Students to be vital cogs in travel sector

College students born between 1995 and 2000 are becoming a vital new part of the dynamic travel market in China, with most of the young students making their first summer trips after enrolling in colleges, a new study said.

Though the motivation for making tours is relatively high among college students, their choices are limited due to economic constraints with price being the major criteria for booking flight tickets, said the study conducted by Qunar, an online travel firm owned by Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency.

During summer vacations, students tend to choose flights that depart between midnight and 2 am, as well as between 5 am and 9 am. The number of bookings of red-eye and budget flights is nearly three times higher than other regular flights, the Qunar study said.

Companies are also introducing low-price options to attract the young consumer group. In late May, Qunar teamed up with 33 domestic and foreign carriers, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, United Airlines and All Nippon Airways, to launch discounted prices for students on more than 3,000 routes, along with the concept of student flight tickets.

Students who have registered successfully with their identification documents on the platform will be able to book cheaper tickets. For instance, a one-way flight ticket from Guangzhou to Beijing can be as cheap as 460 yuan ($66.7), which is about half of the price tag - 862 yuan - for a second-class seat on a high-speed train. Qunar said such low-price flight tickets compared with high-speed trains may change the travel habits of college students and create user stickiness.

"Low travel costs may stimulate college students to travel more frequently, and enable them to have higher budgets for spending on accommodation and destination entertainments," said Sun Peiming, director of e-commerce at Sichuan Airlines.

Last year, along with graduate students, there were 37 million enrolled college students in the country, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. In 2018, students registered on Qunar flew 4.4 times annually on average, higher than the average of 3.45 times nationwide, according to the company.

"Low prices have a decisive impact on their choices. Companies that provide cheaper options will attract more students and gain the initiative in seizing those future backbone consumers," said Liu Simin, a researcher at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Candice Chen, a graduate studying in Beijing, traveled with a few of her friends to Japan in January. Despite living in Beijing, she bought return flight tickets that departed from the nearby city Tianjin to Japan, and the return tickets cost less than 1,500 yuan in total.

"It's a great deal as I can save more money for shopping in Japan. It's convenient to take a high-speed train from Beijing to Tianjin, which only took half an hour, and then I caught a taxi to go to Tianjin airport," she said.

Last year, the per capita spending of college students on flights edged up 2.6 percent year-on-year, the study said without disclosing specific numbers, and indicated their high sensitivity on flight ticket prices. Despite that they try to save more money in buying flight tickets, college students prefer to stay at better hotels.

Last year, the per capita spending of college students on hotels reached 234 yuan per night, jumping 17.5 percent over the previous year, and the growth rate was higher than the older generation. Besides, the report found that students are likely to spend twice the amount of money on hotels two years after graduation.

Qunar has cooperated with more than 6,000 hotels, hostels and bed-and-breakfast services and launched discounted hotel prices for students.