The COVID-19 epidemic has lasted for 7 months，Summer vacation is coming to an end，Travel agencies suffering from difficulties，Whether you were retaliated against or "retaliated" by?，This is what many industry players are paying attention to。This article hopes to be helpful to various travel agencies including us，A little inspiration from some suggestions，I wish all colleagues a better tomorrow。

01

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Since the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a document lifting inter-provincial travel restrictions on the evening of July 14，What is the recovery status of the domestic tourism industry?？

Look at Sanya first，Mentioned in local media reports，July，Sanya City Accommodation Facilities Accept Overnight Visitors162.320,000 people，Year-on-year decrease of 2.73%，An increase of 32% month-on-month.51%。Total overnight travel income 39.2.9 billion yuan，YoY growth of 5.70%，Significant increase of 94 month-on-month.02%。

There are also public data for reference，Debon Fund has researched that，Domestic tourism consumption is expected to grow by about 20% year-on-year in the second half of the year，Will usher in an incremental market of over 593 billion yuan。

Lively changes

We should also see some changes in the excitement，The most obvious，Organizations that are not travel agencies are starting to do travel agency work。

①188bet app Education and training

It is a commonplace topic that 188bet app Education and training institutions operate tourism in violation of regulations，This article does not discuss regulatory enforcement。Various educational institutions during summer vacation，With summer camp、Research、Study Tour、A wide range of products including parent-child training，Get a share of the tourism market。

188bet app Education and training institutions take advantage of their strong advantages on the client side (schools and parents)，Summer product sales are booming。In addition to travel agencies that specialize in this field (some travel agencies are originally registered as education and training institutions)，Ordinary travel agencies can only look at this market and drool。

②Scenic Area

Guangzhou Qumaipiao CEO Zhang Hanfeng said: Scenic spots in the future must be complex，To meet the comprehensive needs of tourists for food, accommodation, entertainment。As a professional scenic spot intelligent system service provider，Their knowledge of the scenic spot is sufficient，I also agree with this view。

Hotels, especially high-end hotels such as Banyan Tree, have become tourist destinations，Scenic spots with landscape advantages and investment capabilities are not stupid either，Eastern Overseas Chinese Town、Zhuhai Chimelong and other large 5A hotels are good examples of successful scenic complexes，A group of 4As are also stimulated by hot money，Start to move closer。

In May, I visited a 3A rural tourist attraction "Xiangjia Village" in my hometown of Hunan，Invest 300 million and plan to build a tourism complex integrating food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment，The high investment in hardware makes me, a senior tourist from Shenzhen, speechless。

③Director

The driver is also working as a travel agency？Leave aside whether it is a violation or not，We only discuss business。In Xi’an in June，Ye Fei, former CEO of Huaer Outdoor, told me，Before there was no epidemic，As one of the most professional outdoor tourism operators in the northwest，Huaer Outdoor’s OTA store traffic is declining year by year。

In the vast northwest，Most tourists choose to hire a tour guide to charter a car，It’s no secret that the driver and the travel agency are not in an employment relationship，These individual directors，Anyone who can take pictures and write text (even better if he can play with drones)，You can use the simplest tool: Moments + WeChat group to list the customers you have served，Become your own private domain traffic，I became a little internet celebrity。In addition to supporting yourself，If you can’t take on the job, then hand it over to other directors to earn the difference。The traffic entering OTA is decreasing year by year，It’s not that Huaer can’t survive outdoors，But the consumption decision-making path of tourists has undergone earth-shaking changes。

Previous travel products，The scenic spot provides tours，Hotel provides accommodation，The driver is responsible for driving，Even a slightly complicated research product，188bet app Education and training also play a supporting role in travel agencies，Where is the survival space for travel agencies now？

The causes of travel agency’s dilemma

The predicament is not caused by the epidemic, it is just an accelerator.

Travel agencies are a third party in the industry chain，This is an objective fact that cannot be changed。The ultimate goal of e-commerce is to eliminate channels，When travel agencies only exist as channels for ready-made products，As upstream resources rely on e-commerce tools, they no longer rely on channels，The value of its existence declined rapidly，10 years ago, people still wanted to book flights with travel agencies，Now I can only watch it as a joke。

Travel agencies have also produced many excellent products，Because the entry barrier is not high，More and more travel agencies，No matter how excellent a product is, it cannot withstand the imitation and plagiarism of countless peers，Only the customers are left in the end、Friends、Homogeneous competition in which all three parties lose。The standard attributes of tourism determine its fate，The most popular categories of e-commerce in the early days were clothing and 3C，There is a reason。Consumers can’t tell the difference between a T-shirt priced at 50 yuan and a T-shirt priced at 200 yuan，But many consumers think they are going to Hainan for 5 days，Which one is cheaper will I buy?，Not to mention distinguishing the difference between rooms on the executive floor and ordinary floors in the hotel。

Convenient channels replace the third-party identity of travel agencies，Extremely low gross profit margin caused by homogeneous competition and standard product attributes，is an important cause of the current predicament。By the way，How low is the gross profit margin of travel agencies？

Tongcheng founder and CEO Wu Zhixiang once said a very classic formula "Corporate Strategy = Industry Gross Profit × Traffic Dividend"，He mentioned in a recent class，Only 1% profit margin (I guess net profit margin) is the key reason why he decided to take away the entire vacation BU (Tongcheng International Travel Service) after the epidemic this year。Other travel agencies，How much better than Tongcheng International Travel Service？

Travel agency’s battle between trapped beasts

One-third of travel agencies had collapsed by the middle of the year，More peers are still struggling，No one is willing to admit defeat。In this training，Professor Liu Guoqiang, deputy director of the Tourism Research Center of Shenzhen Vocational and Technical College said，Discounts are the first move for tourism companies to respond to the epidemic (the second move is creativity、The third step is integration)，Can quickly attract fans and withdraw funds，Also listed some successful cases。But Professor Liu doesn’t know our group of students，Different status from the hotels and scenic spots he has trained in before，Travel agencies are not resource parties，There is no almost zero marginal cost。Hotels and scenic spots，Empty is also empty，Facing the impact of the epidemic，9.9 yuan ticket and 99 yuan accommodation，It can indeed attract fans and bring cash flow。

Third-party identity of travel agency，If the upstream resource side does not offer discounts，How can travel agencies give discounts in addition to zero negative group fees？Qinghai, the hottest internet celebrity destination this summer，Is becoming the hardest-hit area with zero negative tour fees，999 yuan including double flight route price，Commonly seen on the market。Zero negative tour fees can indeed solve the short-term survival of some travel agencies，After all, there are many people who want to buy a lot of things when they go away，But in the long run，Except for being inconsistent with the law，Zero negative tour fee is the last dose of arsenic for the complete "speculation" of travel agencies。

Affected by this year’s epidemic，We ourselves are also switching to domestic tourism，At the beginning of the year, I boasted that "the leftover is king" in Haikou，Now I feel that I may not be able to live well even if I have the remaining money，It is even more impossible to "be the king"。The logic of the leftover being king，From the 6 trillion tourism GDP in 2019，Businesses that have survived the epidemic，Should be able to capture more market share。From the initial stage of the epidemic，It is true that many colleagues have fallen。Take the category of fragmented outbound travel products we focus on as an example，A leading merchant with a GMV of over 100 million in several years，His OTA store has been closed，There are also colleagues who are looking for him to settle the payment but cannot。

But for the remaining travel agencies，On the one hand，The resumption of outbound travel is far away，On the other hand，The situation of domestic tourists getting together is serious。6 188bet app trillion GDP，Domestic travel only accounts for half，Currently it has only recovered to 60-70%，In addition, all the businesses mentioned above are doing the work of travel agencies，And from outbound travel、Visa、Businesses that switch categories such as cruise ships to domestic tourism，A new situation of too many monks and too few people is forming。If you just copy the original set，What’s left is worthless，This year’s Internet celebrity C is Qinghai。This year’s Internet celebrity C is Qinghai，Gained enough attention，As far as I know, it is a travel agency that deals with other sectors of domestic tourism，Also focus on the products of the northwest line，This kind of harvesting method that uses all the water to catch fish，I’m afraid it will only cause the travel agency to lose more。

Unsustainable promotion，Get together to enter the domestic tourism market，These life-saving straws are of little use。

Reshape the value chain

The fight between trapped beasts is useless，Will travel agencies become a sunset industry and be eliminated?？Personal perspective on reshaping the value division of the tourism industry chain，Give me some humble opinions for your reference。

Traditional tourism industry chain

On the traditional industrial chain，There are two roles responsible for value creation，One is a resource provider that provides food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment experience content，The other is a travel agency that integrates resources，The integrated product is called "Line"。In the case of information asymmetry，Visitors themselves integrate the experience content，Requires higher time cost，So some tourists will choose to buy the "route" of a travel agency。Whether it is providing the experience itself (the essence of tourism) or integrating and packaging，There is sufficient value for consumers，There is naturally room for survival。

In addition to value creation，More roles are delivering value。The earliest industry chain was very long，Order delivery must go through multiple links: store-group agency-wholesaler-land agency-resource party，The emergence of OTA has changed this chain，Currently, most of them are tourists-OTA-merchant-resource side process，OTA platform and platform merchants participating as travel agencies，They are all value transmitters。There is another type of role involved in value transfer，Consumer evaluation websites such as Xinmeida (domestic) and TripAdvisor (foreign)，The value of resource parties is screened and sorted according to dimension (information sorting)，Very useful for tourists who do not have enough information sources。

Industrial chain in the post-epidemic era

Ctrip has been established for more than 20 years since its establishment in 1999，These 20 years are also the 20 years of OTA。Since 2015, Liang Jianzhang has used capital to solve the dispute of "bringing away art" to dominate the world，In recent years, Ctrip、Flying Pig、Meituan once again staged the Three Kingdoms Killing，And the hornet’s nest、Qionyou and other UGC websites (special consumer evaluation websites) have risen and joined the OTA fight，The main positions of the tourism industry are basically OTAs，Can OTA continue to be popular？

This issue will be discussed later，Let’s first take a look at what Ctrip’s big boss Liang Jianzhang did after the epidemic，More than 20 live broadcasts，Bringing 700 million goods to the hotel。The greatest maturity of adults，Just being able to take the risk，Stop your dignity and make money，I’m going to put my knee down for Dr. Liang on this one。But we also need to see，The OTA model has come to an end，Big BOSS uses various cosplay images to attract customers and sell goods，Is Ctrip still the OTA we are familiar with？It and Douyin Xiaohongshu Kuaishou，What are the functional differences？Aren’t they all value transmitters for resource parties (mainly hotels) through trust endorsement?？

The traffic is fragmented and eaten by various new species，This is the biggest problem for OTA to continue to serve as the main value transmitter in the industry chain。Post-epidemic era，The role of value delivery or channel access，Already reorganizing。

In terms of value creation，There is no need to discuss the fact that the resource provider is always “king”，The product integrator is no longer as simple as a tourist route。Already mentioned before，From a role perspective，188bet app Education and training、Scenic Area、The directors are all encroaching on the market；The most important thing is，Can truly make products that are popular in the market，It’s getting harder，Travel agency without sufficient product strength，Can I still be worthy of this value creator？

Reshaping the value of travel agencies

The reconstruction of the tourism industry value chain accelerated 188bet online sports betting by the epidemic cannot be changed，Travel agencies have no choice but to accept their fate，Is there no way out？I don’t know either，Ask 3 questions，See if anyone has any inspiration。

①Selling products or making products?

This question is relatively simple，The value of traditional channels has dropped sharply，OTA channels are also being disrupted by new species，If a travel agency is still a sales channel，It’s time to take a shower。Recommend travel agency leaders to follow the public account "Everyone is a Product Manager"，The CEO must be the company’s first product manager，Can’t make a product，The products produced are not competitive enough，The boss must take responsibility。I personally come from an operational background，I have been in the operation position for more than ten years and I am well versed in the "3-point operation"、The principle of "7-point product"，A product with strong product strength really does not need operations，It can become a hot item。

②Go upstream or downstream?

This question is not so easy to answer。It stands to reason，Be with customers at all times，But I personally think，Going downstream to get customers is a politically correct pseudo-concept。You can get closer to the customer，Why do customers want to get closer to you？For travel agencies with less strong brand power，Your control over upstream resources，Determines your customer loyalty。

As a third party, travel agencies do not occupy resources，It doesn’t mean we can’t find a way。mentioned above，Many resource parties are taking the initiative to work as travel agencies，But they are among the best after all，Most of them still depend on the sky for their livelihood、Waiting for customers to come。There has never been a resource party that thought about this，Find one with relatively good conditions，Cooperation through deep bundling，Bring out the product planning and marketing capabilities that a travel agency should be best at，Provide total solution to tourists based on resources，This is what travel agencies are good at。

Why do resource providers cooperate with travel agencies？First，Those with strong investment capabilities may not necessarily have strong operational capabilities，Human nature is all about saving trouble；Second，Introduction of time-limited gambling terms，Let resource parties sleep peacefully。As long as you can make 1-2 classic cases，The resources behind are easy to fool。You can’t be a dealer but you still have to be a dealer.5 Road Dealers，2 Dealers have no way out。

③How to achieve differentiation?

This is the hardest one to answer，Almost no correct answer，A thousand people have a thousand Hamlets。My personal understanding，There are three sentences。

——Differentiated products without sufficient control over resources，Unable to avoid being plagiarized by peers，Even made a "church disciple" by the resource party、Starve to death master”。

——The market is sufficiently segmented，A good product only needs to find a differentiated entry point that is accepted by the market，Good product = differentiation + demand。

——Category innovation is one of the main methods of differentiation。P.S: How do you understand this sentence？

Give me a chestnut，When we were young, we wore gym shoes called “sneakers”，Later, "football shoes" began to appear、Differentiated products such as “basketball shoes”。Go to the sporting goods store now，Just like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden，“Hiking shoes” and “jogging shoes” are easy to understand，"Tennis shoes"、I really can’t tell the difference between “badminton shoes” and other sports shoes，It’s just the merchant trying to persuade us to buy an extra pair of shoes，Marketing method through category innovation。

This method can also be used in tourism product design，Last chat with friends，I found a market demand that is not covered by the category。The variety show "Where Are We Going, Dad" has been around for many years，As a father，I think first and second tier cities，There is a very prominent pain point for middle-class white-collar families，But not satisfied，It is the construction of parent-child relationship between father and child。

Most families in big cities are similar to my family，Dad is too busy，No time to spend with the children，But the child is growing up day by day，Dad is in pain and helpless，My mother also complained a lot。Even if my father is at home on weekends，In the native family environment，Having a mother role，Some also have the role of grandparents，It is difficult to truly improve the relationship between father and children。

I watched several seasons of "Where Are We Going, Dad"，Whether it’s the program effect or not，The relationship between the male guest and his children，Recovering more or less gradually during the journey。

I saw very mature parent-child travel products，There is a family of three buying products, but more of them are mothers，There are even many mom communities that organize travel products for mom groups，Then why can’t we create a new category called Dad Group？Let dad and kids be alone together while traveling，Ask child education and psychology experts to combine the journey scenes，Targeted design of experience content and activities，Carry out relaxing father-son communication every night，I believe some parents are interested。Even if it’s a holiday and a quiet day without the presence of mythical beasts，Many mothers also pay for it themselves，Send your husband and children away？Suppose this trip can really improve the parent-child relationship？If there is improvement, do you want to try it again？

E-commerce and tourism

E-commerce has already fully penetrated into all walks of life，After the epidemic, many colleagues asked me about my experience in operating OTAs，Here is a personal analysis of the relationship and development of e-commerce and tourism。

Three stages of e-commerce development

1.0Search portal era: when I was still working in an e-commerce company more than 10 years ago，The mainstream of that era was search engine + corporate mall，At that time, the company also received orders for independent website building and SEO。Early e-commerce was so simple，But it is also very inefficient and disorderly，The end of this era is marked by the Baidu "Wei Zexi" incident。

Wei Zexi is 1.The biggest flaw in the 0 era，Search engines as traffic portals are not responsible for the results，Can’t just blame Baidu and Putian for their evil deeds，This was the fate of that era。How many times do we open Baidu on our mobile phones every day?？A lot of people choose 0。

2.0 platform e-commerce era: Later, Dad Ma came，He starts from the trust mechanism、Payment tool、Three aspects of the logistics system have been solved1.0All the shortcomings of e-commerce，So he became Dad Ma。Platform e-commerce is the most popular in the past 10 years，A platform is nothing more than buyers and sellers，Sellers make money from buyers，The platform earns sellers’ money，As long as buyers trust and rely on the platform，Gather enough traffic，This solves the conflict of which came first, the chicken or the egg。As the most loyal practitioners of the platform e-commerce model, we，I have become familiar with all OTAs in the past 10 years，I often introduce it to my friends，You can’t go wrong with platform merchants when buying travel products，Can survive under strict platform rules，Basically reliable。Competition between platforms has become fierce in recent years，In order to grab traffic, the platform is even more one-sided，The rule of "refund one and pay three" can be used by those who are interested。

What are the shortcomings of the platform model？The platform has 3 types of roles: buyer、Seller、Platform，The buyer does not belong to any seller，In order to grab customers from the public domain traffic of the platform，Sellers do not hesitate to invest huge amounts of promotion fees (core income of the platform) or even fake orders，Excessive competition will inevitably affect businesses’ ability to obtain reasonable profits，Not to mention providing good products and services wholeheartedly。From the buyer’s perspective，In order to introduce competition, the platform has led to the proliferation of sellers，No one would find it a good experience to search for products in 1,000 search results，Using sales volume and evaluation sorting has hit the trap that merchants have buried with fake orders。It seems that the only thing that makes a lot of money is the platform，Excluding competition between platforms，The seller could not continue to operate and was lost，Buyer traffic is fragmented，The platform is also having a hard time。Introduce more buyers without burning money，There are fewer sellers and no one invests in promotion fees，After burning too much money, the result is still a loss。Annual report of listed OTAs in 2019，The profit margin is not high (Ctrip has the highest commission rate of only 19%，Only 14% in 2018)，After the epidemic, there are frequent rumors that a certain OTA that started as UGC will collapse。

3.0 The Era of Internet Celebrities: I won’t go over how popular live streaming is this year，What are the advantages of the internet celebrity era？2.0 era subversion 1.The 0 era relied on the trust mechanism、Payment tool、Logistics system，3.In the 0 era, we still rely on better trust mechanisms and traffic logic。Why do live broadcasts of local agricultural products require a government official to come to the stage？It’s not just relying on his position as an endorsement of trust，The mayor and county magistrate will not cheat me。Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya do not need to make orders，Solves 188bet app download the trust mechanism。Why do we buy the lowest prices on their live broadcasts？Businessmen are not stupid，High conversion rate and zero promotion fee，It can also attract fans and customers，Who doesn’t want it。Just find a big platform e-commerce KA and ask，How much money is spent on promotion and brushing orders every year，You know that a large part of the product price is related costs。

The traffic logic of Internet celebrities is similar to that of artists，Idol has its own traffic attributes for fans，No promotion fee required，Fans will naturally follow。At this time, the platform is no longer a source of traffic but a trading tool，Whatever platform the internet celebrity chooses, fans will go there to place orders，Vice versa。In addition to the built-in traffic attributes，Big V also cherishes his feathers，Be very careful in selecting products，Fans don’t need to choose to avoid pitfalls in the search results，Don’t worry about whether it will be expensive，These further feed back its trust，It is natural that Internet celebrities will replace the platform。The platform will not give up just yet，They are all cultivating their own Internet celebrities (Ctrip directly goes to Big BOSS)，The transition between the two may continue for a long time。

I predict another major change，Super big V such as Shuang Li Yiwei，will gradually be classified by industry、Region、N small Vs divided into three dimensions of the crowd cannibalize the share，For example, Qinghai Lake Bicycle God，The best mother in Shenzhen，Wuyishan old tea drinkers, etc.，Within their respective niches，You can survive well even if you have regular fans。

Travel agency in the internet celebrity era

at 3.0 era，What should a travel agency do？I organized the information points scattered throughout the article into action suggestions。Personal drivers use new media to steal OTA’s fragmented traffic，Resource parties are packaging their own products but they have not yet been branded and still need someone to endorse them，Travel agencies need to tie up with resource parties to develop their own differentiated products，E-commerce 3.0 era is the world of Internet celebrities，They hold the trust of fans、Comes with traffic attributes，Has a strong bargaining chip with the upstream...

Personal opinion，In the future, travel agencies will be a collection of travel internet celebrities，Gather a group of people who love traveling、Understand travel、A player who is good at organizing people’s travels。Regardless of his previous identity as a tour guide、The team leader is even a crossover enthusiast，You must first become a small internet celebrity in a niche field，For example, the "Qinghai Lake Bicycle God" mentioned above，Cycling around Qinghai Lake is the dream of many old donkeys，This is enough fan base。Based on enough fans，You can get better cooperation conditions with resource parties，Make your own differentiated tourism products based on resources，Sell these products through new media，Not only does it not require large promotion costs，The fan experience process is a new round of self-propagation，Can attract more "like-minded" fans，Such a virtuous cycle。

I have never doubted that society will gradually move towards self-employment in the future，Will a corporate structure like a travel agency be needed in the future?？Segmented travel internet celebrities，The scale is not large in a specific field，Several Vs from different fields are together，Prone to collision and fan sharing。Then there are financial, personnel, administrative design and other transactional work，Corporate management is more efficient。Travel agency becomes a brokerage company for travel internet celebrities，You can find a position in the industrial value chain to survive。

From community to tribe

Community and private traffic are the hottest terms in the past two years，I have also taken many courses in this area。Bad in talent and knowledge, dare not speak nonsense，Discuss 2 sentences from the perspective of the tourism industry。

①Public domain traffic and private domain traffic

Corresponding to private domain traffic is public domain traffic，I focus it on the huge number of users of the OTA platform。Colleagues who are preparing to transform to OTA after the epidemic，I have been an OTA for 10 years，It can indeed bring a lot of GMV every year，But I have to ask a question，These customers，Is it really ours？Taobao’s traffic，Ctrip’s traffic is all from the platform。I dare to sum up，Public domain traffic will not have much value in the future，A private domain traffic has been trusting this travel agency for 10 years，Customers who place orders every year and recommend friends，Enough to be stronger than thousands of clicks per day on OTA。

How to do private domain traffic？This topic is too big for me，But you really 188bet app download don’t have to worry about public domain traffic。You are thinking about it，It is thinking about your promotion fees and commissions。

②Community economy and tribal culture

Before talking about this，Let me mention a word that is often heard, consumption rating。China’s population of 1.4 billion，Use only one dimension, purchasing power, to classify consumption，And use this as the basis for customer group positioning，Personally I don’t think it’s comprehensive enough。As mentioned above, by industry (category)、Region、Four dimensions of crowd plus consumption level，is enough to combine N kinds of communities，This is also the basis for the existence of subdivided internet celebrity Vs。

At Nanyue Hengshan last month，Chat with the leaders of the local tourism authorities，We talked about the word "tribe"。We think，In the future, consumers will focus on certain product values ​​and consumer demands (such as dark two-dimensional maid costumes)，Generate multiple "tribes" with similar interests，We should take the initiative to segment them，Continuously connect with potential customers and build trust，Ultimately forming our own "tribal culture"，The tribal leader is the internet celebrity in our field。

Ending

The epidemic is not over yet，Under the normalized prevention and control system，Coupled with the transitional interpretation of the education department (Liang Jianzhang also approved the weird regulations that do not allow parents and children to travel during the summer vacation)，The volume of tourism industry must be restored to before the epidemic，It will take a long time，The hard days of travel agencies will continue。

The epidemic will definitely end，But we can’t go back to the past。Actively interpret the epidemic earlier，Macroeconomics、Tourism Industry、Changes in consumer demand，Find the entry point where your business can survive，It is a top priority for all travel agencies。

To use an old saying: time left for the Chinese team，Not much left。

(This article is contributed by the author，Zhihui has slightly edited the content，Author WeChat: paolo_wen。Contributions welcome，You can add WeChat: tripvivid6)