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On March 20, 2023, the "China Study Tour Development Report·Shaoxing Release" conference was held in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, co-organized by the China Tourism Academy, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Shaoxing Municipal People's Government, and hosted by the Shaoxing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism. Dr. Zhang Yang from the Industry Institute of the China Tourism Academy released the "China Study Tour Development Report 2022-2023" on behalf of the Study Tour Research Group, sharing the core views and main data of the annual report from five dimensions: evolution, catalysis, persistence, focus, and thinking. Since the Ministry of Education and 11 other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting Study Tours for Primary and Secondary School Students" in 2016, people's understanding of study tours has not remained unchanged, but has continued to evolve and deepen. The participants of study tours have expanded from primary and secondary school students in a narrow sense to include preschool children, college students, adults, the elderly and other groups throughout their life cycle, presenting a broader space for development. Policy dividends related to study tours are still being released. From the national level, more departments pay attention to and support study tours, and higher-level policies are constantly introduced, with more support in terms of time, space and resources for study tours, which are generally more forward-looking and instructive. From the provincial level, study tours, labor practice, etc. have become important contents of promoting the "14th Five-Year Plan" in the fields of culture, tourism, education, etc. in various places; the integration, linkage and coordination of relevant functional departments in base camp assessment, study course construction, instructor training, etc. are being strengthened; the granularity of provincial policies is finer and smaller. It is worth noting that provinces such as Sichuan and Hubei have made innovative breakthroughs in further promoting the construction of special policies for study tours. Under the influence of the epidemic, study and research enterprises are persisting, innovating, entering and leaving the market at the same time. Overall, the number of enterprises engaged in study and research business in 2021-2022 is still increasing, and the entities are more diversified, but the growth rate of the number of newly registered enterprises has narrowed. Study and research related enterprises are more concentrated in East China and Central China, especially in Hunan, Jiangsu and Shandong. The number of market entities basically reflects the level of activity of the study and research industry in the region. The regional distribution of bidding projects is highly correlated with the degree of agglomeration of existing study and research enterprises. During the epidemic, the business of study tour enterprises decreased and the operating pressure increased. Natural ecology, scientific and technological innovation, national defense science and industry, traditional culture, safety and health, and red culture are popular product themes, and the product theme preferences of team, parent-child, and base camps show highly isomorphic characteristics. While the epidemic has dealt a continuous blow to study tours, it has also stimulated the industry's endogenous momentum and promoted the continuous transformation and upgrading of enterprises. No matter how difficult the market environment is, there are still companies that insist on winning space through innovation and seeking opportunities through breakthroughs. The reality of shortened travel distances and smaller groups under the epidemic has made study tour companies focus more on the systematic development of courses, focusing on local study tours and even product innovations for "downstairs study tours". Community study tours and "school bus study tours" are all positive attempts in this regard. The Urban Passenger Transport Branch of the China Road Transport Association held a national school bus study tour special working meeting in Yuncheng, Shanxi. As the core space for study tours, the construction of study base camps across the country is in a process of expansion and growth, with a significant increase in theme camps in the fields of sports, culture, industry, etc. As the construction of camps accelerates, camping organizations are also emerging. The trend of direct connection between the school side and the base camp has always been the focus of the industry. According to the survey data, most intermediary travel service providers have already thought about this, or are making corresponding adjustments and arrangements. On the one hand, the role of study tour service providers in medium- and long-distance, point-to-point study tours is irreplaceable. On the other hand, for local and surrounding study tours, study tour service providers are also constantly improving their product research and development capabilities, and at the same time extending to the base camp's operating business through professional technology, channel cooperation, investment and shareholding. The public welfare of study tours is a need of education and a policy requirement. From the central government to local governments, from the government to enterprises, from public welfare funds to foundations, and other relevant entities have launched a series of special reward and subsidy policies and special "Huisheng" activities in the areas of study practice, public welfare study, ticket reductions, and talent training. Competition for study tour destinations has become more intense than ever, and has become more complex and comprehensive. Relevant measures include support and encouragement policies, transportation subsidies, rewards for destination element construction, rewards for organizing receptions, investment promotion measures, and optimization of the business environment. The release of local domestic demand is the basic foundation for destination construction. The characteristics of local study tours, such as high frequency, large number, easy activation and in-depth experience, can effectively promote the interaction of various subjects and links in study tours, promote the iterative upgrade of study tour courses, and improve the capabilities of professional talents, thus forming a high-quality study tour supply. The key to the development of study tours lies in talent cultivation. From the opening of new majors in study tour management and services to the birth of new professions such as study tour instructors, they all reflect the reality of talent shortage and its path to overcome it. The cultivation of new professional talents will inject new impetus into the high-quality development of study tours. The digital construction of the industry not only empowers the industry development in terms of system construction and integrated management, but also promotes a new operating model. The launch of Shaoxing's "One-stop Study Tour" multi-cross application 2.0 project is a landmark event in the digital construction of study. The "cloud study" launched by study institutions and cultural and museum venues, which combines online and offline, makes it possible for tens of thousands of people to take the same class. Regarding the future development of study tours, the research team thought about and discussed questions such as "As a market segment, is the only difference between study tours and other parallel market segments the customer base?" and put forward main viewpoints. Channels are important, but what will be more important in the future are study courses and products. For study service providers, product strength is the core competitiveness. There is no end to high-quality study courses. The research and development process should adhere to the unity of knowledge and action and stop at perfection. Study tour is not only a market segment, but also a frontier leading the transformation of the production methods of tourism products. It can drive the improvement of product development models and service models in the cultural and tourism industry. The innovative momentum of the study tour market must be both endogenous and external; it requires both the in-depth exploration of advantageous resources and the integration of advantageous industries, and more importantly, the co-creation of advantageous talents in various fields. Study tours are not only a market segment, but can also become a new business card for cities. Study tours can be a magnifying glass for a city’s advantageous industries, a converter between a city’s industrial advantages and local cultural tourism consumption, and a guiding star for a city’s strong brand. In order to explore a new model of cooperation between the academy and local governments, Dr. Zhang Yang also introduced the idea and plan of the China Tourism Academy and the People's Government of Shaoxing to jointly build a "study tour weather station". "Observe the myriad weather conditions of study tours and build a city brand that has undergone a complete transformation" is the original intention and mission of the study tour weather station. In the future, the study tour weather station will observe and report the industry dynamics of study tours across the country in real time, conduct special research and publish results, continuously tap into cross-border momentum, and help destination cities to facilitate internal and external circulation and international exchanges. Source: China Tourism Academy |
