With the great development of tourism in China, various forms of tourism compete for development. Among them, conventional tourism is the main form, while characteristic tourism is also quietly emerging and showing a vigorous development momentum. (1) This paper tries to talk about some basic problems of characteristic tourism.
First, the definition of characteristic tourism
Characteristic tourism is a new tourism form, which is an improvement on the basis of conventional tourism such as sightseeing and holiday tourism, and a development and deepening of traditional conventional tourism form, so it is a higher form of characteristic tourism activity products. The concept of "characteristic tourism" is usually called "theme tourism", "special tourism" and "characteristic tourism".
The characteristic tourism mentioned here refers to a characteristic theme tourism activity that is developed and organized in order to meet the special interests and needs of tourists. Judging from the development of characteristic tourism and the nature of practical experience, compared with sightseeing and holiday tourism, it has the following inherent characteristics.
1. On the value orientation of tourism consumption, characteristic tourists pay attention to autonomy, individuality and purpose, sightseeing pays attention to the perception of external landscape, and holiday tourism pays attention to leisure and enjoyment.
2. The experience mode of characteristic tourism emphasizes mental and physical factors. Tourists perceive the outside world in sports and get spiritual satisfaction in taking risks or facing a brand-new environment. Tourists themselves have a high degree of autonomy and initiative in organizing their trips.
3. The means and methods of characteristic tourism are human management (hiking, hunting, mountaineering, camel team and bicycle tourism) and self-driving motor vehicle management (automobiles, motorcycles and other motor vehicles).
4. The routes and regions of characteristic tourism have great particularity. Continuous tourism has a long span and a long time, and the compounding of tourist destinations is a prominent feature of characteristic tourism. The natural environment and human environment of characteristic tourism are very primitive, and the areas that the tourism passes through are usually frontier (frontier), ancient (with a long history of civilization), barren (desert, inaccessible places), strange (with peculiar topography), dangerous (mountains, dangers and poor water) and few (places where ethnic minorities live in compact communities). The resulting tourist routes and projects are fresh, exciting and adventurous for tourists.
5. Tourists who take part in special tourism activities generally have the spirit of adventure and the constitution of enduring hard conditions, and generally choose like-minded people as traveling companions. There are different cultural norms.
6. The product connotation of characteristic tourism will change with the changes of the times, and the special aesthetic taste and characteristics of characteristic tourism will gradually emerge in the development process. Its connotation also varies from country to country. For example, car travel is quite common in Europe.
7. According to China's national conditions, special tourism generally adopts unconventional modes of transportation and sometimes passes through closed areas, so it is a product that needs special approval in policy.
As a form of tourism, special tourism has the characteristics of providing food, accommodation, transportation and sightseeing services for tourists besides sightseeing and holiday tourism. Its main content is to participate in tourism with tourists, provide services in participation, and guide tourists to achieve their tourism goals with their own professional knowledge. This kind of tourism activities have a wide range, often involving remote and sparsely populated areas, and the way of tourism activities is extraordinary and extremely difficult. As far as China's actual situation is concerned, there are large geographical spans, trips with cars, bicycles and motorcycles as tourist vehicles, and sports trips with non-competitive events such as skiing, rock climbing, rafting, hot air ballooning and gliding. Adventure tourism in mountains, canyons, deserts, caves and inaccessible areas, as well as scientific investigation tourism of natural and human landscapes with short-term viewing, reconnaissance and visiting as the main tourism forms, can all be included in the category of characteristic tourism.
Second, the characteristics of characteristic tourism
China has entered the stage of large-scale development of tourism products, holiday tourism products are in the stage of active development, and characteristic tourism is just in the initial stage of development. From the point of view of practical operation or theoretical analysis, the main characteristics of characteristic tourism, which are different from conventional tourism projects such as sightseeing and holiday tourism, are the primitive naturalness of its tourism ecological environment and cultural environment, the novelty and adventure of tourism projects and routes, and the independent participation of tourism forms.
The primitive naturalness of tourism ecological environment and cultural environment includes three aspects: first, it refers to the unique natural ecological scenery and relatively sparse population in tourist areas, which are relatively primitive because of low industrialization; Secondly, it means that the population in this area has a unique history and realistic culture, and its lifestyle and cultural model remain in a purely natural and primitive state, which is psychologically and culturally attractive to tourists. Because the psychological characteristics that make tourists choose to travel to a certain place are to understand, observe and experience different cultures different from their own cultural models; Thirdly, it refers to the characteristic tourism projects and routes designed on the basis of the above two contents, which should reflect the relatively concentrated characteristics of tourism ecological environment and the requirements of harmonious coexistence of natural geographical conditions and human conditions. The projects and routes can make tourists experience psychological feelings that they have never experienced before.
The second characteristic of characteristic tourism is the novelty and adventure of tourism projects and routes. The so-called novelty means that in the design of projects and lines, it has a clever idea of combining a sense of history with a sense of reality, has a novel perspective, can highlight one or two themes and is unique. Even if there are similar projects or routes in other countries or regions, the design should have the advantages of relatively concentrated natural ecological environment and human characteristics, which should be reflected in the unique and novel arrangement of each point and procedure of specific projects and routes, so that tourists can feel that unexpected content appears every day. The so-called adventure, that is, tourism projects and routes have some degree of adventure factors. For tourists, their requirements for material enjoyment are relatively low, but by paying attention to the spirit or psychology, they have a sense of satisfaction in testing their abilities. Adventure projects and routes should have enough content for tourists to show their abilities, including physical strength, endurance, ability to deal with emergencies and psychological quality. Generally speaking, many special tourism projects and routes are arranged in alpine valleys, grassland lakes and desert Gobi areas with difficult natural environment, unsatisfactory transportation and communication conditions and accommodation conditions. There is a common psychological factor, that is, the desire to explore, seek differences and conquer different forms of natural environment, especially the desire to explore the mysteries of nature and conquer nature is the strongest and most common. The design of characteristic tourism projects and routes should satisfy this psychological desire. Of course, whether it is novelty or adventure, there must be a reliable safety factor, which can not only ensure that tourists can experience the adventure factors contained in the project and route to the maximum extent, but also ensure the safety of tourists as much as possible in the operations of reception, tour guide and contact. Both must be unified.
The third feature of characteristic tourism is independent participation in tourism forms. This is mainly manifested in: on the one hand, many projects designed should provide the best possible service for tourists; On the other hand, there is a lot of room for tourists to participate independently. For example, within the permitted scope, overseas travel agencies can request to increase or decrease the content of projects or routes according to the special needs of tourists; In the process of project and route implementation, carefully arrange some contents that tourists are willing to participate in, such as bringing their own vehicles, tents, participating in meal preparation, organizing entertainment activities, and even participating in eliminating pre-arranged "dangerous" or occasional "dangerous" situations, and require some specific contents to be revised. At this point, organizers should fully understand the cultural psychology of tourists and try their best to meet their reasonable requirements in this regard. The independent participation of tourists in the process of participating in characteristic tourism has changed their role and psychological passivity in conventional tourism to a certain extent, giving tourists a feeling that characteristic tourism is an opportunity to give full play to their potential and talents, allowing them to experience and appreciate natural scenery and humanistic customs, and at the same time enjoy the happiness reflected in their potential and talents in exploration. The above three characteristics of characteristic tourism constitute the basic elements that distinguish it from conventional tourism, and also determine that it has many characteristics different from conventional tourism in the specific operation process.
Thirdly, the function of characteristic tourism.
If conventional tourism products are popular commodities in tourist supermarkets, then characteristic tourism products are monopoly commodities, trendy commodities and fine products in tourist supermarkets. It is the constant emergence of characteristic tourism, a monopoly commodity and fine products, which promotes the upgrading of tourism products and the progress and development of tourism. With the development of people's own value, the improvement of tourists' aesthetic level and the development of social, economic and cultural level, the product of characteristic tourism has shown great vitality, and its role and influence in tourism has become more and more fully apparent.
1. Product features. The development of tourism generally follows the product series process of sightseeing-holiday tourism-characteristic tourism. On the basis of the large-scale development of sightseeing products and the beginning of holiday products, the development of characteristic tourism has become inevitable. Developing characteristic tourism products can meet the needs of tourists with special preferences. At the same time, unlike conventional tourism products, characteristic tourism is the leading product in the product development series, which has the function of demonstrating and guiding the development of other tourism products. In the tourism industry chain, tourism products are the media connecting operators and tourists. Operators rely on tourism products to attract tourists, and tourists realize their consumption wishes through tourism products. Tourism products are one of the ties and bridges to improve the level of tourism. The leading and pulling role of characteristic tourism in the industrial structure shows that it is of great significance to the development of the whole tourism industry. Strengthen the development and management of characteristic tourism, that is, the whole body will be affected by one event, and the tourism industry will benefit from it.
2. Economic function. Although I am familiar with formal tourism, most of them are buyer-led products, and the team's profit is thin, which is not conducive to participating in the competition in the international tourism market. Although the initial investment cost of characteristic tourism is high, its exclusiveness and intrinsic value determine that it is also a high value-added tourism product, which can give operators and developers higher returns. Developing characteristic tourism products is not only an effective means for travel agencies to participate in competition, but also an effective means to improve the overall level of tourism consumption and stimulate the growth of foreign exchange income of national tourism. The exclusive degree of products is much higher than that of conventional tourism products, which will become one of the reasons why characteristic tourism is in the ascendant. At present, the economic function of characteristic tourism has been widely concerned by the tourism industry.
3. Boot function. This refers to the display and guiding role in the concept of tourism. There are many elements of characteristic tourism, and organizing products requires imagination and artist-like vision, so it has a demonstration effect on other conventional tourism products. Developing characteristic tourism is conducive to upgrading traditional tourism products. This is because, on the one hand, the characteristics of characteristic tourism consumption especially emphasize tourists' initiative, dominance and participation, strong sense of presence and direct experience in the process of sports, which belong to "consumer-oriented" products, while conventional tourism is essentially "producer-oriented" products, although the needs of tourists should also be considered. On the other hand, the consumption characteristics of characteristic tourism reflect the consumption tendency and potential demand of modern tourists, and the basic ideas and ideas of its organization mode and operation form have reference value in organizing conventional tourism products. In this sense, characteristic tourism can have an impact on other tourism activities, and its mechanism is similar to the development of motor racing to promote the development of better automobile technology in the automobile industry.
4. Publicity function. Quite a few characteristic tourism activities, such as car trips or mountain climbing trips across Europe and Asia, usually attract the attention of the public and news media because of their arduousness, adventure and excitement, and celebrities or politicians will also attend the ceremony of such activities. Therefore, it is an excellent publicity opportunity for potential tourists and an excellent opportunity for overseas public to understand folk customs and landscapes. Characteristic tourism activities attract public attention and are the excitement of public opinion. In fact, they have made free travel advertisements. In particular, some special tourism activities pass through remote areas with inconvenient transportation. The publicity benefits of remote areas, that is, showing the culture of remote areas, have attracted the attention of all sectors of society, and the role of providing opportunities for local people to introduce tourism culture cannot be underestimated.
From the above, the position of characteristic tourism in the tourism industry is determined not only by its direct economic benefits, but also by its functions of perfecting tourism products, catalyzing, guiding and enhancing regional tourism image. In the strategy of accelerating the development of tourism, we should pay full attention to the leading role of characteristic tourism in the tourism industry structure, so as to make the tourism image fuller, more attractive in domestic and foreign tourism examinations and more competitive in the tourism market.
Fourth, develop characteristic tourism.
The research on the development strategy of characteristic tourism involves the policy and decision-making of characteristic tourism, characteristic tourism resources and market, characteristic tourism project and route design, characteristic tourism implementation and talent training. This paper discusses the organization and implementation of characteristic tourism.
1. Circuit design. The nature of characteristic tourism determines that it must have the characteristics of combining the unique novelty of the tourist object with the particularity of the tourism mode. First of all, there must be a great breakthrough in the choice of tourist objects, not just limited to the traditional model. The development of characteristic tourism in different regions should be based on the corresponding natural geography, ecological environment and human resources in the region. According to the experience at home and abroad, mountainous areas, grasslands, lakes and rivers, Gobi desert, canyons and jungles with unique natural and geographical characteristics and ecosystems all have potential resource bases for developing characteristic tourism. However, having a resource base does not mean that characteristic tourism can be developed immediately. It is important to convert resources into specific projects, and study and design routes on this basis. Through the investigation of domestic and foreign markets, including the time or space content of the project in a specific geographical and cultural environment, the use of history, culture, religion and other content, and the consideration of the economic benefits of the project. Secondly, fully consider and pay attention to diversity and novelty in the way of tourism. Because characteristic tourism activities involve various factors, it is necessary to mobilize scholars to participate in the demonstration when launching projects and designing routes. At the same time, a project or route should be constantly revised in the implementation process to supplement market feedback. Those tourism modes that are close to nature and full of challenges are worth trying, such as hiking, mountaineering, diving, rafting, rock climbing, hole exploration, skiing, hot air balloon travel, cycling, self-driving car and boat, paragliding and so on.
2. Control of the journey. Because of the particularity of characteristic tourism, the related environment and conditions of its tourism are necessarily different from those of conventional tourism, so its management and control are more complicated and difficult, and the tourism risk is greater than that of conventional tourism. This requires special attention to the following two points: second, the safety of the line. Due to the nature of characteristic tourism, we will encounter all kinds of irresistible or unpredictable natural factors and face all kinds of possibilities in the process of tourism. Therefore, when designing the line and implementing the operation, we should try our best to avoid the foreseeable risks and control the risks to a minimum. Second, the rigor of control. Due to the diversity of characteristic tourism modes and the strangeness of tourist objects, as well as the impossibility of perfection in all links of supporting services in tourism, there are inevitably many unpredictable special factors and unfavorable factors, which requires that all links should be well grasped in the organization and implementation, effective emergency measures and means should be prepared, and all details of the itinerary should be closely analyzed and controlled, so that tourists can get satisfactory services.
3. Standardized management. Characteristic tourism activities are usually a comprehensive product composed of several special tourist spots and special geographical units through lines. The management coordination and business operation connection between scenic spots need a high level. In order to ensure the smooth progress of characteristic tourism activities, we should gradually create conditions to standardize, program and standardize management activities, and gradually reduce the interference of human factors and random factors. Therefore, first of all, the management of characteristic tourism should be based on maintaining the reputation of China's tourism industry and national security, and the tourism authorities should formulate detailed rules for the management of characteristic tourism as soon as possible according to relevant national laws and regulations, so that all travel agencies engaged in characteristic tourism can have rules to follow. The second is to provide a channel for travel agencies engaged in characteristic tourism business to accept the approval of state security organs. Thirdly, it is necessary to assess the travel agencies that basically have the ability to operate characteristic tourism business, grant them the right to operate characteristic tourism, make a scientific and feasible model for the standardization of characteristic tourism business of national travel agencies in a short period of time, and then promote it.
4. Coordination mechanism. At present, the development of characteristic tourism business is based on the excavation and combination of various possible factors, which determines the complexity of developing characteristic tourism products. Operators should directly face various contradictions in the process of developing characteristic tourism products, and need the support and help of the army, transportation, customs, diplomacy, religion, culture and even some specific natural persons. How to use the system or policy to open the door for operators, standardize all aspects of behavior, form a standardized operating mechanism, and reduce unnecessary consumption and obstacles? It is not enough to rely solely on the spontaneous behavior of operators. If the tourism administrative department can consider establishing a coordinating body to guide or help solve problems and difficulties, it will certainly enhance the confidence of operators in developing characteristic tourism.
5. Professionalization of the team. The quality of personnel engaged in characteristic tourism management is directly related to the reception quality, not only to whether the management benefits can be improved, but also to the life of characteristic tourism products. Characteristic tourism reception is different from conventional tourism reception, which is more difficult, more demanding, and more specialized in operating rules and methods. It requires close cooperation between product development departments and the reception departments of operators to form a relatively stable reception team. Relevant personnel engaged in characteristic tourism, such as outreach, planning, tour guides, drivers, etc. , must have rich knowledge, experience and skills related to characteristic tourism. Travel agencies engaged in this business should cultivate and own a professional team with rich knowledge of natural history, hard work, strong awareness of national security, familiarity with folk customs, strict implementation of ethnic policies and interest in characteristic tourism.
In a word, the development of characteristic tourism is still in its infancy in the world and China, and its development shows great vitality. Establishing the position of characteristic tourism in the tourism industry plays an inestimable role in developing China's extremely rich characteristic tourism resources, opening up the tourism market, attracting more tourists from home and abroad and promoting the in-depth development of China's tourism industry.
Precautions:
(1) In China's tourism industry, there are still different views on the classification of tourism types. One view holds that tourism can be divided into three types according to the degree of the subject's experience: sightseeing (focusing on the perception of the external landscape), holiday tourism (focusing on leisure and enjoyment) and characteristic tourism (focusing on participation and experience). The first two types are also called traditional tourism. This view is more common. Another view is that tourism can be divided into three types: conventional tourism (including sightseeing tourism and holiday tourism) and theme tourism (including cultural tourism, religious tourism and ethnic customs tourism). ) and special tourism (including self-driving tourism, non-competition tourism, scientific research tourism, etc. ) by combining the nature of the tourist object and the feelings of the subject. This classification is more detailed. This paper adopts the former classification method.