Economy

Tourism industry urged to further tap domestic market

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-25 10:41

BEIJING -- China's tourism businesses should extend their services to serve more people as domestic travel remains a major contributor to the country's tourism industry over the next five years, officials from the China Tourism Academy said Sunday.

Further, Chinese businesses should serve travel and tourism demands of a wider range of people, especially their core needs, in order to achieve further development, Dai Bin, deputy head of the academy said at the China Tourism Academy Summit 2011 held from Saturday to Sunday.

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"To satisfy the needs of average people is the key to success for any business, in addition to excellent teamwork, technology and its business model," Dai said.

He said that services of most Chinese tourism enterprises are currently designed for a small group of consumers, mostly rich, leaving the country's tourism market largely unexplored.

"The country's tourism industry has developed rapidly over recent years, but still remain at its early stage of development," he said, adding that the age for the tourism industry to serve a broader array of people has arrived.

He also noted, however, that Chinese enterprises face grave technological challenges and intense competition in the context of globalization.

"Very few of the 21,000 Chinese tourism enterprises could properly use modern technology, especially information technology, to offer travel services," he said.

Citing the rapid development of China's leading online travel agent, Ctrip.com International, Dai called on the country's tourism enterprises to adjust their development strategies to a global point of view.

According to a five-year development outline for the country's tourism industry, China hopes to attract 3.3 billion tourists by 2015, up from 2 billion recorded in 2010.