At the recent Smart Tourism Development Conference, the National Smart Tourism Development Report 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the China Tourism Research Institute showed that by June 2023, the number of online travel booking users in China had reached 454 million, accounting for 42.1% of the total number of Internet users. There are more than 150000 smart hotels, smart hotels and home stays in China, accounting for 48.6% of those established in the past 1-3 years. The total number of patents related to smart tourism in China increased from 99 in 2012 to 731 in 2021. Smart tourism products are increasingly abundant, and the smart tourism industry is booming.
"Smart tourism is a new application of new technology in tourism." Dong Xin, general manager of China Mobile Communications Group, said that it is necessary to systematically build new information infrastructure and innovatively build a new information service system. In recent years, the network and communication infrastructure for the development of smart tourism in China has become increasingly perfect. So far, 3382 4A and 5A scenic spots in China have achieved 5G network coverage, accounting for 89% of the total number of 4A and 5A scenic spots. China Mobile has created nearly 2000 5G+smart tourism applications that integrate culture and tourism and combine reality with fiction.
Smart tourism makes people travel more convenient and experience more abundant, and tourists are willing to "taste new things": enter the 5G Grand Canal Immersive Experience Zone of China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and through high-tech interactive technologies such as LED screen panoramic view and ultra-high definition vision with hundreds of billions of pixels, tourists can "one-stop" immerse in 17 cities along the canal; At night, with the launch of the cruise ship, a grand feast of sound, light and shadow was opened, allowing tourists to experience the charm of "technology+culture"; In EX Future Science and Technology Museum in Dalian, Liaoning Province, tourists are led by bionic robots to enter the "future world" and experience the future life
The Report shows that more than 80% of the respondents are willing to spend more money to experience tourism technology, and more than half of the tourists want to improve the intelligent level of tourism services. Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Research Institute, said that the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence have reduced the time cost of people's travel decisions. After tourists arrive at the destination quickly, it should be the direction of smart tourism development to help them deeply appreciate the beauty of local nature, culture and development. With the help of new technology, the cultural and tourism resources of a place can be activated and revitalized, and the cultural charm can be radiated, so as to continuously enhance the attraction of tourism. "Scientific and technological services have not yet fully met people's new demand for high-quality tourism experience. Therefore, intelligence has become a new outlet in the tourism industry," said Dai Bin.
The 14th Five Year Plan for Tourism Development proposes to accelerate the promotion of smart tourism characterized by digitalization, networking and intelligence, deepen "Internet+tourism", and expand the application of new technology scenarios. Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed and announced the first batch of "5G+Smart Tourism" application pilot projects, including 30 pilot projects such as the smart opening of the "Palace Museum" small program, the 5G+Beidou smart tourism of Baiyangdian Smart Scenic Spot, and the 5G+smart tourism of Liangzhu Ruins, presenting the trend of coordinated development of coastal and inland areas led by Shanghai, Jiangsu and other key regions. In terms of application scenarios, it mainly focuses on traditional tourism sites, while expanding to new scenarios such as cultural heritage protection monitoring and public cultural sites.
