at the rural frontline. Therefore, we are also cooperating to carry out training for rural hotel personnel. We are working with the provincial tourism department to divide Guangdong into two regions to jointly promote the work, and I think this will play a very positive role in the construction of grassroots tourism talents.

Dai Bin: Do you think there is a talent shortage in Lingnan? Are educational institutions an important source of talent?

Li Feng: There is a shortage. Development requires talent. As enterprises grow, the demand for talent will also increase. Educational institutions are definitely an important source of talent. Lingnan is an important tourism base in the Greater Bay Area. Our master studios and training centers have been cooperating with educational institutions recently, and there will be more development in the future.

Dai Bin: Lingnan has hotels and rural homestays. In terms of supply, there are also very famous brand travel agencies. Mr. Ding Lei is the head of the Changjiang Shipping Group, which operates on the Yangtze River. Mr. Ding, how do we position ourselves in the construction of a strong tourism country?

Ding Lei: Thank you, Dean Dai. I'm in the shipping industry and do tourism. This is my second year attending the forum, and this event has had a great impact on me. This year, I feel even more strongly that the tourism industry has great potential. At its core, the Changjiang Shipping Group is a national team. Our Yangtze River cruises were established in 1979 and are now also under the Changjiang Shipping Group. However, we have taken some detours. We used to have a platform called "Yangtze Overseas," which was a popular name back then, and a good brand for inbound tourism. We are now restructuring our tourism sector.

In terms of our overall planning, including what you mentioned about building a strong tourism country, the Yangtze River is actually our most prominent world-class calling card. From a cultural and scenic perspective, as well as from a product perspective, it is world-class. In October, I went to Europe and saw their inland river cruises, and overall, I felt that ours are definitely better. But I'm also quite anxious because the Yangtze River cruises are still in a relatively low-quality development stage. Overall, Yangtze River cruises are just about the Three Gorges. However, the Yangtze River is more than just the Three Gorges; the Three Gorges are just one scenic spot. Next, our development will include using culture to enhance tourism and using tourism to highlight culture. The core is to showcase the entire Yangtze River and infuse it with Chinese culture. We should accelerate the strategic planning project of the "Yangtze River National Cultural Park."

In terms of our timeline, 2024 will be the inaugural year for Changjiang Shipping Tourism. At the end of 2023, we held a promotion meeting for Yangtze River cruise tourism, inviting vice mayors and secretaries-general from provinces and cities along the Yangtze River to jointly promote it. This year, we have opened routes from Wuhan to Nanjing, and from Wuhan to Yichang, connecting Yichang, Jingzhou, Yueyang, Wuhan, Jiujiang, and Jiuhua Mountain. We are connecting cities and scenic spots along the route; this is just the beginning of our work.

From my personal experience, the core of tourism is feeling and experience. Where does the experience come from? On the one hand, there is the underlying hardware, and on the other hand, there is the service or culture. To give a simple example, we have a ship called the Yangtze River No. 1, which is a state guest ship, and it's been around for 17 years. This year, we have comprehensively upgraded the pricing and service of the Yangtze River No. 1. Our original price was 2200-2300 yuan, and this year it's about 3100 yuan, but the occupancy rate remains high. In terms of increased service content and improved experience, we asked why guests come to the Yangtze River No. 1. They said the experience was good, and the service level and team of the Yangtze River No. 1 made guests feel at home. Therefore, in terms of service experience, we still need to further explore in various projects. Secondly, we have a riverside ship in Wuhan, which is the only one of the 14 riverside cruise ships in Wuhan that makes money.

Dai Bin: The other 13 don't make money?

Ding Lei: There's another ship that we have a joint venture in, and it's also doing quite well. This year, its gross profit margin directly increased by 20%, reaching over 30%. What does this mean? After two years of cultivation, it has become a tourism destination centered on cultural iteration or scenario iteration. On board, you can see the Yangtze River, the river scenery, and the light show. The on-board experience is very attractive, and many people repeatedly board the ship. We can do a lot with this, such as injecting culture. You also asked what we can use to attract inbound tourists. I'm also thinking about this, and you asked about foreigners' concerns about safety in China. The core issue is not personal safety or property, but information, and this is something we need to further improve our publicity on.

In addition, the core of promotion lies in our culture. When talking about Chinese Bashu culture and Chu culture abroad, the context is different because it's difficult to explain simply. Currently, "Black Wukong" has boosted tourism in Shanxi and many other destinations. However, overall, cultural promotion still needs overall planning and publicity.

Dai Bin: Thank you. I would like to ask Mr. Feng, what opportunities does the China Changjiang Shipping Group have for our travel agencies? Or would you be willing to cooperate?

Feng Bin: I would be very happy to contact Mr. Ding; we need long-term cooperation. I experienced the peak and end of China's inbound tourism boom, and I was also doing inbound tourism at that time. Yangtze Overseas is indeed a top-tier tourism resource, and tickets were hard to come by. There are many such resources in China, but not many. How to truly closely cooperate with channel agents should be the next focus. Mr. Ding also mentioned that these cruise ships are self-operated and they bear all the responsibilities. Is it possible to outsource some aspects, such as overseas promotion, introduction, and operation, which are not your specialties, to cooperating units? In this regard, I think there are great opportunities.

The Yangtze River is a calling card of the Chinese nation, and it is the first to enter the international market and the most trustworthy calling card for international tourists. How to solve the problems, including those mentioned by Dean Dai, and answered by Mr. Wang Wei and Mr. Ding, such as safety, I think it's not too much to start with the Yangtze River. China's tourism resources are incredibly rich, including those in Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang. Any of them can allow us travel agencies to promote them overseas for a while; this is the source of the confidence in the tourism industry that you mentioned earlier.

Dai Bin: They have 12 ships that don't make much money; can you help them make money?

Feng Bin: I think it's a matter of time before they make money, but it depends on whether Mr. Ding is willing to cooperate with companies like ours. Working together to cultivate inbound tourism is a long-term plan for the development of scenic spots.

Dai Bin: Thank you. I also hope that the Yangtze River, as an upstream business and tourism resource provider, will outsource what it's not good at. As the theory of division of labor states, absolute advantage and comparative advantage, sometimes what you're good at, even if others are better at it, should still cooperate, and we can do it together. When everyone sits together, many ideas come up during the discussion.

Dai Bin: Speaking of Yangtze River cruise ships, the Yangtze River route is closely related to Hubei Province. Mr. Zhou is from the Hubei Tourism Group; what are your thoughts? Let's start with this route.

Zhou Yongbiao: In the 1990s, the Yangtze River tourism route was our main inbound tourism route, especially Yangtze Overseas. At that time, it was very difficult to buy a boat ticket. I think there are two things we need to focus on for the Yangtze River tourism route. First, we need to reshape the Yangtze River tourism route, because our needs in the 1990s are the same as they are now. Our original traditional structure was the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in the upper reaches, and the lower reaches were the Yangtze River natural and cultural tourism. At the same time, Wuhan can play an intermediary role, relying on Chongqing in the upper reaches and Shanghai in the lower reaches. Originally, we may have focused more on boat tours; I think we need to enrich our content by building regional tours. A highway approximately 70 kilometers long from Fengjie to Enshi will open in 2025. The tourism products of Enshi, Hubei Province, will be fully integrated with the tourism products of the Three Gorges. The restructuring and reshaping of tourism products is the first problem to be solved.

The second issue is overseas promotion. Overall, our current promotional efforts are scattered. Because the Yangtze River's golden tourism route is China's main inbound tourism route, the number of tourists was relatively large in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Over the years, the number of tourists has gradually decreased, which is closely related to our promotion in overseas markets. The promotion of this route should be a joint effort between the government and enterprises. The government should promote the image of the destination, especially the information on safety that Dean Dai just mentioned; this is something that enterprises cannot do. The focus of enterprises is on opening up channels; only when both image promotion and channel promotion are opened up can better results be achieved.

Dai Bin: As a large state-owned enterprise, do you think there are still obstacles in this regard regarding government-enterprise cooperation? Are you implementing the development strategy of the local party committee and government?

Zhou Yongbiao: Government publicity ideas and corporate publicity ideas are often not in sync; the core issue is to solve the problem of synchronization. Overall, we must recognize the problem of scattered resources and have the main leaders take charge. When promoting landscapes, each region often does its own thing; in reality, it should be high-end efforts with unified policies.

Dai Bin: I recently heard a view that much of our international promotion is domestic, with each province and city promoting itself, resulting in a blurred national image. They mentioned "Welcoming Shandong." I don't know what "Welcoming Shandong" is; can you tell me what "Welcoming Shandong" actually refers to?

Ding Yi: Thank you, Dean Dai, for giving me this opportunity. The slogan "Welcoming Shandong" is very catchy. In tourism, our biggest concern is the decline in popularity; the "Welcoming Shandong" brand has been around for more than ten years. But as the dean said, its visualization is still insufficient. Or, in other words, in the current consumer market, there is still room for improvement in the supply of Shandong cultural tourism products. In this process, we have also done some exploration, and we increasingly feel that some views need to be adjusted. In the past, we focused on improving tourists' experience and aimed to be unique or the best, essentially wanting tourists to have new insights and experiences. However, it is difficult to always be the first and the only; we sometimes have more ideas than capabilities. In the past, it was like hunting—if you caught a rabbit, you had something to eat; if not, you didn't. In an agrarian society, you planted crops, and regardless of the harvest, you always had something to eat; it was sustainable. We are thinking about whether we can also lead our tourists' consumption habits and their understanding of the product system to change.

In the 1980s and 1990s, domestic tourism consumption habits, as everyone mentioned earlier, were mainly inbound tourism before the short holidays. Later, under the guidance of national policies, consumption habits and travel habits developed. Of course, with the development of OTAs, tourists have also developed the habit of traveling without going through travel agencies; these are all in the process of guidance and development. Now we are thinking about whether we can change the tourists' experience and consumption frequency. I gave a report to the dean; I come from a cultural tourism investment background, and the cultural tourism industry does not lack funds. The state supports the increase in investment to enhance economic vitality, but why do we have pressure in cultural tourism investment? It is the contradiction between the heavy assets, long return cycle, and short product life cycle of cultural tourism investment. If you invest in a highway or high-speed rail, although the investment is also large and the return cycle is long, its product life cycle is strong. Twenty years later, the highway or the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail may still be the same, or even a hundred years later.

Dai Bin: If the tourism industry lacks neither market nor funds, what does it lack?

Ding Yi: We need to guide tourists' consumption habits and change the characteristics of short product life cycles, avoiding the need to constantly rely on creativity to be unique or the best. For example, many people like to go to Starbucks; even if they go today, they might go again tomorrow. Does Starbucks change? Starbucks doesn't change, but its consumption frequency and demand are different. For example, can we create some leisure and vacation products so that tourists can stay there on weekends when they have nothing to do? The experience is the same this time as the next time. It doesn't have to be experiencing Asia's longest cable-stayed bridge or Asia's deepest underwater exploration; it's just about going to this small scenic area to relax, unwind, and look at the stars.

Dai Bin: Yesterday we discussed the issue of the consumer base. Why go to Shanghai? Because the quality of life is relatively high; even eating a Big White Rabbit candy is enjoyable. This morning, OCT Group also talked about its first and second-generation products. Whether it's Happy Coast or Happy Coast PLUS, it is closely integrated with city life. The market base has become very solid; this may be a point we need to pay attention to. General Manager Zheng, you have a lot to say about overseas markets. In those days, Yangtze Overseas was considered a first-class tourism enterprise by today's standards. Can it be replicated? Will such enterprises return?

Zheng Bei: I was quite touched when talking about the Yangtze River earlier because I started in inbound tourism. Twenty or thirty years ago, when I first entered this industry, the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River was truly a calling card. I've taken groups on cruise ships on the Yangtze River, such as the Oriental Emperor, Oriental Queen, Victoria, and Yangtze Explorer; it's quite touching.

Returning to the inbound tourism market, including the glorious history of the inbound tourism market and the glorious enterprises that matched the inbound tourism market, whether they can return, I think we still need to change several things:

First, the issue of external publicity, which many guests have mentioned. From a national perspective, this is a matter of context; we need to use the context of foreigners to promote China. Therefore, speaking of Jinjiang, our China International Travel Service was established in 1954 and has always been known for inbound tourism, and it is the only time-honored Chinese brand among tourism enterprises. Starting in 2023, we have adopted the concept of forward sales, using foreigners abroad to promote China and thereby promoting product conversion. Finally, attracting foreigners to China. Therefore, we have currently deployed our foreign sales teams in Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and other European countries.

Second, the issue of products and experience. How to improve the repurchase rate of foreigners? During the epidemic, General Manager Wang Wei said that he, like me, kept European customers by sending them to Japan and Japanese customers to Europe, keeping all these customers. After the epidemic, we put forward a slogan, changing from Chinese tourism experts to Asian tourism experts. We want to create Asian connections so that guests will continue to come to China. For example, this time it's the traditional route of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, next time it could be China + Japan, and the time after that could be China + Vietnam. This helps to continuously improve the repurchase rate; for products, it's about using old customers to bring in new ones. In addition to conventional routes such as the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, we are now promoting routes in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Tibet. This year, we sent several hundred European tourists to Tibet, which is a very high number for Tibet; 300 people went to the Everest Base Camp. In the entire inbound tourism market, Jinjiang received 40,000 inbound tourists from Shanghai nationwide this year, which is actually a pretty high number.

Dai Bin: 2025 is fast approaching. The government has added two more public holidays, and the overall social outlook is improving. Will Jinjiang expand its reproduction?

Zheng Bei: Definitely. Jinjiang Tourism has undergone a 2.0 reform this year, revitalizing our traditional travel agencies and bringing them back to physical operation.

Dai Bin: Which traditional agencies?

Zheng Bei: Previously, we used Jinjiang Tourism for everything. Now, Jinjiang Tourism handles outbound tours, domestic tours, and educational tours, including the operation of some destination scenic spots. Guolv focuses on inbound tourism, including cross-border cultural exchanges linked to entry and exit. We've launched a cross-border cultural exchange brand called "Meet Everyone".

Dai Bin: That sounds very interesting. Mr. Ding, will we be expanding our investment next year?

  Ding Lei: We're already expanding our investment. We have two projects: upgrading our state-guest reception ships to clean energy, operating from Chongqing all the way to Shanghai. Another project is the 150-meter Yangtze River No. 7, currently under construction and the newest and best on the Yangtze River. We're also investing heavily in city tours, including a sister ship on the Yangtze River in Wuhan, and new pure electric ships in Yichang, Xiangyang, and Erhai Lake.

Dai Bin: What about Lingnan Group?

Li Feng: We will definitely increase investment. With the "15th Five-Year Plan" approaching, we will increase investment in this area.

Dai Bin: Will there be increased investment in aviation?

Wang Wei: The scale of the aviation fleet is still related to national policies.

Dai Bin: With everyone increasing investment, is this an opportunity for us travel agents? How do we discuss cooperation with them? What are our strengths?

Feng Bin: I still believe that close ties between resource providers and channel agents are crucial. How close? Could we tightly bind some tourism resources with one or two channel agents, promoting them together and utilizing our strengths. Why were there so many star tourism enterprises in the 80s and 90s? Perhaps the most famous weren't Changjiang Overseas, but Xi'an Guolv, Lanzhou Guolv, etc. These companies were well-known because of their concentrated resources. Our outbound tourism efforts are all independent battles; every company, every individual, every region wants to promote themselves. There's nothing wrong with that. But, could we consolidate these scattered promotional efforts into a single powerful force, focusing on a specific point for comprehensive penetration? The most important destination for Zhonghxin is Europe, with 300-400,000 people still going there. However, we don't consider Europe as a place for group tour agencies to come to China. Too many issues need to be addressed by travel agencies, including safety and environmental concerns.

But Southeast Asia is different; Southeast Asian tourists know that China is fun. As long as you open up, they'll come, avoiding unnecessary promotion. Therefore, I particularly hope and urge that if we want to vigorously promote inbound tourism, we should combine our forces to gradually open up this market. In this way, future star enterprises will return, and Changjiang Overseas will return. It's that simple, yet not so simple.

Dai Bin: I hope one day we no longer say "you" and "we," but only "we." We are a tourism community. Building a strong tourism nation requires a strong market, including domestic and inbound markets—a set national strategy. We also need high-quality product supply. Seller shows and buyer shows are great, but if the reality is different, that won't work. At this year's central tourism work conference, the goal of building world-class tourism enterprises was raised for the first time.

I hope our enterprises at all levels, whether state-owned, privately owned, central enterprises, or local enterprises, those who can sit here should be considered on the preliminary list of world-class tourism enterprises. I hope that based on understanding, we can integrate into the national tourism development strategy and local economic development strategy. Truly, as the minister said this morning, we should promote enterprise construction in the direction of scale, branding, specialization, and internationalization. If one enterprise becomes strong, 10 enterprises, 20 enterprises, 100, 200 enterprises become strong, then our "strong tourism nation" will be established.

Due to time constraints, the discussion on this segment ends here. The list of top 20 companies will be released later. It shouldn't just be a feast for the mind; everyone needs to eat lunch. So, we'll end this segment here. Thank you all.

To gain a deeper understanding of the investment and development of the tourism and culture industry, the China Tourism Academy, in conjunction with the China Amusement Machine and Amusement Park Association and other organizations, is conducting a special survey on investment in the tourism and culture industry. We sincerely invite all member units and tourism and culture enterprises to participate in the survey.

▲Scan the QR code to fill out the questionnaire