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Since the beginning of this year, my country's inbound tourism market has been growing rapidly.

Since the end of last year, my country has launched a series of visa-free policies. Currently, it has implemented 72 or 144-hour "transit visa-free" for people from 54 countries, and attracted a group of "144 special forces".

On overseas social platforms, "China Travel" has become a hot search topic. Data from relevant tourism platforms show that this year's summer inbound travel orders in my country have doubled year-on-year, and tour guides for some minority languages ​​are in short supply. Jiupai Finance reporters noticed that some Spanish tour guides claimed to have an average monthly income of 40,000 yuan.

Noting the popularity of inbound tourism, many overseas students and former employees of large companies have flocked to this "blue ocean" to start businesses and build one-stop inbound tourism platforms, or to use Tik Tok to attract traffic and bring goods. The entire inbound tourism industry is facing challenges such as uneven regional development, market differentiation in off-season and peak season, and the rise of free travel, and is also developing in a diversified and flexible direction.

Regarding my country's inbound tourism market, Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said: "It is expected that the number of foreigners visiting China in the second half of the year will exceed 15 million, and the annual data may recover to more than 80% of 2019."Morgan StanleyIt is estimated that the revenue from inbound tourism is expected to reach 1.7-4.5 trillion US dollars in the next 10 years.GDPThe contribution rate is expected to rise to 2-4%.

【1】Tour guides who speak minority languages ​​are in short supply: monthly income: 40,000 yuan

From experiencing convenient technologies such as high-speed rail and drone food delivery, to the skyscrapers and street food in Chongqing... Since the beginning of this year, countless Chinese travel videos have become popular overseas, with 907,000 related posts on Instagram alone.

More convenient visa procedures and accommodation payment experience are also important reasons for attracting overseas tourists. Yang Jing (pseudonym), the manager of a travel agency in Shanghai, told reporters, "In the past, foreigners had to call each hotel to ask if they would accept foreign guests. Now the platform can search for hotels suitable for foreign guests with one click, including youth hostels that cost around 50 yuan, and Alipay can be linked to the hotel."International BanksSome stores in Shanghai also have foreign card POS machines. Problems such as difficulty in getting tickets for scenic spot mini programs can also be solved through travel agencies. "

Summer vacation is the peak tourist season, and overseas tourists are flocking to shopping malls and People's Park in Beijing and Shanghai. According to data released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, in 2024, the inbound tourist flow in Beijing will accelerate its recovery. The number of tourists from Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Russia, has exceeded 2-3 times the same period in 2019; the number of tourists from European countries has also recovered to about 80% of 2019.

National data also showed that in the first half of 2024, 14.635 million foreigners entered the country through ports, a year-on-year increase of 152.7%. Among them, 8.542 million people entered without a visa, accounting for 58%, a year-on-year increase of 190.1%.

As inbound tourism is booming, tour guides speaking some minor languages ​​are fully booked and there is a shortage of staff.

A Spanish-speaking tour guide in Chengdu with senior industry resources shared that his total income from January to March this year was 34,567 yuan, 37,853 yuan, and 52,839 yuan respectively, with a total income of 125,000 yuan in three months. He said, "The salary of an English-speaking tour guide for inbound tours is generally 500-600 yuan per day, and it is about 100 yuan higher for minor languages. In addition, there will be tips for guests from the United States and other places, so the total income is 800-1,000 yuan per day."

Fang Fang, head of inbound tourism at GZL, also told 9pai Finance: "In the past few years, some original tour guides left the industry and changed careers, and there are fewer new tour guides entering the industry. Currently, there is a shortage of tour guides who speak European minor languages, such as Spanish, Italian, and Russian. However, English tour guides are basically sufficient."

Nowadays, many tourism companies have begun to cooperate with colleges and universities to train tour guides to fill the gap. Spring Travel told Jiupai Finance reporter: "At present, the inbound tourism sector, including product design, market outreach and tour guides, such as English, Japanese, Korean and other language guides, are continuing to recover. But there is still a certain gap in business demand. Therefore, Spring Travel has cooperated with Shanghai Tourism College and other colleges and universities to carry out targeted training to continuously supplement the inbound tourism talent team."

【2】Tik Tok Gold Rush: Still in the Startup Phase

Noticing the popularity of inbound tourism and short videos, many practitioners and travel bloggers have flocked to this "blue ocean" to start their own businesses.

The reporter noticed that on the Xiaohongshu platform, the number of people in multiple "inbound tourism entrepreneurship exchange groups" has reached nearly 500. Among them, there are former product managers of large companies who hope to create new independent inbound tourism OTA platforms, and there are also international students who promote inbound tourism products on platforms such as Tik Tok.

One of the overseas student entrepreneurs told Jiupai Finance reporter, "We first use AI to analyze the characteristics of popular videos, edit similar Chinese travel videos, help travel agencies with agency operations and sales, and invest in traffic based on the results. We can receive orders every day and generally get a 15% commission from travel agencies. Some of our peers are also recruiting anchors to bring goods."

Regarding the online customer source situation, Fang Fang, head of inbound tourism at China Travel Service, told Jiupai Finance reporter: "After Chinese travel videos became popular overseas, Southeast Asian customers were influenced by the content on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Tik Tok, and the customer flow increased significantly. Therefore, the customer acquisition channels for related inbound tourism business have also expanded from traditional channels to online."

However, in comparison, inbound tourism and short video e-commerce environment in Europe and the United States are still developing slowly. At present, inbound tourists from the United States and Australia have only recovered to about 60% of 2019.

National data also show that in the first quarter of 2024, the top ten source countries or regions for inbound tourism external relations by travel agencies are, from high to low, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Russia, Taiwan, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Macau, China, and Indonesia, and the source of tourists is still mainly from Asia.

It is understood that most of the inbound tourism startups are still in the initial stage of construction and are looking for overseas investment or local hotel and other supplier resources, and have not yet mined the "first pot of gold".

In this regard, the above entrepreneur said, "The Chinese travel videos on overseas platforms are now relatively homogeneous, with the same itineraries, and they all admire the Great Wall, giant pandas, and powerful infrastructure. If you train travel bloggers yourself, the cost is too high. You need to be familiar with both Chinese and foreign cultures and understand the locals' curiosity about China. In addition, although Tik Tok has high traffic, its conversion rate is not as good as Instagram and YouTube, and there are also people and network communication platforms."

【3】Showing a trend of diversification and flexibility

At present, inbound tourism still faces challenges such as uneven regional development, market differentiation between peak and off-seasons, and the rise of independent travel.

In terms of regions, Yang Jing believes that foreigners currently know too few Chinese routes, and products are highly concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Xi'an. They don't know the rich natural landscapes and local customs of Yunnan and Northwest China. In addition, our international air ticket prices are also at a high point, and many Europeans and Americans will choose to travel to Japan and South Korea. Under the homogeneous competition of popular cities in China, profits are relatively meager, and products such as traditional cultural experience, food, drink, and entertainment are needed.

As for the market season, a French tour guide in Chengdu who has been working for nearly ten years revealed: "Although there are many inbound tourist groups during the peak season from April to October, I have almost no work during the five-month 'long winter' from November to March of the following year. Some tour guides who speak very minority languages, such as Arabic, do earn more than 1,000 yuan a day, but their income is very unstable. At present, tour guides who speak minority languages ​​are basically part-time or freelance. In order to increase and stabilize their income, they also need to take lawyer certificates, teacher certificates, or develop other side jobs."

In addition, with the global trend of independent travel becoming increasingly popular, a large amount of inbound tourism consumption is flowing into restaurants, scenic spots, and entertainment rather than travel agencies.

In response to this market change, inbound tourism products are being innovated in a more flexible direction. The Spanish-speaking tour guide said: "By publishing one-day tour services for independent travelers on overseas OTA websites such as Get Your Guide and Klook, I have also earned tens of thousands of yuan this year."

At the same time, inbound tourism products are also becoming more diversified. Spring Travel told Jiupai reporters that it is using fragmented resources to customize itineraries for inbound tourists and launch more cross-regional and cross-city inbound tourism products. In addition to launching a series of connecting products between Shanghai and cities such as the Yangtze River Delta, it has recently launched a 6- or 12-day "Shanghai + Gansu" tour route. Some travel agencies have already launched a "Beijing Food Citywalk" tour guide service priced at $50, as well as Guangdong tourism products focusing on food and leisure.

Many institutions predict that my country's inbound tourism market still has broad prospects. Previously in 2019, foreigners spent $77 billion on tourism in China, and the CAGR from 2015 to 2019 was 6.2%, much higher than the tourism industry as a whole. In this regard, Wang Qiuting and Bai Yang, analysts at CICC Research Institute, believe: "In 2019, foreigners' tourism spending in China accounted for 0.5% of China's GDP, far lower than Thailand's 11.8%, France's 2.6%, South Korea's 1.5%, and the United States' 1.1%. In the medium term, if this proportion can be raised to 1%, the scale of inbound tourism in my country can increase by nearly 500 billion yuan."

Jiupai Financial Reporter Xia Wenqi

Image source: Visual China

[Source: Jiupai News]