On September 21, Liang Haoyu, the executive vice president of Global Tone Communication Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., officially released the Sichuan Tourism Big Data Report: Panda Hot Search CGI Report at the summit forum on the World Opportunities for Sichuan Tourism in the New Era. The report analyzed tourism big data to understand the travel needs of outsider tourists as well as Sichuan people in order to create a "data + tourism" model.

CGI, a comprehensive index of brand influence, is generated through the in-depth analysis of global public big data. Moreover, it's the only big-data list supported by global open-source big data. The Panda Hot Search CGI Report combined CGI and Ctrip big data to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Sichuan tourism.

Traveling to Sichuan is more attractive to young people

According to the report, from January to August of 2018, the people born in the 1990s across the country are the fondest of traveling to Sichuan, accounting for 26%, followed by those born in the 1980s, accounting for 23%. Overall, Sichuan is more attractive to young people.

According to the CGI list, the top ten tourist attractions in Sichuan are Yellow Dragon Scenic Area, Jiuzhaigou Valley, Dujiangyan, Mount Emei, Panda Base, Mount Qingcheng, Broad and Narrow Alley, Sanxingdui, Wuhou Temple and Leshan Giant Buddha. The top two are natural landscapes, but the rest consist mainly of cultural landscapes. It also shows that the influence of Sichuan's exquisite natural landscape brand is more prominent but that of cultural landscapes is generally stronger.

However, on social networking platforms the attention of outsider tourists is somewhat different. Sichuan's "Web celebrity" panda entered the top three directly from fifth place in the comprehensive CGI list. This also showed that the pandas are a hot topic among netizens.

From an age perspective, the preferences of outsider tourists vary greatly. People of middle age and above like to visit Dujiangyan Scenic Area, Mount Emei, Du Fu Thatched Cottage, Leshan Giant Buddha and Wuhou Temple. The young people born in the 1990s and 2000s are fond of the Panda Base, Chunxi Road, Daocheng Yading, Hailuogou and Mount Siguniang.

According to the CGI, the top ten Sichuan cuisine that outsider tourists pay close attention to are hot pot, Chuanchuanxiang, spicy hot pot, bean jelly, Mapo tofu, Bing Fen, double-cooked pork slices, Maocai, Kung Pao chicken and Guokui.

How do outsider tourists spend in Sichuan?

The data showed that outsider tourists travelling to Sichuan mainly prefer star-rated hotels, accounting for 70%. Among them, those choosing four-star hotels account for more than 30%. The increased demand for hotels among such tourists has also become an important opportunity for the development of Sichuan's tourism industry.

In terms of the tourism expenditure, tourists born in the 2000s spend the most in Sichuan, with the per-capita tourism expenditure of approximately RMB 1,800; followed by those born in the 1970s and '80s who can afford tourism, spending approximately RMB 1,600 per capita.

Those born in the 1990s spend relatively less, about RMB 1,400 per capita. Thanks to the preferential policy on tourism for the elderly in Sichuan, tourists born in the 1950s and '60s spend the least, with the per-capita cost at approximately RMB 1,200.

Capricorn Sichuan people most love to travel

The data showed that, unlike the national situation, Sichuan people born in the 1980s prefer to travel, accounting for 27% of the total population; followed by the post-90s generation, accounting for 22%. The majority of the post- '80s generation have established families, so family-group travel in Sichuan is a very mainstream way. From the perspective of the constellation, the top three tourists who love to travel outside Sichuan are Capricorn, Libra and Scorpio.

The top ten cities most popular among Sichuan people are Sanya, Chongqing, Beijing, Lijiang, Guilin, Kunming, Xiamen, Xi'an, Shanghai and Guiyang. Island tours and short trips are preferred travel methods for Sichuan people.

The top five scenic spots that Sichuan people love to visit are Shanghai Disney Resort, Forbidden City, Gulangyu Island, Mount Huangshan and Chimelong Safari Park. The choice of Disney and Chimelong also showed that parent-child travel and family travel are common tourist needs in Sichuan.

Sichuan people travelling outside the province also prefer star-rated hotels, and more than 60% of them choose star-rated hotels. Additionally, about 30% of Sichuan people choose economic chain hotels.

[Wang Yanghui, an analyst from CGI Big Data Research Institute]

Editor: Lei Qiang