With the explosion of domestic tourism, many places have suddenly become short of tour guides and are asking for high prices. It makes people wonder where the tour guides have gone.
According to the National Travel Agency Statistics Report released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism over the past four years, the number of tourist guides who signed labor contracts in 2019 was 121,710, but this figure dropped to 82,047 in 2022. The number of tourist guides decreased by nearly 40,000 in four years.
In sharp contrast, there are more than 3.65 million cultural and tourism experts creating cultural and tourism guides on Douyin. According to the relevant person in charge of Douyin's life service and tourism industry, there are more than 200,000 creators with more than 10,000 fans, and more than 2,000 creators with more than 1 million fans. Many cultural and tourism experts have grown up in the past four years.
It seems that tour guides have gone online. As a dissimilation product of the cultural tourism industry, short video tour guides are still in the process of development.
When tour guides become independent IPs on the Internet, the relationship between them and travel agencies has changed subtly. Some "We Media" tour guides even set up travel agencies to achieve a closed-loop industry. At the same time, the regulation of this emerging industry has surfaced. Will this new track, which has been created by the times, ride the wind and waves to establish a stable foothold?
Two Different Industrial Models
There are quite a few people who work as online tour guides. They shuttle through scenic spots every day and introduce scenic spots to "cloud tourists" across the screen through their professional knowledge. This is one kind of short video tour guides. With excellent personal explanations and engaging solid content, they attract a large number of fans. After successfully building their personal IP, some people will set up their own travel agencies to convert online traffic into offline tour groups, thus obtaining a steady stream of tourists and revenue.
It is worth noting that these people account for a very small percentage of the current market. The relevant person in charge of Douyin's life service and travel industry pointed out that only a few head accounts can be made into such accounts, and can further develop and set up their own travel agency companies. The reasons are mainly concentrated in two aspects. First, the creation of personal IP is a matter that requires strength and luck. In the face of sudden traffic, not everyone has the ability to accept and transform it into an internal drive to improve themselves. Second, the establishment of travel agencies is more difficult.It is worth noting that these people account for a very small percentage of the current market. The relevant person in charge of Douyin's life service and travel industry pointed out that only a few head accounts can be made into such accounts, and can further develop and set up their own travel agency companies. The reasons are mainly concentrated in two aspects. First, the creation of personal IP is a matter that requires strength and luck. In the face of sudden traffic, not everyone has the ability to accept and transform it into an internal drive to improve themselves. Second, the establishment of travel agencies is more difficult. Because it is post-approval, there are more regulations involved. Therefore, this industry model is not the mainstream at present.
The mainstream online tour guide development model is that most online celebrity tour guides have a regular travel agency as their backing, which undertakes the business of tour groups. It can be said that this is the online version of the traditional travel agency on social media platforms. Through live broadcasting, short videos and other ways, online business is opened up to broaden the channels for customer acquisition and bring benefits to travel agencies. Under the development framework of this model, the shooting, editing and other tasks of online celebrity tour guides are all operated by special personnel, and the traffic of their videos is also unified by the company.
In fact, the travel agencies that endorse the online celebrity tour guides are slightly different. One is the traditional travel agency, which actively expands its online business, builds the tour guide IP and the travel agency IP, and expands its business scope through the combination of online and offline development; the other is the travel agency that focuses on online.
This transformation is accelerating with the digital transformation of the cultural and tourism industry, and the help of the platform has also made more people increasingly interested in these cultural and tourism situations. According to Douyin's life service data, in the first quarter of 2023, Douyin has 407 million people interested in travel. The number of poi (geographical locations) of hospitality and tourism is over 690 million, and the number of keyword searches of hospitality and tourism is over 800 million. The monthly orders of hospitality and tourism on Douyin are up 346% year on year. In 2022, the number of hospitality and tourism-related videos is over 1.4 trillion, and the sales of hospitality and tourism are 12 times higher than that in 2021. Due to the rapid growth of online business in the cultural and tourism sector, on July 12 this year, Douyin's life service upgraded hotel tourism to a level 1 department under life service, parallel to the in-store business (catering and comprehensive).
The Business Model Behind the Online Tour Guide IP
Compared with offline travel agencies, the most significant difference between online travel agencies lies in the difference in their way of getting customers. The head of an online travel agency said that the traditional travel agency's customer channel is basically local, and there will be local travel agencies in the tourist destination responsible for the local tourist routes. "The communication between the two travel agencies is not smooth, one is Party A and the other is Party B, its capacity to undertake including various problems is very complex, because tourism itself is a heavy delivery project. Our mode is to get customers from the Internet, with its own direct local travel agencies in various places, without cooperation with any other travel agencies. This can ensure the delivery effect of the product is good. And the customer source can be reused, after the tourist finished the Xinjiang tour, he may join our other tour, this is our idea."
It is precisely under this difference that the relationship between travel agencies and tourists seems to have changed -- from the tourists choosing travel agencies in the past, to now more close to a "double choice". It is understood that the unit price of the travel group of Lang Lang Planet is more than 10,000 yuan per person, focusing on high-end customers and high-end customers. "The concept of customers should fit with ours. Customers think that going out to play needs to be served, and it is OK to spend this money. Some customers want to travel with a low-priced group, and think that they would rather shop than apply for a cheap group. This concept may not fit with our company, so we do not accept such customers."
As the blue ocean for online travel agencies is vast, besides domestic business, Lang Lang Planet is also actively expanding its overseas tourism business. Yu Jingping told reporters, "In the short term, we may explore some visa-free countries, such as Maldives and Morocco. We have already contacted some Moroccans. After developing overseas business, we will hire some Moroccans to be local guides and station them in various places to handle emergencies." But it is worth noting that whether this will touch the bottom line of illegal tour guides or relevant laws still needs to be paid close attention to after concrete implementation.
The popularity of online travel agencies has a limited impact on the traditional cultural tourism industry. Tang Peixuan, chairman of Yuping Tourism Group, said that most of the travel products on Douyin platform are impulse orders, and many of them are returned afterwards. This year, the market demand is very large, and there is no impact on traditional travel agencies. "Tourist products are not commodities, and cannot be solved by a express delivery. With the development of society, the way to obtain customers will gradually change," Tang stressed.
Dissimilated cultural tourism industry
Jia Yunfeng, an expert from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, pointed out that "Douyin tour guides are an update of the tourism industry's working scenarios in the context of digital economy. On the one hand, they can enrich the content and ways of tour guide supply, and on the other hand, they also bring new challenges to the development of tourism."
Short video tour guides, or the development model of "live broadcast + cultural tourism", should be seen in a dialectical way. Lin Fei, vice president of Tianjin Tourist Guide Association, believes that the integration with online channels has improved the reputation of tourist guides in society. "In the past, people may have thought that the job of tourist guides was only to buy tickets and lead groups, but unexpectedly, in short videos, the image of tourist guides has been established and a tourism IP has been formed. The role of tourist guides is no longer an optional role at the bottom of the industrial chain, but a professional talent. Their skills need to be acquired through specialized post-training and personal cultivation," Lin said. "Nowadays, tourist guides can build the image of the industry with their own services and knowledge, and finally achieve spiritual and material benefits, rather than just material pursuits." A good tour guide should be trustworthy and reliable.
However, in the face of the flood of short video traffic, the negative impact has become obvious. Live broadcasting has opened up the whole process from production, circulation, service to consumption, and transparency has accelerated the flow of information and shortened the value transformation chain of supply chain and products. Therefore, we can not only focus on the advantages of online, so-called good news does not go out, bad news spreads thousands of miles. When the personal IP is growing bigger and bigger, there will be more users holding a "magnifying glass" in front of the screen to stare at the words and deeds of the anchor. It is not easy to keep the original intention and do a good job as a tour guide in this environment. "When the IP is growing bigger and bigger, itself also needs to be stronger and stronger. It is very embarrassing to have no traffic at the beginning, and it will be even more embarrassing if there is no high-quality content after the traffic is very large."
Is the alienated tourism industry really suitable for following suit? The ultimate goal of tourism isIs the alienated tourism industry really suitable for following suit? The ultimate goal of tourism is the tourist's experience of local life, and face-to-face communication between people is still the most important way. Jia Yunfeng believes that the off-site of Douyin tour guides is not expected to cause a big impact on the traditional tour guide industry, and most tourists are still willing to choose offline face-to-face travel. At the same time, as a digital form of presentation, Douyin tour guides will also provide a personalized choice for some tourists who love digital technology.
In the survey, 25.84 percent of users said Douyin tour guides have little impact on the tourism industry, and 27.91 percent even said they could have a negative impact. With the cultural and tourism industry recovering, is now a good time to join the ranks of online tour guides?
"Now that tourism is recovering, we don't have as much time to refine our work. We insist on live streaming every day, and we don't have a team to package, so it's very difficult to start in this process." "The current market is not as good as before. At the beginning, we were forced to make the transition, but now it's different." The future development of short video tour guides should be a little smaller, but faster. "When the closed loop is designed, we will carry out our service."
How to standardize and rationalize this alienated industry is a key issue to be discussed next. Jia Yunfeng said that for Douyin tour guides, "whether they have the qualification to work, whether they have the qualification to organize tours, these need to be defined from the system." It is understood that some of the so-called "guides", "directors and guides", "full-time non-guides" and other newly packaged roles do not have tour guides, and whether they violate the relevant management regulations remains to be further studied. Only by including these into the policy supervision can the sustainability of the emerging way be ensured.
On July 18, the China Online Video Research Center of the Communication University of ChinaOn July 18, the China Online Video Research Center of the Communication University of China released the Research Report on Cross-media Travel: Live Streaming + Cultural Tourism Development. The report pointedOn July 18, the China Online Video Research Center of the Communication University of China released the Research Report on Cross-media Travel: Live Streaming + Cultural Tourism Development. The report pointed out the shortcomings of live streaming + cultural tourism. Firstly, the integration of cultural tourism resources is not efficient, and there is a lack of regional coordination and joint development mechanism. Secondly, the integration of cultural tourismOn July 18, the China Online Video Research Center of the Communication University of China released the Research Report on Cross-media Travel: Live Streaming + Cultural Tourism Development. The report pointed out the shortcomings of live streaming + cultural tourism. Firstly, the integration of cultural tourism resources is not efficient, and there is a lack of regional coordination and joint development mechanism. Secondly, the integration of cultural tourism is not deep enough, the exploration and promotion of local characteristic cultures need to be improved, and the integration of scenic spots and culture is not deep enough. Finally, the concept of coordinated development of online and offline is lagging behind, and some tourism areas lack standardized construction and systematic communication integration strategies. To solve these problems, it is necessary to improve the coordination mechanism, enhance the way of cultural promotion, strengthen the integration of scenic spots and culture, and promote the concept of coordinated development of online and offline.
The report also pointed out that new technologies, represented by live broadcasting, have become an important driving force for the development and breakthrough of the cultural and tourism industry. The combination of live The report also pointed out that new technologies, represented by live broadcasting, have become an important driving force for the development and breakthrough of the cultural and tourism industry. The combination of live broadcasting and cultural tourism has led the cultural and tourism industry to undergo profound adjustments. In the future, this integrated development may bring a brand new look, bringing more opportunities and prospects for the cultural and tourism industry.
