How to better care for the popularity of cultural travel (decoding and improving the level of public cultural services)
Core reading
During the summer vacation, the popularity of tourist attractions and cultural institutions in many places is high, and it is often "difficult to find a ticket" for booking a visit. The rising popularity reflects the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people, and also puts forward higher requirements for the supply and quality of tourist attractions and cultural institutions, and the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry. Many tourist attractions and cultural and museum institutions are actively taking action and taking multiple measures to better meet the cultural consumption needs of the people.
Tens of thousands of reserved tickets are almost "empty in seconds", and the audience line at the entrance of the venue is a long line... During the summer vacation, the tourism industry recovered strongly, tourist attractions and cultural institutions were very popular, and reservations for visits were often "difficult to find".
Why does "cultural tourism" continue to heat up? How to crack "one vote is hard to find"? The reporter carried out field visits and investigations.
Tickets are "seconds empty", and cultural tours are very popular
The hot weather can't stop the enthusiasm of tourists. The reporter recently saw at the Palace Museum in Beijing that before the museum opened, a large number of spectators were waiting in line at the door, and some foreign tourists who could not make an appointment for tickets took photos at the door, "It's too hot, I didn't grab it a week in advance, and the ticket was empty in seconds." ”
At present, tourists need to make real-name reservations in the "Palace Museum" WeChat mini program, and tickets for one week are sold at 8 o'clock every night, and same-day tickets are not sold on site. The reporter tried to enter the mini program to buy tickets, and the tickets were sold out within a week.
The popularity of the National Museum is also not low. Visitors can make reservations through the official website of the "National Museum", WeChat public account, WeChat mini program and official APP, and open at 5 pm every day to reserve one-week tickets. Whether it is a mobile phone or a computer, the "card point" grabs tickets, and the tickets are quickly sold out.
In order to make an appointment for a visit, many visitors did their best. "We didn't grab the tickets, so we sent our children to the study and let the institution take the children to visit." A parent waiting to enter the entrance to the National Museum said. There are also tourists who enter the museum by snapping up tickets for special exhibitions.
"We are receiving 1,2 passengers a day, and this time is at full capacity." Introduction of relevant staff of Shaanxi History Museum. Tickets for the Shaanxi History Museum need to be reserved in advance on the museum's WeChat mini program or Meituan platform, and they are quickly sold out after the ticket is issued. "Since the beginning of this year, the number of consultation calls has doubled compared to the same period in 2019." The staff said.
Many tourism practitioners have also felt the warming up of travel. At the gate of the Forbidden City, the reporter randomly interviewed several tour guides, "The tour group also has to grab tickets a week in advance, there are too many tourists, and we can't grab them with all our staff." ”
Beijing, Xi'an, Changsha, Hangzhou, Suzhou... The popularity of tourist attractions and cultural institutions in many places reflects the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people. With the development of economy and society, people's demand for high-quality spiritual and cultural products has gradually increased, especially in the context of "cultural fever", more and more tourists choose "cultural tourism", lingering in thousand-year-old cultural relics, century-old ancient buildings, classical gardens, hoping to feel the excellent traditional Chinese culture and understand the broad and profound Chinese civilization. According to a special survey conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, more and more tourists visit cultural and museum venues, historical and cultural districts, participate in various intangible cultural heritage items, and participate in cultural activities such as concerts and concerts during the holidays.
Strong demand, booking to grab tickets has become a "happy trouble"
According to data from travel platforms, since the beginning of this year, every holiday, the number of air tickets, hotel searches and bookings has increased rapidly. Especially during the summer vacation, the demand for travel is released intensively, and some places have experienced phenomena such as hot reservations and difficulty in grabbing tickets.
The surge in demand for excursions and visits is both an incentive and a challenge for tourist attractions and cultural institutions. If the original management measures are only used and cannot be dynamically adjusted in time, it will affect the tourist experience.
The cumbersome online appointment steps are easy to build technical "barriers". In recent years, "no reservations, no travel" has gradually become the mainstream. Digital and refined management is understandable, but a simple "one-size-fits-all" is not desirable.
The reporter found that the reservation channels and ticket rush times of tourist attractions and museums are often different, some through WeChat mini programs, APP, websites, some need to be one day in advance, three days in advance, a week in advance, and some in the morning, afternoon, evening, which is more cumbersome. Every time there is a peak in ticket grabbing, it not only tests the "hand speed", but also often freezes and collapses. This also brings distress to the elderly, disabled and other groups.
"Scalpers" scalping and hoarding tickets also crowd out ticket source space and disrupt market order. Recently, Ms. Wen and her husband took their children to Xi'an, and the Shaanxi History Museum is an important stop in the plan. "I knew before I set off that the tickets were difficult to book, and I didn't grab them for 3 days." Ms. Wen found several travel agencies with tour interpretation services, "They promised that if they had a ticket, it would cost four or five hundred yuan per person, and if they rented a headset, they would have to pay extra money." ”
The reporter found that there were "black tour guides" at the entrance of the Shaanxi History Museum, and from time to time they came forward to ask tourists whether they needed tickets. On several online platforms, you can also search for products such as "Shaanxi Libo Ticket Purchase" and "Shaanxi Libo Explanation", as well as travel agencies that launch tourism products packaged with surrounding scenic spots such as Huaqingchi. It is understood that group tour products often need to be booked 20 days in advance, and the price of explanation service products ranges from three to four hundred yuan; The "scalper ticket" under the name of "purchasing on behalf of others" only needs to place an order 3 days in advance, and the price is more than 260 yuan. The "daigou" on one platform said: "We are a 'professional team' of 95 people, and the success rate is more than 100%. The price of the product also "fluctuates" according to the popularity, and the price of a product is 120 yuan on the first day, and it becomes <> yuan on the second day.
It is understood that in recent years, "scalpers" have shifted from offline to online, forming an organized "industry" chain, publicity, order acceptance, distribution, ticket grabbing, and fine division of labor. They recruit individual tourists to form tour groups by booking tickets on behalf of tourists, or sell them on behalf of online platforms, and collect museum tickets that should be free in the tour fee. Experts said that museums are important places for public cultural services, serving the public, and should not be exploited and become a "way to make money" for some people.
Optimize supply, actively improve quality and respond to consumption upgrades
"One vote is difficult to find" reflects the good trend of industry recovery, and also reflects problems such as contradictions between supply and demand and crowding out of resources. Finding solutions will not only help inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, but also better protect the enthusiasm of visitors, continue the popularity of cultural tourism, and help the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry.
Experts suggest that the stock resources should be dynamically adjusted to improve services, and for the foreseeable peak period of passenger flow, attractions, cultural and museum venues, etc. can flexibly adjust the reception volume, opening hours, reservation policies, etc. You can also meet the needs of tourists by laying out cloud exhibition halls and other ways.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently issued a notice, proposing to effectively improve the level of summer tourism scenic spot opening management and better meet the tourism needs of the people by optimizing reservation management, strengthening flexible supply, promoting product innovation, improving service quality, and implementing peak shift regulation. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued a relevant notice, pointing out that key venues and popular venues should meet the public's visiting needs to a greater extent by appropriately extending their opening hours according to the actual situation.
In the face of the heating up of the tourism market and the increase in demand for visits, many tourist attractions and cultural institutions have adjusted relevant policies. For example, the Palace Museum extended its opening hours, increased the number of visitors actually received, exempted special groups such as the elderly and minors from the daily limit of 4,8, and simplified the admission procedures for minors. The National Museum optimizes the reservation method, extends the closing time, and standardizes the order of interpretation in the museum. The opening hours of the Shaanxi History Museum are extended every Sunday, from 30:18 to 00:8 to 30:20 to 00:18 (ticket check-in closes at 30:1). The Hunan Museum increased the daily visitor reception from 2,1 per day to 5,7 per day (including temporary exhibitions), and the new quota was for travel agency groups to book visitors. The reservation opening hours of some municipal parks in Beijing have been adjusted from the early hours of the morning to the normal hours. From July 7 to August 8, the Shanghai Museum will add a night show every Friday to launch the "Museum Night Wonder" activity.
Relevant departments strengthen law enforcement and maintain order in the cultural tourism market. Recently, many places have stepped up governance efforts to curb "scalpers". Beijing police cracked down on a number of scalping "scalpers" and "black guides" around universities, scenic spots, and national museums. The Hunan Museum issued a notice to strengthen the crackdown on ticket scalping by adjusting the rules for individual passenger ticketing, group reservation and ticket inspection, deactivating the account registered by the virtual mobile phone number to book tickets, setting up a special complaint mailbox for ticket resale, and banning illegal travel agencies. Experts said that this requires tourism attractions, cultural institutions, technology platforms, relevant departments, etc. to work together to plug loopholes and defend against crackdowns through adjusting rules, technical means, and comprehensive management.
The upgrading of cultural consumption and the demand for cultural travel have put forward higher requirements for the supply and quality of tourist attractions and cultural institutions, and the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry. Experts believe that tourist attractions and cultural institutions should take the initiative rather than wait passively, looking for increments in time, space and products, and integrating resources; The cultural and tourism sector should also explore potential cultural and tourism venues and products, provide more abundant "check-in" options, improve the level of public cultural services, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.
(Reporting by reporters Guan Xuanyue, Wang Jue, Pan Junqiang, Yuan Taoxiong, and Shen Zhilin, and Ou Ge participated in writing)
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