疫情之下的“宅经济”给旅游业带来了什么？

随着新冠肺炎疫情的发展，旅游服务业正遭受着不同程度的重创。人们开始闭门不出，由此“宅经济”也应运而生。那么“宅经济”将对处于寒冬时刻的旅游业带来哪些影响呢？让我们听听旅游学助理教授王仪博士的见解。

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王仪 博士 Dr Yi Wang

诺丁汉大学商学院（中国）

旅游学助理教授

Assistant Professor in Travel and Tourism, NUBS China

受新冠病毒疫情的影响，各大产业都受到了或大或小的冲击，尤其是旅游服务业损失惨重，企业暂停营业，大量员工待业。例如国内餐饮业巨头西贝，有2万多员工，一个月工资就亏损1.56个亿，后获得浦发银行4.3亿元的授信，才使得危机暂缓。再例如曾经让众人心生向往的邮轮钻石公主号，在经历了新冠集体感染事件后，为乘客们全额退款，母公司市值跌了66亿美元。

这些影响使得旅游服务业整体来说受到极大抑制，旅游活动全面阻断。关门歇业的挑战对极度依靠现金流的旅游业的各个部分来说都是十分现实的。人们闭门不出，疫情带来最直接的影响可能就是催生了”宅经济“。 

同城物流、外卖、电商、网络教育等都出现了井喷式的集中增长。然而作为旅游服务业，“宅经济”又意味着什么呢？旅游服务业归根结底是体验经济。因此，我们说，“宅经济”对旅游业是无比残酷的，我们无法把旅游活动搬到家中。虽然有些博物馆推出了一些小程序提供“云看展”，例如国家图书馆推出的“国博邀您云看展”等，将文化内容在线上推出。但是这些手段使用范围是有限的，它无法满足人们旅游的真正需求。因此，旅游服务业的挑战是要明确疫情“宅经济”带来的影响，并对此影响做出一定的战略部署规划，以待疫情以后迅速恢复。

“宅经济”对旅游业的直接影响

一

 业务暂停整顿和疫情后的大规模短期增长

“宅经济”下，旅游服务业务会直接暂停。一些中小型旅游企业也有可能因为资金链现金流等问题面临淘汰，这引爆了中小型企业对于生存发展的现实焦虑，也可能对现有旅游业进行大规模的洗牌。很多专家学者指出，参考2003年“非典”后的旅游业复苏规律，“宅经济”使得人们的旅游热情和需求极度压抑，这将在疫情后迎来井喷增长。如果疫情控制得好，在五一节之前结束，那么，五一和暑期将会迎来旅游业的翻身仗。但是，笔者认为，对于该增长，旅游服务业需谨慎评估。首先，增长一定会有，但并不一定会是井喷式，而且影响是短暂的。因为，这次的疫情会改变人们的一些旅游消费倾向。和十七年前不同的是，我们这个时代的旅游者要理智得多，并且信息时代的优势就是增加了我们旅游中的选择性。因此，在这次疫情后，旅游者并不会盲目出行，并且在目的地选择上应该会多样化，国际化，避免人群拥挤的地方。

二

对健康方式和生活理念型产品诉求的加强

疫情引发的居家后，人们对健康方式和生活理念开始转变。首先，健康饮食、健康生活、运动、自然等相关标签将会成为热搜，成为人们关注的重点。在此影响下，养身旅游、康体旅游、食品旅游（尤其是宣传健康饮食的）等都会是增长的重点区域。

三

对家庭成员和价值的重视

“宅经济”下，人们和家庭成员的时间增多，或者开始反思和家庭成员的相处模式，开始珍惜家庭相处空间。因此，在旅游业恢复后，最直接恢复的旅游活动种类即是家庭旅游，形式可以是陪老人散心，陪小朋友亲子，夫妻浪漫之旅，当然少不了一家人出行。因此，旅游活动中的度假功能将受到青睐。

四

对人与自然关系的反思和重视

此次疫情使得人们大大意识到自然与生态的重要性。人与自然的关系将越发受到重视。这也会在旅游体验中反映出来。例如生态旅游、绿色旅游、慢旅游等旅游活动将会有不小的增长。另外，由人与自然关系引出的其他关系，例如人与他人、人与社会的关系也将受到重视，这会使得社会旅游、志愿者旅游等一些有着社会，社交意义的旅游活动得到一定的市场青睐。对自然的青睐，一定会随之引起人们对乡村旅游的喜爱。自然教育、亲子活动和乡村地区结合的旅游活动会尤其适合当下。

五

人们对小众旅游和出国游的持续追求

其实，在疫情前，国人对于小众游和出国游的人数就已经增长不少。在疫情后，国人会继续追求参与人数不多的旅游活动，并且会继续探索一些新兴国外旅游目的地。另外，在此疫情中对中国额外友好的一些国家，例如俄罗斯、日本、英国等，也一定会得到国人的继续青睐，收获不少的旅游者。

“宅经济”后旅游业重启的建议

一

整装待发，重启市场

首先，我们的疫情还没有完全过去。因此在这段时间里，旅游业还会面临一段时间的停滞，这就需要旅游企业整装待发，利用这段时间，重新规划重启后的战略布局，例如新市场的出现是否需要做产品的调整。

二

政策扶持，社会帮助

其次，在这段困难阶段，有需要时，需寻求政府、银行、社会等的帮助。政策的扶持要直接，例如返还税收、补偿基金、直接补贴等等。

三

安全措施，应急态度

再次，重启前，需要将“安全”、“应急”等字眼列入各个运营计划中去，全面提升应急保障系统才能够面对疫情过后的增长。

四

社会责任，品牌重塑

企业社会责任将成为旅游形象的核心内容。企业应对内对外一致重视社会责任相关建设与活动，使得品牌得到内聚力。这样的品牌才能长久。例如，由宁波市文化广电旅游局倡导发起，宁波63家旅游景区对全国医护人员工作者免费开放一年。已经有不少网民在社交媒体上表示在疫情结束后要来看一看这座城市。再来，疫情期间，一部分酒店勇敢地站出来为抗击疫情的医护人员提供免费住宿。这些举措为酒店的形象画上美妙的一笔，有利于品牌的长期建设。疫情之后，旅游企业也应该不时得将企业社会责任放在工作重心，并作为品牌塑造的重要手段。

五

文化内涵，重中之重

旅游业的重启，需要文化内涵来支撑。旅游活动不再是走马观花，不再是盲目追求，而那些具有一定文化内涵和生活意义的产品才是最适合重启后的市场需求的。文化内涵指的是旅游企业需要重新审视活动和服务能为旅客带来的意义。能留给旅游者的绝不是几张照片，更多的应该是一些反思，一些能够在人心里留得时间更长久的记忆，例如一些文化遗产、风俗文化、自然教育，甚至是简单的为人处世之道。这些文化内涵的思考不应该强行加入，而应该有创意，但是有出处，有真正内涵。

六

借助科技，智慧旅游

在信息技术发达的当下，我们都一直提倡智慧旅游的发展。在疫情之后，旅游企业应该充分利用信息科技技术的优势，加大部分旅游服务智慧化、数字化、以方便旅游者的信息收集和旅游决策，也可以加速新商业模式培育，例如故宫和腾讯推出的“玩转故宫小程序”等。

总之，疫情对现有旅游服务业的重新洗牌有利有弊，旅游行业的复苏不应该只看见眼前的凄惨，也不应该一味得等待复苏后的井喷。旅游行业和企业应该战略部署，重塑品牌文化，可持续性地发展。现在的寒冬，意味着不远的春天。

The novel coronavirus outbreak and the “housing economy”: The challenges in the tourism industry

The current novel coronavirus outbreak has resulted in major industries across China suffering heavy losses and instability, particularly in the tourism services industry. Many businesses have suspended operations and many employees have been laid off. For example, a domestic catering giant, Xibei, has more than 20,000 employees and a monthly wage payout of 156 million RMB. Their crisis abated after the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank gave them 430 million RMB in credit. Another example is the cruise ship Princess Diamond, which was once a ship that people yearned for. After experiencing dozens of cases of the new coronavirus infection, it refunded passengers in full and the parent company’s market value fell by 6.6 billion US dollars.

The tourism services industry has been completely disrupted in China and beyond. The threat of closing down is real for all parts of the tourism industry as its cash flow turns negative. The coronavirus epidemic has resulted in a new type of economy, called the “housing economy”, in which people are staying home and transferring the majority of consumption to online platforms. For example, logistics, takeaways, e-commerce and online education have experienced blowout growth. However, as tourism is a type of experience economy, the effect of the “housing economy” has been extremely cruel because the main activities of tourism cannot be transferred into our homes. Although some museums have launched programmes to provide online exhibition experiences, such as “Guobo invites you to the cloud exhibition” launched by the National Museum, such use of online tools is limited for the entire tourism industry, and do not meet the public’s real need for tourism. Therefore, the challenge for the tourism services industry is to evaluate the impacts of the “housing economy” and then formulate strategic deployment plans for a quick recovery after the epidemic.

Slide up for more details.

Direct impacts of the “housing economy” for the tourism industry

▪ Suspension of tourism business for now and short-term growth after the epidemic

Due to the “housing economy”, the tourism services industry has been temporarily suspended. Some tourism SMEs might even be eliminated due to cash flow problems. This has triggered real anxiety among SMEs about their survival.

Many experts have pointed out that based on the tourism recovery figures after SARS in 2003, tourism might experience blowout growth when the epidemic ends.

This is because the public’s enthusiasm and demand for tourism will have been greatly suppressed during the epidemic and may surge after its end. If the current situation gets better and ends before May, the Golden Week holidays and the summer holidays will bring about a positive turnaround in tourism. However, the tourism services industry should be more cautious about such growth. Firstly, tourism growth after the epidemic might not be at such a large scale and might not last for long. The epidemic has completely changed the public’s attitude towards tourism consumption and preferences. Unlike SARS 17 years ago, tourists in the current era are much more sophisticated and rational. In addition, advanced information and communication technologies have enabled tourists to have much more choices. Therefore, after the epidemic, tourists’ decisions about tourism may make different product/service and geographical choices.

▪ Growing demands for healthy lifestyles and related products/services

After the virus outbreak, healthcare will become an important focus. Many people have started to reconsider their lifestyle and family relationships. Healthy diets, healthy lifestyles, sports activities, nature and related keywords will become popular in searches on online platforms. Under these circumstances, health tourism, fitness tourism, sports tourism and food tourism (particularly those promoting healthy diets) will be up and coming areas in tourism growth.

▪ Attention to family time and changes in family values

In the “housing economy”, people are spending more time with their family, and are starting to reflect on their family relationships and values. After the tourism industry recovers, the major type of tourism growth will come from family tourism. Accompanying elders, children-centred vacations, catered holidays for the nuclear family, and romantic trips by the husband and wife are examples of this type of tourism. Thus, tourism industry development should emphasise such functions.

▪ Reflections on man and nature

The epidemic has made people realise the importance of nature and the ecological system. The relationship between humans and nature is regularly discussed and reflected upon in the tourism industry. For example, eco-tourism, green tourism, and even ‘slow’ tourism which contributes to sustainable development, will have considerable growth. In addition, other relationships derived from the dynamics between humans and nature, such as the relationship between humans and others, and between individuals and society, will also be valued. Thus, social tourism, volunteer tourism and tourism that focuses on social values will greatly increase in the near future. The benefits of nature will surely arouse the public’s enjoyment for rural tourism as well. The combination of natural education and children-centred activities with rural nature will be suitable for the new market.

▪ Continued pursuit of outbound tourism and niche markets

In fact, before the epidemic crisis, the number of Chinese tourists in niche markets had already greatly increased over the past ten years. After the epidemic, Chinese tourists will continue to pursue niche market tourism activities. Tourists will be more diverse and willing to explore diversified tourist destinations and activities. For example, for outbound tourism, Chinese tourists will continue to explore emerging destinations around the world such as South America. In addition, some countries that have aided China during the coronavirus epidemic, such as Russia, Japan and the UK, will surely be favoured by Chinese tourists.

Suggestions on the recovery of the tourism industry

▪ Prepare for the restart of the tourism market

First, our epidemic is not completely over. Therefore, the tourism industry will face a period of stagnation. This requires that tourism enterprises need to be ready for a restart later. During the current period, tourism enterprises need to replan their strategic operations for the restart, such as consideration of adding new emerging markets, or new types of tourism activities, in order to meet emerging needs after the epidemic.

▪ Policy support and assistance from all parts of society

At such a difficult time, tourism enterprises need to seek help and assistance from the government, banks, and society, when necessary. Policy support should be direct and efficient with tax rebates, compensation funds, direct subsidies and so on.

▪ Improving safety and emergency measures

Tourism enterprises should put “safety” and “emergency measures” as their top priorities in the recovery. The tourist emergency support system needs to be comprehensively improved when the tourism industry completely recovers.

▪ Social responsibilities and rebranding

Corporate social responsibility should be core content when building the image of tourism. Enterprises should pay attention to the construction of social responsibility in all markets. The positive build-up of social responsibility develops a long-term and sustainable brand image for tourism enterprises. For example, initiated by Ningbo Culture/Communications and Tourism Bureau, 63 tourism attractions in Ningbo promised to give free access to any of China’s medical workers in 2020. Many people on social media have commented that they would like to visit the city after the epidemic ends. During the outbreak, some hotels have bravely stood up to provide free accommodation for medical staff fighting against the outbreak. These actions might not bring direct profits to enterprises and destinations, but they do become an important basis for building up positive and memorable images and brands.

▪ Put “culture” as a top priority

The restart of the tourism industry needs the support of “culture”. Products with intrinsic cultural significance and meaning will be the winners in the tourism market after the recovery. Tourists should not just leave and take home photos and souvenirs, but rather leave with special memories and deep reflections about cultural heritage, customs and culture, natural education, and even simple philosophies on people. These reflections can last for a long time and tourists will return again and again. “Culture” should not be forcibly added into products and services, but rather should be based on realism and creativity.

▪ Smart tourism with the help of technology

With the development of information technology, smart tourism should be developed. After the epidemic, tourism enterprises should make full use of the advantages of information and communications technology. The digitalisation of most tourism services will facilitate tourists’ information searches and accelerate their decision making processes. It will also help to accelerate the growth of new business models. For example, the Palace Museum and Tencent have developed on a small online application game, naming as “Touring the Imperial Palace”.

In conclusion, the epidemic has both advantages and disadvantages for the reconfiguration of the existing tourism services industry. Tourism enterprises should neither just focus on the misery of the situation right now, nor wait for the expected blowout growth without doing anything to prepare updated strategies. Tourism enterprises should be strategically developed for the recovery in order to achieve sustainable progress. 

本篇来源：宁诺商学院进一步了解请联系：宁波诺丁汉大学品牌与传媒办公室[e-mail]

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