Several recreational vehicles drive on the Duku Highway in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. LIU XIN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
The COVID-19 outbreak has not only changed people's daily lives but altered their preferences for modes of travel. Self-driving tours, thanks to their greater privacy and health safety options, have grown to be a popular choice for travelers.
Shattered tourism
Hard hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak since early last year, the global tourism industry has seen losses of up to $1.3 trillion so far, according to figures released by the World Tourism Organization last month.
Hampered by the global economic downturn, the domestic tourism market is predicted to show negative growth of 52 percent last year, when final figures are released. Revenue for the year is expected to total 2.76 trillion yuan ($428 billion) compared with 6.6 trillion yuan for the previous year, according to the China Tourism Academy.
With inbound and outbound group tourism suspended and group travel to domestic destinations still under strict controls, self-driving tours have boomed over the past year.
Figures from Qunar, an online travel agency, show the sector saw its first recovery as early as May. Reservations for self-driving packages for the five-day May Day holiday increased 20 percent year-on-year on its platform, starting a remarkable revival of the then struggling industry.
Searches and views of self-driving tours for the Spring Festival holiday on Qunar's platform this year rose by 80 percent compared with those of the New Year's Day holiday, indicating people's ever-growing desire for a safer and cleaner travel option.
"Its popularity comes mainly from travelers' prudence in traveling, knowing the outbreak could resurge," said Dai Huihui, associate researcher with the China Tourism Academy.
"They prefer safer and more private trips at this time."
Travelers favor trips with their family members or people they're familiar with to reduce unnecessary contact with other people, Dai added. "They can enjoy more flexible trips as well."
A survey from the academy found that nearly 50 percent of travelers for the New Year's Day holiday took their trips by driving cars.
Beijing traveler Zhang Li and his friends visit a forest in Medog county, the Tibet autonomous region, during a self-driving trip in November. TIAN ZHU/FOR CHINA DAILY
Growing desire
In March, the tourism academy and fellow online travel agency Trip.com released a report saying that survey respondents showed a greater passion and willingness for driving than several traditionally popular means of travel, including taking flights, bullet trains and buses.
The survey was based on 15,000 questionnaires collected from 100 cities. Over 41 percent of people surveyed said they preferred traveling by car once the outbreak is under control.
Bullet trains and flights accounted for 29 percent and 14 percent.
"Taking flights or bullet trains are common ways for people to travel. However, these transportation options have posed more strict requirements on passengers during the outbreak, such as making temperature checks and trip-long mask-wearing mandatory, at the expense of flexibility and comfort," said Zhang Yu, vice-general manager of online travel agency Lvmama's vacation department.
"That's why more people choose to drive cars; they can go anywhere they want in their cars," he said.
Zhang added that a lack of a sense of security is another consideration pushing people to choose self-driving.
"Travelers have no idea about their peers when taking public transportation, making them feel unsafe, even though airline and train operators have already tested these passengers," he said.
"On the other hand, people usually take self-driving tours with friends or those they're familiar with because it makes them feel safer."
Recreational vehicles are the most popular option for self-driving holidays due to their functional space and the independence they provide.
In a September report by the tourism academy, the Saic Maxus Automotive RV Technology, a one-stop service provider in recreational cars, had a 399 percent year-on-year rise for RV rental orders in May. Year-on-year growth in June was 220 percent and in July 218 percent.
Destinations with long coastlines, vast grassland and plains, such as Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu province, and Hainan province in southern China, are favored by self-driving travelers.
Liu Lili, a 32-year-old from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, went on four self-driving tours with her family last year.
"We were hesitant to travel with the COVID-19 still out there, but my three-year-old son had been crying about taking a trip. So we went on our first self-driving tour in June when it was warmer," she said. "We rented an SUV and went to Huzhou (in Zhejiang), about 80 kilometers from Hangzhou, and spent a weekend there.
"My husband drove the car and we stopped whenever we saw a beautiful place to have a rest and take photos. It's quite flexible and comfortable for families like ours, traveling with kids."
Then in August, the National Day holiday and last month, the family drove to Moganshan, also in Zhejiang and several places in Gansu and Xiamen in Fujian province.
RV travelers take a break at a camp site along the Duku Highway in Xinjiang. LIU XIN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
Economic benefits
The prosperous self-driving market is not only a result of tightened travel policies during the COVID-19 outbreak, but an inevitable result of the country's developing economy and people's desire for a better life.
Guanyan Tianxia, a consulting company headquartered in Beijing, released an industry report in October saying that the self-driving market is estimated to reach 125.3 billion yuan this year, a year-on-year rise of 10.4 percent.
Rising car ownership and the number of drivers, in addition to people's growing preference for self-driving trips, are vital to the development of the market.
Figures from the Ministry of Public Security said 360 million vehicles were registered nationwide through June 2020, with automobiles comprising 270 million of that number. In 2019, the number of registered automobiles was 260 million.
The growing automobile market includes products centered around self-driving. Their development has also brought tremendous benefits to the nation's economy.
Dai Huihui, the academy's associate researcher, said the growing self-driving sector has boosted industries including car rentals, motels, car maintenance and insurance, as well as the construction of camping sites.
Xie Yingmin, chairman of Shandong's Self-driving Tourism Association, said that once people go for a self-driving tour, they will have many more after experiencing the sense of and happiness the trips bring.
"Driving cars for travel can also boost custom for tourist attractions, gas stations and the insurance industry," he said.
Xie took Shandong province as an example. During the eight-day National Day holiday break last year, self-driving travelers went for three-day tours and spent about 5,000 yuan on average.
Figures from the province's transportation bureau show that about 21 million cars passed through the province's expressways over the break, 30 percent of which were manned by self-driving travelers.
"We multiplied the number of self-driving cars by three days, the average length they spent on trips, and concluded that self-driving tours brought in over 30 billion yuan to the province," he said.
Official support
Allowing for the tremendous potential of the self-driving sector, the government has released notices that offer guidance to industry insiders operating in the sector.
In 2019, the General Office of the State Council launched a notice to boost consumption concerning culture and tourism. In the notice, the council encouraged administrative units and companies to improve their self-driving services while developing products that are more appealing to travelers.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism also released standards to classify self-driving destinations and camping sites for recreational cars in September 2019. The standards require higher quality of self-driving planning, public services and emergency responses, and are of great significance to the improvement of the nation's self-driving industry.
Preferential policies are also available to self-driving travelers. For example, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in northwestern China has offered over 20,000 coupons nationwide to self-drivers, who can enjoy discounts on tickets to A-rated attractions for an unlimited number of uses in one year.
Travelers can also receive discounts on services including accommodations, laundry and car parking in the region by using the coupons.
"With COVID-19 vaccination in process and tourism in recovery, Chinese people will show an ever-stronger desire for traveling to 'find their trips back' this year," said Dai Huihui, the researcher.
"Travelers will stress ways to enjoy higher-quality traveling, thus making self-driving more popular in coming years. The government and travel agencies alike are making efforts to promote quality development of the self-driving industry by organizing industrial associations and planning more attractive routes and products."
Lu Lu, vice-chairman of the China Tourism Automobile and Cruise Association, said at a conference held in Jiangsu province in August that the domestic self-driving sector has a promising future even after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lu said the sector can grow to be a main driver for tourism development while still continuously meeting people's increasing needs for quality services.
