Tourist sites should be at visitors' service

The National Day holiday week is a golden season for the tourism industry when the flow of tourists across the country reaches its peak.

China has entered the era of mass tourism with the number of domestic trips totaling 5.5 billion in 2018, up 10.8 percent year-on-year, and domestic tourism revenue exceeding 5 trillion yuan ($701 billion), an increase of 12.3 percent year-on year.

After 40 years of rapid economic development, China's tourism industry is shifting from high-speed growth to high quality growth. Yet the services at many tourist sites leave much to be desired. Problems such as forced consumption, poor sanitation, and inadequate safety arrangements at tourist sites in some regions mar the traveling experience of tourists.

For example, seven 5A tourist sites including Qiao's Grand Courtyard (Qiaojia Dayuan) in Shanxi province were struck off the 5A-level list by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for substandard services in July, drawing attention to the service quality of many tourist sites.

Serious safety hazards, poor sanitation, bad management and substandard services seem to be the main reasons that led to the removal of the tourist sites in Hebei, Hunan and Shaanxi provinces from the 5A list. As such, it is imperative that the tourist spots take measures to improve their facilities and services.

Tourist sites in the country should use innovative methods to improve their services. The management of tourist spots should implement the changes in accordance with the people's demand to enhance their tourism experience. By so doing, the tourist spots will not only build a good image but also attract more visitors and eventually earn more profits. For that, however, local governments and enterprises both have to make concerted efforts.

For instance, the tourist sites should introduce innovative management measures, adopt advanced technology to develop smart attractions and improve their services. Plus, they should better train their employees in a bid to catch up with the high-quality tourist sites.

The tourist spots should also use advanced technologies such as the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide tourists with more convenience and better services. Only in this way can they significantly lift the standard of their services. They could use facial recognition technology in the follow-up consumption, payment and ticket checking, and virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to enhance the experience of the tourists as well as to encourage the sharing of information about the sites on social media platforms.

Millennium City Park in Kaifeng, Henan province, for instance, has built China's first smart scenic area with cloud ecosystem, where tourists can "visit" the park and get a taste of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) on their phone.

Technology could also help the tourist sites during the rush season when the surge in the number of tourists puts tremendous pressure on their services and mars tourists' experience, as platforms using big data, AI and internet of things can facilitate real-time monitoring of data including the number and behaviors of tourists and carry out emergency response command. For example, Huangshan Mountain scenic area has introduced a reservation system based on AI data model to scientifically manage the flow of tourists and improve visitors' experience.

With the development and upgrading of the tourism industry, more people will opt for customized tours. Therefore, the managers at the tourist attractions need to stay tuned to the change in demands and offer tourists more customized services. The tourist sites have to provide services for the visitors at the right time and place to enhance their tourist experience, for which the service staff need to pay attention to details.

But the upgrading of services at scenic spots requires the participation of multiple entities, and should be guided by market demand, based on capital and government policy assistance and supported by technological innovation.

Thanks to overall social development, people's longing for quality services will become even stronger, so the tourist sites have no choice but to raise the quality of their services. Quality tourism depends on the services provided at the tourist spots, and tourists' satisfaction is critical to the development of the tourist spots.

The author is an assistant researcher at the China Tourism Academy. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.