Analysis and Prospect of China's Customized Tourism Development (Part I) _ Personalization

Original Title Analysis and Prospect of China's Customized Tourism Development (Part I) With the continuous improvement of people's consumption level and education level the continuous improvement of various tourism facilities and conditions and the application and popularization of various new technologies with the Internet as the core tourists are more pursuing the individualization and uniqueness of tourism and paying more attention to the quality and experience of tourism In this context customized tourism has emerged and become an important force in the tourism industry Customized tourism plays an extremely important role in satisfying people's good life At present China's customized tourism is in a period of rapid development but its potential is far from being exploited By analyzing the development status of customized tourism in China this report combs the existing problems puts forward the path of optimizing the development and looks forward to the prospect of customized tourism in China which will be conducive to the healthy and sustainable development of customized touri sm in China Analysis and Prospect of Customized Tourism Development in China (Part One) Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up China's economic and social development has made rapid progress and many new situations and trends have emerged in the development of various undertakings At present the main social contradictions in our country have been transformed into the contradiction between the people's growing need for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development People's pursuit of a better life is becoming more and more urgent especially the demand for individualization differentiation and quality During this period China's tourism industry has also achieved rapid development and various forms of tourism have emerged In recent years the proportion of traditional tourism forms in the overall tourism business has been decreasing year by year and the tourism market is gradually changing from a seller's market to a buyer's market but traditional tourism still occupies a OD（outside diameter）tape measure dominant position However due to the different understanding of tourism products or services between tourism suppliers and consumers the contradiction between supply and demand is still prominent With the continuous improvement of Chinese people's consumption level and education level coupled with the continuous improvement of various tourism facilities and conditions the concept of leisure tourism is becoming more and more popular Tourists pay more attention to the quality depth and experience of tourism and pursue more individualization and uniqueness Traditional tourism modes such as group tours have been unable to meet the needs of tourists at a higher level The emergence of customized tourism is just in line with the pursuit of personalized and autonomous tourists At present customized tourism has become a hot topic As far as the current development is concerned the proportion of customized tourism in the whole tourism product and service system is relatively low and it still has great potential for development But at the same time there are also many problems in the development of customized tourism such as the divergence of understanding of its connotation and extension its positioning in the whole tourism products and services the dilemma of mode innovation and the slow speed of market development Based on the current situation of customized tourism in China combined with the problems in the development process this paper will further explore its development trend First the concept of customized tourism (1) The development process of customized tourism in China With the sustained and rapid development of China's economy and society and the extensive popularization of tourism activities the scale of tourism market groups is expanding day by day the status of tourism in people's daily life is constantly improving and tourists'awareness of tourism is becoming more mature and tourists are more pursuing diversified and personalized tourism More and more attention has been paid to the cultural and spiritual experience in the process of tourism which has prompted tourism enterprises to constantly innovate tourism products or services promote new tourism modes and formats and provide a good environment for the rise of customized tourism Expand the full text From the perspective of historical process from 1990 to 2000 Chinese people's willingness to consume tourism continued to grow and group tourism was the most important mode of tourism in this period; from 2001 to 2013 China's economy developed rapidly the number of high-income groups increased year by year and high-end customized tourism agencies began to sprout and gradually explore; By 2016 with the growing of high-income groups group tours and self-help tours have been unable to fully meet the personalized needs of this part of the group so customized tourism began to grow and expand; after 2016 a large number of organizations related to customized tourism have emerged tourists'awareness of customized tourism has been continuously improved and customized tourism has entered a period of rapid development

(2) Definition of Customized Tourism At present there are relatively few systematic studies on customized tourism and the definition of customized tourism has not yet formed a unified understanding at the academic level Generally speaking customization means that producers produce or design products or services that meet the individual needs of consumers according to their different needs and often require consumers to participate in the process of product or service production The definition of customized tourism presents a trend of contention among a hundred schools of thought Some researchers have proposed that customized tourism is a high-end tourism mode dominated by tourists According to the individual needs of tourists tourism enterprises design and produce tourism products or services that meet the needs of tourists Some researchers hold a similar view that customized tourism is designed and provided by professional tourism consultants according to tourists'specific travel wishes from the aspects of food housing transportation travel shopping and entertainment to provide high-end tourism products or services that fully meet the individual needs of tourists Some researchers also believe that customized tourism is a kind of tourism mode in which tourism enterprises arrange various elements of tourism itineraries according to the needs of tourists and let tourists participate in the design process of tourism products or services so as to satisfy tourists'individualized pursuit of tourism experience and ultimately realize tourism value Customized tourism mode weakens or removes intermediaries which can provide more personalized products or services for tourists The above definition of customized tourism has something in common One is that customized tourism is a form of tourism centered on tourists and the other is that it emphasizes the participation of tourists In terms of development it is the primary feature of customized tourism to emphasize tourists and their personalized needs as the center In the vision of customized tourism enterprises every tourist is a subdivided target market Tourism enterprises are committed to meeting the personalized needs of tourists and regard the needs of tourists as the first priority; Emphasizing the participation of tourists is the continuation of taking tourists as the center and also further highlights the characteristics of customized tourism different from traditional tourism from the perspective of tourists that is the participation of tourists in customized tourism is far greater than that in traditional tourism and tourists participate in every important link in the overall design process of tourism products or services When defining customized tourism most other researchers also emphasize the communication between tourism enterprises and tourists respect the individual needs of tourists and pay attention to the participation of tourists in tourism products or services but some focus on modular design or production some pay more attention to the budget of tourists and some highlight the products or experiences around tourism It can be seen that on the whole there is a consensus on the definition of customized tourism in China but there are still some differences in the detailed design of products or services and process reengineering so in the actual operation process many customized tourism enterprises show different styles and emphases (III) Types and Forms of Customized Tourism According to the nature of different channels it can be divided into offline customized tourism and online customized tourism Offline customized tourism mainly includes customized tourism modes for groups and individuals (families) Customized tourism for groups is organized by tourists or relevant organizations Specific contents such as tourism routes are determined by teams and tourism enterprises Tourism enterprises provide products or services that meet their requirements according to their requirements; Customized tourism for individuals (families) takes individuals (families) as units to appeal to tourism enterprises and tourism enterprises give professional customized tourism programs one-to-one Online customized tourism is divided into B2B B2C C2C and other forms according to its different operation modes (see Table 1) Online customized tourism has become a new growth point of customized tourism and its proportion in the whole customized tourism business is gradually increasing According to the different service groups it can be divided into high-end customized tourism and mass customized tourism High-end customized tourism serves the needs of high-income groups with its unique tourism resources The profit margin of a single order is relatively high but the production capacity is relatively low; Because of the lack of superior resources mass customized tourism generally integrates existing tourism resources provides relevant customized tourism products or services for low-income groups tailor measure tape and achieves profits by increasing the number of orders (see Table 2) According to the degree of participation of tourists customized tourism can be divided into three types demand-side customization balanced customization and supply-side customization (see Table 3) Demand-side customization is mainly dominated by the demand-side that is tourists Tourists put forward product or service design requirements and deeply participate in them The final product or service completely or mostly meets the individual needs of tourists In this type tourists have the highest degree of participation; Under the type of balanced customization although tourists have personalized needs their goals are not clear enough and it is difficult for tourists to make decisions on the choice of products or services which requires both suppliers and demanders that is customized tourism enterprises and tourists to communicate many times and on this basis customized tourism enterprises give a variety of flexible customization schemes to guide tourists In this type tourists have a higher degree of participation; in the supplier type tourism enterprises adjust and reconstruct the standardized products according to the tourists' unclear personalized requirements and then submit them to the tourists for selection while in this type tourists have a lower degree of participation The types of customized tours can also be subdivided into parent-child customized tours family customized tours couples customized tours according to different groups and themes or into North American tours European tours and East Asian tours according to different regions In short customized tourism can be based on different standards from different perspectives subdivided into a variety of different types or forms which is an important manifestation of customized tourism centered on tourists Because tourists'personalized needs vary greatly and they are at different levels or belong to different fields the division of customized tourism products or services is relatively flexible Customized tourism enterprises can create different types of products or services according to their own business characteristics and business focus to meet the diverse and personalized needs of tourists II Development Status of Customized Tourism in China (1) Several Misunderstandings about Customized Tourism 1 Customized tourism equals high-end tourism Many tourists think that customized tourism is a kind of high-end tourism which is equivalent to luxury tourism and luxury tourism Admittedly in the early stage of the development of customized tourism in China the form of customized tourism is mainly high-end customization but with the continuous development of economy and society customized tourism has shown a variety of forms of development high-end customization still exists but it is not the only form Therefore the "high-end" price presented by high-end customization should not be magnified infinitely and the high-end here should be understood as relatively high-end In fact the high-end of customized tourism should be more reflected in the fact that it is centered on the needs of travelers reflecting the importance of tourists Tourists have more initiative and choice in tourism products or services Compared with the role of tourists in traditional tourism they are in a higher position play a greater role and get better experience This is the real embodiment of the high-end side of customized tourism Moreover the price of customized tourism products or services has dropped dramatically compared with the early stage of development and the price gap between them and traditional tourism products or services is gradually narrowing coupled with the improvement of people's income level and the expansion of tourism consumption expenditure all of which make customized tourism popular and not exclusive It is possible to become a mass tourism product or service that everyone can participate in 2 Customized tourism can not achieve scale Some operators of customized tourism enterprises believe that customized tourism is difficult to design or produce in batches because of its emphasis on individualization and difference which makes customized tourism enterprises unable to achieve large-scale operation In fact with the continuous application of new technologies such as the Internet customized tourism enterprises are more convenient in collecting and analyzing various data such as tourist information Enterprises have established a powerful database which can be used to quickly generate personalized tourism products or services according to the needs of tourists The key and difficult point to achieve scale is how to firmly grasp the consumption demand of tourists and increase their return rate which is also an important issue to enhance the profits of customized tourism enterprises

3 Customized travel is equivalent to "Fully Customized" Many tourists think that the products or services of customized tourism must meet their own needs and be unique which is totally different from the products or services customized by other tourists It should be admitted that the products or services provided by customized tourism enterprises to tourists are personalized and unique but if customized tourism enterprises do not have standardized or modular product or service material reserves then each customization will cost a lot of manpower and material resources and pay high development costs which is not in line with the business rules and profit models of customized tourism enterprises Therefore the current customized tourism must be a combination of standardization and personalization and the personalized needs of tourists can be changed or adjusted through standardized modules to form personalized products or services that meet the needs of tourists (2) The Development Status of Customized Tourism in China — — Taking Online Customized Tourism as an Example At present online customized tourism has become an important new force in China's customized tourism representing the future development direction of customized tourism Compared with other types of customized tourism the data of online customized tourism is easier to obtain and more typical which can reflect the current situation of the development of customized tourism in China According to Erie Consulting Research the total scale of China's customized tourism market in 2017 was 865 billion yuan of which the scale of online customized tourism transactions reached 68 billion yuan with an online rate of 79% (see figure 1) From the existing transaction scale and online rate China's online customized tourism is still in the early stage of development and there is still much room for development in terms of products or service forms Considering the continuous innovation of the future business model of online customized tourism the gradual expansion of the groups covered and the trend of integration between online and offline data this report believes that the transaction scale of customized tourism in China will continue to grow substantially and the online rate will continue to rise 1 The development status of customized tourism in B2C mode As far as the current development trend is concerned the self-operated B2C mode can effectively control the quality of products and services and provide a good space for the career development of customizers which is conducive to the long-term development of customized tourism enterprises but it is difficult to achieve rapid and large-scale development because of its relatively high offline labor costs; Relatively speaking the platform B2C model is more difficult to control the quality of products and services but it can easily achieve scale expansion 2 The development status of customized tourism in B2B mode With the increasingly fierce competition in the client market customized tourism enterprises will expand their business to the same industry enterprises and this model is developing rapidly However there are still many difficulties in the promotion of customized tourism distribution platform and the establishment and unification of industry standards still need to be explored 3 The development status of customized tourism in C2C mode Due to the uneven level of customization ability of a considerable number of individual customizers or tourists and the lack of systematic support for tourists'related services the secondary consumption rate of C2C mode customized tourism is relatively low It can be seen that at present China's customized tourism is in a period of rapid development but the rapid development does not mean that the customized tourism market has matured but that customized tourism is entering a fast development channel it will still encounter some bottlenecks and uncertainties in its development and the customized tourism market is still facing many problems in the process of development For example many tourists still do not know enough about the mode of customized tourism and the proportion of customized tourism enterprises in the whole tourism industry is relatively low so the development space of customized tourism in China is huge To be continued Author Sun Pengyi Doctor of Management Visiting Scholar Tourism Research Center Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Editor-in-Chief Song Rui Return to Sohu to see more Responsible Editor tape-measure.com