China's experience gained during the blockade of the coronavirus
China is again ahead of the rest. For more than a month, tourist flows in the country have been practically paralyzed, and participants in the tourism industry have found something to fill the forced pause for their own benefit and for maintaining the loyalty of tourists.
Nothing to do, we will learn!
After the suspension of the activities of travel agencies on January 26 was announced, the country's travel industry began to prepare for a massive layoff. In the first two weeks this did not happen - the offices handled the cancellation of tours. And then the vacuum began to fill up - one of the largest online platforms for the sale of tourist services Mafengwo announced free courses in the framework of the nationwide movement "fighting the epidemic." The program of the first block included three topics: “How to restore the flow and increase commercial returns after the epidemic”, “How to use new opportunities during the epidemic”, “How to accelerate the reformatting of tourism and cultural enterprises during the crisis caused by the epidemic”. It is clear that in addition to maintaining the spirit of industry workers and their greater awareness of relevant topics, the organizers also solved their own task of brand recognition, expanding the partner audience. But what's wrong with that? Quite the contrary, this is the case when a business shows social responsibility.
While coronavirus travels the planet, we travel from home
Another noteworthy solution: Ctrip announced on February 19 the “Listen to the Tours Without Leaving Home” campaign and provided free access to 7,000 audio tours of the sights of China and other countries. One can argue how appropriate it is to teach people to be content with stories, illustrations instead of their own trips. But nevertheless, it is clearly better to set a trend for the dream of relaxation than to let the situation go by chance.
Ideas are born where people feel the support of the state
Note that the ideas of Chinese marketers arise against the background of the decision of the government to support travel agencies. In accordance with the “notification of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism about the temporary return of part of guarantee deposits to tourist organizations in order to overcome operational difficulties” dated February 5, 2020, travel agencies will be returned 80% of guarantee deposits within a month. At the same time, companies can return the deposit to the state over the next 2 years. Involuntarily you come to the conclusion: ideas are born where people feel the support of the state.
As a reference: a security deposit for travel agencies in the PRC is the amount that a travel agency deposits upon registration to a special account with a local tourism authority. The basic security deposit for inbound and domestic tourism is 600 thousand yuan. Outbound tourism companies must pay an additional RMB 1 million to the base rate.