The scorching heat can’t stop people from traveling. A number of online travel platforms predict that this year is expected to usher in the hottest travel "summer file" in the past five years. Among many destinations, Beijing has always been very hot, especially this summer. According to the platform data, the booking volume of air tickets arriving in Beijing in summer increased by 30% compared with the same period of 2019, and the hotel booking volume increased by 6 times; It is also reported that the daily average number of tourist groups in Beijing has reached 1,200.
On July 8, tourists visited the Forbidden City. Photo by Chen Yuhua (Xinhua News Agency)
The return of market enthusiasm has brought about the growth of tourism consumption, but also a new problem: there is no shortage of tourists and tickets. Recently, many people are surprised to find that it is not easy to think of traveling in Beijing, and tickets for traditional popular scenic spots have to be grabbed. "The air tickets and hotels are all settled, but the itinerary is uncertain, and the tickets for the Forbidden City are grabbed, and the tickets for Guobo are gone", which has become an "annoyance" for many tourists. The travel agency is very helpless, and it is hard to look forward to the tourist season. There is no shortage of tourists but tickets. It is understood that some scenic spots need to be robbed one week in advance, and some need to be robbed five days in advance. The ticket release time is at 5 pm, 8 pm and 12 pm respectively. At present, the difficulty in booking tickets for popular scenic spots in Beijing has become a hot topic on many social networks.
Make an appointment first, then travel, and the ticket reservation system has been rapidly promoted in scenic spots across the country. As a means of normalization, the implementation of the appointment system has many benefits. From the management point of view, it can avoid the potential safety hazard caused by the over-concentration of passenger flow in scenic spots to a certain extent, reduce the risk that some cultural relics protection units will damage historical sites due to too many visitors, and also effectively prevent scalpers from scalping tickets. From the service point of view, the reservation system can allow tourists to plan their trips in advance, travel at the wrong peak, reduce waiting time and improve the tour experience.
There are two main reasons why the booking of tickets for popular scenic spots in Beijing this summer caused a lot of spit: First, the demand of tourists for high-quality tourism resources does not match the ticket source, and the number of tourists in the summer peak season has exploded, but the number of tickets available for booking in scenic spots is limited, which makes it difficult to grab tickets particularly prominent; Second, the booking channels and ticket release times of major scenic spots are different, and some even in the middle of the night.
Tourists are not satisfied, indicating that there is still much room for optimization in tourism management and service. As far as things are concerned, the demand for concentrated travel of tourists in summer cannot be changed. Can relevant departments and scenic spots reassess the market changes and increase the supply of tickets in peak season as much as possible within the actual carrying capacity of scenic spots? The peak season has just arrived, and it is not too late to make some necessary adjustments. Recently, Beijing Park Management Center has indicated that the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and other municipal parks will dynamically adjust the amount of tickets released, and timely return the refunded and cancelled tickets to the ticket pool. Some scenic spots with conditions can extend their opening hours in the peak season, meet the needs of some tourists through colorful cultural activities, and at the same time light up the night economy to increase the income of scenic spots. Various solutions can also be explored for booking channels and ticket release time. The implementation of the reservation system should be based on the principle of convenience. Can we lengthen the booking period of tickets in peak season, concentrate the ticket release time in the daytime, and better meet the different needs of group tourists and individual travelers? Although it is difficult to solve these problems, there are certainly more ways than difficulties.
On July 6th, tourists played in Suzhou Pingjiang Historic District. Li Boshe (Xinhua News Agency)
In the peak season of travel, not only Beijing, but also popular scenic spots in many destinations will be short of tickets to varying degrees. How to better undertake the tourism fever is a problem that needs long-term consideration. After all, the number of landmark scenic spots is limited, and even if more tickets are released, it can’t carry all the sightseeing needs. In fact, in addition to traditional popular routes, all localities should dig deep into other tourism resources. For example, in Beijing, there are not only the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Summer Palace, but also many hutongs. There are a large number of celebrities’ former residences, historical sites, cultural halls and gourmet cafes, which are valuable tourism resources. Strolling through hutongs, inadvertently discovering history and encountering literature and art is also a surprise trip. Studying the needs of different tourists, according to the characteristics of their own resources, launching more abundant route choices is an important topic to drain and divert tourists in peak season and explore ways to better promote the high-quality development of tourism.
(Author Zhang Xue), the original title "How to solve the problem of" no shortage of tourists lacking tickets "
Source: Economic Daily