Produced by Burning Finance

Author | Wang Yuexia Sun Meina

Editor | Zhao Lei

The May Day holiday is approaching, and the young people's mood of traveling is unbearable again. Recently, the "May 1" train tickets have been sold more than three times the year before, and the number of domestic trips has reached 2 million, which has rushed to the hot search.

saving money, convenience, safety and fun are the most important elements in making travel plans, but they are also very difficult to take into account, especially at present, various platforms and products are mixed, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, making travel extremely complicated.

Tian Xi is an experienced traveler. Travel-related software alone takes up one page of her mobile phone. Every link of her trip, such as travel strategy, reservation, transportation, food, car rental by car, travel assistant, etc., is classified into different categories, and she puts relevant apps in it, even the map takes up a grid. She named it "Easy to use map".

each grid includes 4-9 apps. in the "transportation", apart from the common places to go, flying pigs and Ctrip, she also collected many niche softwares, such as Sky Tour, iGola Goose Riding Tour, Flixbus, Rail Planner, etc. The first two are low-cost air ticket platforms, and the last two are European ticket purchasing softwares. These apps are trivial and repetitive, but Tian Xi feels that each one is useful.

The 221 Young People's Quality Tourism Report released by Ma Honeycomb, a travel community, mentioned that Generation Z loves individuality and values quality. More post-9s and post-s are no longer confined to mass travel channels. At the moment when information is highly enjoyed and new platforms are rising, they are more willing to explore more forms of travel on Douban, Little Red Book and Tik Tok.

On May 1 this year, Sining signed up for a tour to the northwest through the official micro-signal of the tour group. The route was called "Summer in Qilian", and it traveled all the way from Zhangye, Gansu to Xining, Qinghai, passing through more than 1 scenic spots. The reason for signing up for this tour group is that all the itinerary maps pushed by WeChat official account poke her.

in contrast, the old travel platform, which started with traditional channels, has no bright spots in route optimization, content personalization or even cost performance. "If you brush down in a row, you can't see the attraction." Before signing up for the above tour group, Sining also went to Ctrip and searched for route products, but he didn't want to place an order.

being attracted by the content shared by others, and then generating demand, is a favorite way for young people to travel today, and it is also a low-cost traffic business. The established online travel platforms such as Ctrip originally designed products to meet the "search and reservation" needs of tourists, so the cost of obtaining customers is much higher.

relatively speaking, the products offered on Ctrip have higher prices. According to the data of Analysys Qian Fan, the proportion of people with medium or above consumption level on Ctrip platform is 82.2%, and in the past five years, the annual compound growth rate of Ctrip's consumer users who spend more than 5, yuan has reached 29%.

however, the coverage of the mid-to-high-end market is not large enough, and other platforms will also have strong competitive advantages with the help of traffic advantages. Fastdata Pole pointed out in the China Online Travel Industry Report 22 that low-cost traffic is the core competitiveness of Meituan's online travel field. With this advantage, the US Mission is fierce in the sinking market. In 22, Meituan's revenue from shops and wine tours was 21.25 billion yuan, exceeding Ctrip's total revenue of 18.3 billion yuan.

In addition, more than 3% of online travel users are post-9s. Compared with users of other age groups, post-9s travel more frequently, and their income and consumption power have huge room for growth.

this means that if you catch young people, you will catch the beating pulse of the online travel market. China's "China Online Travel Industry Analysis Report in 22-Market Depth Analysis and Investment Prospect Research" predicts that China's OTA industry will develop towards youthfulness, periphery and diversification in the future. Under the new industry structure, young consumers are bound to be diverted, and the concentration of industry advantages will decline. In addition to brand awareness, cost performance, service experience and personalized content will become the comprehensive factors for young people to weigh.

Ctrip actually has a clear understanding of this. As Ctrip wrote in the risk factors disclosed in the prospectus, "(other platforms) use the traffic they have obtained and lead users of their other service products to their travel services and further achieve synergy." To this end, on the eve of listing in Hong Kong, Ctrip released the strategy of "tourism marketing hub" and began to shift from channel diversion to content distribution.

However, at present, Ctrip still focuses on high-net-worth users. Despite the high brand awareness, large user scale and many travel products, it is no longer the absolute first choice among young consumers. In the face of personalized emerging channels, Ctrip's advantages in terms of price, user experience and content richness have been discounted.

On the eve of May Day, we chatted with several young people who chose different ways to travel. Some of them met with love through club organization, some trusted Zhixing because of grabbing tickets, and some carpooled in go on road trip on WeChat group ...

Everyone has different interests and demands. * * * The same thing is that established online travel platforms such as Ctrip are no longer the first choice for these Z generation young people to travel, and more and more travel channels in the market have become their new choices.

Molly | 28-year-old public relations

Before joining the outdoor club, I was also an ordinary fan of punching cards in scenic spots. Like many people, going out to play is to book a ticket at 1236, then book a hotel ticket with Ctrip, go shopping for three or two days, and send a few exquisite friends circle. But I always feel that something is missing from such a trip.

This year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, I finally got the chance to go to Kubuqi. I reported a low-priced group of 398 yuan in WeChat official account. On the evening of March 3th, I left Beijing with dozens of troops and returned to Beijing on April 3rd. The official only provided tents, fares, a breakfast, and food and water. I think it's OK. After all, I care more about people, prices and scenery in my peers than food and shelter.

The first time I walked in the endless desert, I was really touched. My mind was blank and I was impressed by a strong charm of nature. Especially when I saw desert rabbits and lizards running past my eyes, I was so happy that I forgot to take pictures.

The outdoor clubs are usually attended by young students and office workers, and the team leader is also young. My team leader was very humorous. He took everyone to play ice-breaking games and camp bonfires, and the atmosphere was very good. So although I didn't eat delicious food or sleep in a comfortable hotel, I gained many friends and accidentally met love.

when the bus first entered kubuqi on the morning of the 1st, I had altitude sickness, and I didn't take any medicine with me. I really regretted going there at that moment. At this time, a boy in the back patted me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of medicine. I had a rest and my body slowly recovered. After I got off the bus, I quickly thanked others. It happened that he was alone, so those two days naturally went hand in hand ...

Well, we signed up for the "Five-Day Tour of Long Island" of Chaoshang Club during the May Day holiday, and I believe it will also be a wonderful travel experience.

Book Letter | 29-year-old Game Development

It is said that Tibet is one of the places that a person must visit all his life, and I have always wanted to see it.

in March this year, I left my last company and began to brew this big plan. Because I have been admiring National Highway 318 for a long time, I gave up flying to Lhasa, thinking that it would be best to find a friend to drive by car. Unfortunately, none of my friends around me have any plans to go out to play. For migrant workers, it seems that they don't have such a large amount of time to travel except to resign.

After introduction, I scanned the code into a WeChat group of "Travel Companion in Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai". After talking to the administrator, I realized that this is the user group of a travel agency. There are 1 similar groups, each with 5 people, which can be understood as the "private domain traffic" of this travel agency.

So I formed a four-person group with three other netizens, and the travel agency equipped us with a post-9s driver and team leader. Three days before departure, we formed a small group and got to know each other a lot.

In mid-March, everyone gathered in Chengdu and started a 1-day visit to go on road trip, Sichuan and Tibet. On the morning of departure, it was drizzling and the sky was gray, but it didn't affect my excitement.

At about noon, we arrived near Luding Bridge and had our first meal in a Sichuan restaurant. I have to say that Sichuan cuisine is really the best among the eight major cuisines. We friends from all corners of the country actually like to eat Sichuan cuisine. I crossed the Luding Bridge with trepidation, and arrived at Moxi Ancient Town in the evening. After a short stroll, I was so tired that I fell asleep soon after supper.

at 78: on the third morning, the car drove to the 18th bend of Tianlu at an altitude of 3,99 meters, and it really felt like "once climbing to the top of the peek, one would see, the other mountains all appear dwarfs under the sky.". At noon, I went to Litang County to see what local conditions and customs brought up such a special boy as Ding Zhen. The tour leader told us that after Ding Zhen became angry, many tourists asked to come and see him.

When crossing the Nujiang River at turn 72, it really tested the driver's skills. There were many sharp turns, and there were no guardrails in some places, so my heart beat faster.

All the way from Bomi to Linzhi, it's really like shuttling through a primeval forest. It's just a cloudy day, full of clouds, and it's beautiful! After entering Lhasa, looking at the blue sky, white clouds and blue lake in front of you, you will feel that heaven is actually on earth!

There is a saying in Lhasa that "there are four seasons in one day, and different days in ten miles". Fortunately, none of our party is sick, mainly because we have prepared clothes for spring, summer, autumn and winter. Moreover, it may be because of our peers. The ten days together were very harmonious, and the team leader did not force consumption. Almost all of us chose food and accommodation, which I am quite satisfied with.

Generally speaking, it was a good experience, or maybe I was lucky enough to "find the right place". I will continue to try to bypass the platform and find a local travel agency directly in the future.

Mango | 24-year-old civil servant

I was a little surprised when I learned that Zhixing was not the official App of 1236.

after all, in the App store of Huawei's mobile phone, the first App that popped up when searching for "1236" was Zhixing. At that time, I took it for granted that it was the official software, and it was not until I talked with my colleague Xiao Lai next door about grabbing tickets that it appeared in the App Store of my colleague's iPhone. 1236 was the first app under the search keyword.

The bigger reason for this misunderstanding may be that this wisdom is quite useful.

I, who live in Hohhot, rarely wait to grab tickets, especially after the opening of the Beijing-Zhangjiao high-speed railway line at the end of 219, so I don't have to worry about not getting tickets. Zhixing is entirely responsible for the ticket grabbing. I haven't worried about it since I set the number of trains and the time for pre-grabbing tickets in advance. After the sale, I will be sent a successful message containing the number of trains and seats on time at 1236, which is very smooth.

when I made an appointment to grab tickets for the first time, I saw that I had a greater chance of success if I spent money to speed up the ticket, because I never missed the experience of grabbing tickets, so I felt that I didn't need to spend the money. I didn't expect to win the ticket for free the first time, and then I decided to choose free ordinary acceleration.

when chatting with many friends, I found that among Ctrip, Qunar, Feizhu and Zhixing, Zhixing has the highest popularity, and everyone agrees that it has the highest success rate in grabbing tickets. This conclusion may not be representative, but it is also a true feedback.

Before New Year's Day this year, Xiao Lai and I wanted to go to Guangzhou for the New Year's Eve. In order to save money, we missed the rush hour and chose to leave on the 1st and return on the 4th. After comparing Ctrip, Qunar and Zhixing, we finally chose Zhixing with the lowest price and a good time period. In addition, the fuel cost was 75 yuan, and the other two platforms started in 1 yuan.

Near the New Year's Day, the epidemic spread frequently, and a colleague who went back to visit relatives in Liaoning was repatriated at the railway station. After knowing this, we chose to refund the ticket for fear of accidents. At that time, Zhixing had not opened the process of refunding the ticket due to the epidemic, and if we went through the normal refund procedures, we would not get much money back.

I found on the Weibo that many friends from Beijing to Guangzhou are facing this problem. Some friends came up with the idea to call the authorities to ask for solutions. After calling, Air China responded that tickets before the 3rd can be refunded free of charge, and tickets after the 3rd will be charged related handling fees. However, since we bought a package ticket, we can get a full refund. After I reported this situation to the customer service of Zhixing, the next day, the refund page opened a window for free refund of the epidemic, and the refund arrived a week later. During the outbreak of the Spring Festival epidemic in 22, it took me nearly a month to get a refund of the ticket where I bought it.

After this incident, I have more confidence in Zhixing, and I have already grabbed the ticket to go home on May Day with Zhixing.

Amat | 27-year-old marketing plan

I used to use Ctrip and where to go. When I was a student, the memory of my mobile phone was limited, so it was unnecessary to download two or three for the problems that I could solve with one App. The travel plan provided by Ctrip still met my requirements. More importantly, there were always coupons available for tickets to hotels and scenic spots, and it was cheaper to buy package tickets.

But in 217, my favorite star Cecilia Han accused Ctrip of bundling consumption in Weibo. After this incident, I began to try other channels to buy tickets, and the number of times I opened Ctrip became less and less.

during this period, I also tried other platforms, and the experience was similar to Ctrip. The pages were gaudy and there were many hidden consumption items, so I accidentally fell into the pit, and finally I chose 1236, which was relatively difficult to use. I believe that all the friends who used 1236 a few years ago have a deep understanding. The strange verification code and the system that crashed without a word made me seriously doubt whether 1236 was the official software.

fortunately, 1236 still pays attention to the user experience, and has conducted many times after hot search on these issues.