In-depth Analysis: 2017 Tourism Industry Threats and Opportunities

The outbound tourism is gradually becoming standard and the consumption is rising to the highest level

China will continue to be the world champion of outbound tourism in 2017. According to tourism statistics released by the National Tourism Administration, the number of Chinese citizens travelling abroad reached 62.03 million in the first half year, up 5% from 593,000 in the same period last year. Pointed out by the China Tourism Academy’s “China's outbound tourism development of the annual report 2017” . The combination of outbound tourism makes it not only became the soft power of the nation's image building, but also become the foundation of the “Belt and Road” initiatives strategy.

In total, China's outbound tourism market and consumption growth have slowed down, and the proportion of outbound tourism in the structure has increased significantly, and the number of tourists traveling to “Belt and Road” countries has grown significantly. Customers on the output growth is the main driving factor, and tourism in the western region with new market to rise further, also destination consumer behavior shows the changes from "buy buy" to "swim swim". The satisfaction of Chinese tourists on the overall and tourism service quality of various destinations is high.

Today, China's outbound tourism has entered the phase of "consumption upgrade", and the purposes of the travel abroad also more diversified, shifting from sightseeing to enjoy high quality life and spiritual pursuit, such as education, health care, shopping, food, and even the air and water can be the reason tourists traveled. Outbound tourism has become the new standard for the middle class in China. Jiang yiyi, director of the international institute of China tourism research institute, said that since 2013, China has been the world's largest source of outbound tourists, and its per capita consumption is high.

The improvement of the exchange rate has provided strong support for the development of outbound tourism, but the fundamental factor is the improvement of the consumption capacity of residents.

With the increase of international airline capacity in the central and western regions, there is a tendency to sink into the second, third, fourth tier cities. In the future, China's consumer market will have a surprising amount of growth. In the next five years, 81 percent of China's total consumption growth will come from the upper middle class and the wealthy.

Mr. Chen Xiaobing (Founder of Caesar China, Caesar Tourism President)
In 2017, the tourism market is robust:series of favorable tourism policies are introduced, and the tourism market and consumers are becoming more mature and rational. The tourism industry sees opportunities and challenges. We are in a big upgrade of tourist consumption era, while the diversity of travel demand and consumption upgrade quality to promote tourism industry.

The supply and consumption upgrade is reversed transmission side reform, products and services provided by the tourism enterprises, more and more emphasis on quality.

In the context of consumption upgrade, every tourism practitioners need to return to nature, to explore the essence of tourism products and services, to really think about how to provide valuable experience. Based on this, Caesar comprehensively promote tourism consumption upgrade, increased the new high tourism products and private group series product research and development. Private products are gradually popular, "delicate small group", "high density" private "personalization" and "deep experience" are gradually popular with guests.

In 2017, with the in-depth development of the “Belt and Road” initiative, silk road tourism has come a long way. From the sales of Caesars, Kazakhstan, Russia, Poland, central Asia, have seen a big increase. Caesar tourism complies with “Belt and Road” initiative, in- depth excavation along the silk road tourism resources. The introduction of each product line, integration of land and maritime silk road, will make all-round development of the silk road tourism products system. At the same time, we also see the Chinese people have become more and more popular with the theme of "sports tourism", "outdoor hiking" and "education tourism". In the Spanish super bowl, more than 200 fans from more than 20 provinces and cities gathered at the Bernabeu field.

Mr. Zhang Lei (Senior Vice President
of Uzai Tourism Group)


In 2017, the concentration of tourism industry is increasing and the industry is further gathered. As the consumption upgrade trend becomes more and more obvious, the tourism industry keeps pushing new products, creating new products, developing new destinations, and opening a wider door to our visitors.

The outbound tourism market continues to develop. As a company, we are excited to be able to catch up with such a good time. We also expand our business in rapid development, and strengthen our services and products. In 2017, Uzai Tourism will build a comprehensive service platform for outbound tourism with the development of collectivization and an integrated service platform for outbound tourism.

It will expand the outbound tourism service to "tourism +" outbound services and build a large ecosystem of outbound services. In the context of rapid development, the segmentation market is more obvious, and the study tour, parent-child, self-drive and customization are the fastest growing segments in the industry.

The travel agencies are looking for a more focused and in-depth business model, looking for the subdivision direction, grasping the market segment and becoming the key to this year. Uzai tourism in 2017 to develop theme products, precisely is to grasp the market segment, to promote the new performance.

2017: New Consumption to Promote New Civil Aviation Reform


Delta President Mr. Huang Kang, Greater China and Singapore

The key word that impressed me most in 2017 is the "new consumption", because it is having a profound impact on the civil aviation industry. Many industrial events and changes that have occurred in the civil aviation sector in the past year are largely due to the rapid development of new consumption. In recent years, China's middle class is on the rise, their spending power has given rise to a powerful new consumption concept, tourism, vacation, entertainment, health, culture, education, information services become the new consumption hot spots. As one of the carriers of these new consumption, airlines are keeping up with the times.

Enhance the Capacity

A notable trend for the Sino American civil aviation market is that the number of Chinese travelers to the United States is growing rapidly in the face of a growing number of travelers. In 2010, Chinese travelers to the United States accounted for about 30 percent of the total number of travelers between the two countries. In 2016, the number of travelers between the two countries was basically flat, and this year we have seen Chinese travelers start to outnumber American travelers. We expect that by 2020, the number of Chinese travelers to the United States will be more than double that of the United States, and the total number of passengers between the two countries is expected to reach 70 percent.

To this end, the United States and China's major airlines are increasing their capacity. In recent years, Delta air lines have nearly tripled the number of direct flights between China and the United States. Currently, there are five daily direct flights, and 2017 is about 3.5 times the capacity of 2009. In July 2018, delta will also open a daily direct flight between Shanghai and Atlanta.

Improve Service

There is a growing demand for service quality between China and the United States. For example, China's millennials are increasingly turning to the United States as a destination for studying abroad and traveling. The young people who grew up in the open culture of the education and the open culture are more willing to invest time and money in experiential tourism than their grandparents. They no longer see airlines as mere vehicles, but as part of the travel experience. Therefore, in the service, delta and other airlines are also the director of each exhibition, to meet the needs of these new generation of travel.

From January 17, 2018, Delta's new A350 passenger jet will be used for the first time on the Beijing-Detroit route, and delta will become the world's first airline to launch the A350 on the Sino-US route.

The A350 will bring a qualitative leap for passenger air experience: the newly designed to reaches business class suites with sliding door, can build a good air illicit close space for passengers, and still is delta new super economy class cabin, more spacious and comfortable seats.

The development of information and the popularization of the Internet have made it important for many people to connect to the Internet at any time. The Wi-Fi on board is also becoming more and more important. Delta all long-haul international flights, including routes of China and the United States, all equipped with Wi-Fi on. Delta also has the world's largest fleet equipped with Wi-Fi, the A350 is equipped with 2ku a new generation of in-flight Wi-Fi, surf the Internet faster and more stable.

Take the Alliance Road

This year, industry competition is becoming more and more intense, as many airlines adopt the way of alliance, with the advantage of the two sides or various parties, the resources join together in order to enhance the competitiveness.

If there is a big event in the global aviation industry in 2017, that would be one of the 10 per cent strategic stakes for Air France- KLM. The investment will lead to further in- depth cooperation between Asia, the United States and Europe, and integrate the global network resources.

As early as 2015, Delta’s $450 million deal to buy a 3.55% stake in China Eastern, through close cooperation, the number of cities linked between China and the United States turned over several times as before, offering more and more convenience for passengers of flight and destination choice.

2017 is a year of change and a year of reaping. The airline industry has been changing steadily. The improvement of people's consumption level, the great progress of science and technology, and the deepening of the cooperation of aviation enterprises have laid a good foundation for the development of the whole industry. The next year, let's wait and see.

Cruise to the Next Decade

Royal Caribbean Global Senior
Vice President Mr. Liu Zinan,
China and North Asia President
2017 is the year when China's cruise market took a turn. In the past ten years, the Chinese cruise market has experienced a rapid development from the start to the global cruise industry strategic market.

During this process, the brand awareness and reputation of cruise brands have become increasingly prominent to consumers, and has gradually become the core standard of their choice of cruise ship. The international cruise lines, represented by Royal Caribbean, has been introducing world-leading cruise products into the Chinese market, in terms of product development and market development

A large amount of investment has greatly enhanced the recognition and popularity of cruise ships in Chinese consumers.

As the Chinese cruise market continues to heat up, more and more Chinese consumers are starting to try cruises, take cruises again, or take family and friends to experience cruises. At the same time, under the government's strong promotion and the guidance of the "Belt & Road" initiatives, the Chinese cruise industry has been continuously upgraded, and the construction of the Chinese cruise port has been improved, and the cruise economy has boomed. Cruise lines can be more comprehensive and flexible in their marketing.

For example, in 2017, Royal Caribbean Sea Voyage for the first time from Shenzhen home port to operate multiple routes, north China, east China, south China, make each region more convenient for consumers to experience the high quality product.

The sustainable development of China's cruise industry is the most important issue for the cruise industry in the next decade. There are five levels of demand for China's cruise industry, and the most basic is consumer satisfaction.

Having the satisfaction of consumers, it will have more cruises to enter the market, and then will be the demand for shipbuilding, port construction and development of supply chain and the economic effects to the culture.

At the same time, we see in the consumption level to upgrade under the background of Chinese consumers for a better life, and quality requirement of the resort is increasing day by day, tend to be more diversified and personalized consumer demand, however, the present China's cruise market is facing challenges, such as serious product similarity and the shore experience is lack of interests, etc.

To solve these problems, the localization of cruise products should not be simple, but to optimize the experiences. It has been committed to creating consumers in mind, to their surprise and fresh experience. Royal Caribbean, for example, our innovation is divided into four aspects: 1. for the future to build a new ship: Royal Caribbean has recently started to build Quantum series tailor-made for Chinese market only super cruise ship "ocean spectrum", will deploy 2019 home port in China. 2, continuously optimize existing cruise products: such as quantum series and voyager series, launch cruise on the royal suite exclusive courtesy, from the arrival of the dock, ship, hotel suites, dining, entertainment, shopping, aspects and so on to shore upstream for suite guests provide fast track and a full set of private VIP services; In the "Quantum of the Seas" and "Ocean Praise", the Chinese restaurant of Chinese artistic conception is introduced to enhance the dining experience of the sea. 3, improving the pre-market experience: optimize the boarding process of the dock and launch the exclusive website and service of the royal bank. 4, optimizing destination and tourist experience: in 2018, we will add 14 to the nation from the port selection of 6 nights and above the long route, 11 new dock port, and will launch 135 boutique shore sightseeing trips.

At the same time, the promotion of overseas routes will be one of the future priorities of Royal Caribbean.In the future, Royal Caribbean will continue to practice in the Chinese market, with innovative products and services for customers to create high-quality cruise holidays, consolidate the foundation of Chinese cruise industry development; With unremitting quality improvement and market operation, we provide win-win business conditions for our hotel partners.

I believe in government, industry innovation, the cooperation environment, Chinese cruise industry will usher in a new turning point, the formation of ecological economic circle, the booming cruise in the coming out of a sustainable development of their own health.

When the Hotel Industry is Overhauled

Mr. Li Yusheng, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Marriott International Group Greater China China's economy has steadily increased year by year, and the disposable income of its residents has been rising.

By 2022, the proportion of middle class in China's cities will reach to more than 76 percent, and the consumption mindset will be more enjoyable to experience lifestyle.

As Chinese travelers are getting younger and travel experiences are becoming more and more diverse, we can learn from consumers' changes in travel products and related experiences.

Luxury travelers are increasingly interested in personalized travel services, and more than 50 percent of luxury travelers have experienced high-end customization.

As the demand for luxury travelers changes, the tourism industry will cater to the trend, offering more unique and impressive experiences of travel and parking. Affluent luxury travelers pay great attention to their choice of destination, while the demand for leisure vacation is higher than shopping.

The average annual tourism consumption of China's "Y generation" luxury tourists is 420,000 yuan. The average budget for their stay at the hotel is 3,100 yuan per night, compared with an average of 3.3 trips abroad in the past year, with an average of 25 days, 69 percent of which are recreational vacations.

With the increase of female social responsibility, aesthetic demand and household responsibilities, the era of "her economy" is driving new impetus with these demands.

China has become the world's largest tourist destination, regardless of outbound travel or inbound tourism, which is one of the most important markets for global hotel operators. Marriott international has also made a lot of progress this year.

We already have three new brands in China, including the proud Autograph Collection, Bulgari Hotel and Resort, and Fairfield by Marriott.

Marriott's partnership with Alibaba in August was more of an industry blockbuster. The establishment of the joint venture will be Marriott international global brand layout and professional experience in hospitality industry, with Alibaba in the lead in the field of digital retail and 500 million monthly active users in combination with each other, the move will undoubtedly redefining the travel experience.

The joint venture between Marriott and Alibaba will provide a superior online and offline travel experience for Chinese consumers. By matching the Alibaba's advanced digital platform, Marriott international's global hotel resources will dock to Chinese consumers, combining with the Marriott international understanding of Chinese consumers, we can look forward to Marriott international being China's outbound travel choice of users.