As May Day approaches, are farmers ready for travel?
Farmer tourism is a new force in the tourism industry, but neither farmers nor the providers of tourism products are fully prepared. We must recognize both the real need of farmers for tourism and leisure, and the enormous boost that farmer tourism gives to the economy, so that together we can do a good job of the farmer tourism story and let farmers be able to go out, dare to go out, and have a good time.
As the “May Day” short holiday approaches, all kinds of travel-related news begin to appear in the newspapers. But among the various reports about tourism, there is very little news about farmer tourism.
For China's economy, tourism is an increasingly important emerging force: in 2014, the country's total tourism revenue was 3.25 trillion yuan, which, compared with a GDP of 63 trillion yuan, is already a large figure approaching 1/20. Thanks to rising economic levels and increased seasonal leisure time, farmers have also begun to put down their hoes and go traveling, becoming a growing force among tourist groups. According to the general rule that regional travel demand emerges once per capita income in the tourism sector exceeds 1000 USD per year, a considerable number of farmers in our country have indeed crossed the threshold of travel.
Travel is both an important force driving economic development and an important expression of individual leisure welfare. Andersen said, “To travel is to live,” a fresh spring that restores youthful vitality. Travel is delightful: almost no one would be unwilling to see new things, meet new friends, and change their mood on a journey. Some say that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. On the road of travel, there is the best opportunity to admire scenery, observe people, and experience things.
Yet at present, while the farmer tourism market keeps expanding, neither farmers nor the providers of tourism products are fully prepared.
From the farmers' side, although a certain number of farmers who have grown wealthier have rich travel experience, overall the consumption level of farmer tourism is still far below that of urban residents. In the model where travel agencies provide tourism products, prices are on the high side and exceed the psychological expectations of farmers' travel spending; while with the self-guided travel approach, farmers lack experience and find it hard to make the trip happen. So at present, farmer tourism is still at a relatively low level: if they have leisure time, they just stroll around the county town park; if they have leisure time and a lot of money, they only go to nearby scenic spots for a quick look; if they have money, leisure time and the inclination, they will go to big cities or relatively distant well-known scenic areas; and traveling abroad is something many ordinary farmers dream of.
From the perspective of the providers of tourism products, a prominent problem in the current tourism industry is the development model of being “unfriendly to farmers”: ticket prices are on the high side, and for farmers, the ticket to one scenic spot can even buy more than ten jin of pork; travel agency service is not warm, and few travel agencies treat enthusiasm and professional ability in serving farmer tourism as an important area for improvement; scenic spots lack targeted arrangements, and farmers, long used to rural natural scenery, prefer bustling city scenes and famous cultural landscapes.
We cannot blame a particular travel agency for unreasonable route design or inadequate reception at scenic spots. The key to the problem is that the domestic tourism market is not yet prepared for the phenomenon of farmer tourism. Most current tourism products take urban residents with higher incomes and stronger independence as their main target customers, so it is naturally hard for them to adapt to the farmer tourism group, which has lower willingness to spend but an enormous total number. Open the websites of Ctrip or Tuniu at random, and you will find that what the major travel agencies are most willing to spend great effort promoting is in fact high-spending outbound travel. Obviously, high-priced tourism products alone can bring travel companies more abundant profits, yet in reality the development of domestic tours, and even intra-provincial tours, aimed at the farmer market is also extremely important. The 2014 China Tourism Development Report mentions that in 2014 domestic travel consumption accounted for four-fifths of domestic consumption and was the main part of tourism consumption. Being able to tap the tourism potential of farmers, who make up half of our country's total population, will be an effective lever for further expanding China's domestic demand. On the other hand, according to statistics, about 60,000 villages and 1.6 million farmer households across the country are running nongjiale farm stays, and in these little farm courtyards, farmers and urban residents each get what they need, chatting and laughing happily together. Farmer tourism is both a vehicle for stimulating domestic demand and enhancing economic vitality, and a bridge for promoting urban-rural integration.
Therefore, we must see both the long-term trend of farmer tourism's enormous economic driving force and potential market space, and the real welfare needs of farmers in tourism and leisure. On the one hand, local governments and travel companies can be encouraged to develop products suited to farmer tourism, arranging in a targeted way tourism products that farmers like with better value for money, so that farmer tourism becomes an active driving force for economic development; on the other hand, better basic conditions should be created for farmer tourism, farmers' incomes should be further increased, sound and complete social security mechanisms should be established and improved, reasonable and scientific tourism principles should be used to guide the development of the tourism industry, and a positive and healthy tourism culture should be cultivated, so that farmers have money, leisure time and the inclination, are able to go out, dare to go out, and also have a good time.