Forum Review | Reconstructing the “New Core” of Study Tour Industry and Starting a New Chapter of Study Tour Together

2025-06-04

The study tour industry is booming, following the influx of this hot new industry is not only more and more rich products, but also due to the interaction and co-creation of a series of problems brought about by the chaos, serious homogenization.

At the 33rd Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF), the 2nd Study Tour Theme Forum with the theme of “Starting a New Chapter of Study Tours Together” started from the segmentation of “study tours” and invited industry guests to break through the boundaries with the vision of globalization, open-mindedness, and open-mindedness to the future. With a global vision, an open mind and a vision for the future, the forum invites guests from the industry to break through the boundaries, and to deconstruct, reconstruct and build the “new core” of the study tour industry under the ambition of promoting global cultural exchanges.
 

Study tours are a very futuristic industry, not only because the core subject of study tours is the young generation, who shoulder the responsibility of creating a better future for the world, but also because study tours can break the geographic and spatial limitations, so that mankind's “hope for the future” to travel thousands of miles in addition to reading thousands of books and hold open-minded discernment, the Forum! We have a long way to go.
 

01

Deconstruction

Deconstructing complex problems to get to the essence
 

In 2013, the National Tourism and Leisure Outline (2013-2020) proposed the idea of “gradually implementing study tours for primary and secondary school students”, and study tours were formally written into national policies.
 

At the end of 2016, the Ministry of Education, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Tourism Bureau, the Ministry of Culture, the Central Committee of the League and other 11 national ministries and commissions jointly issued the “Opinions on Promoting the Study Travel of Elementary and Middle School Students,” clearly emphasizing that: study travel is a combination of out-of-school educational activities combining research study and travel experience, which is planned and organized by the education department and the school, and is carried out by means of collective travel, centralized accommodation and food. The Opinions stipulate that all primary and secondary schools should incorporate study travel into the school's education and teaching plan, carefully design study travel activity courses, and flexibly arrange study travel time according to the education and teaching plan.
 

In November 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Notice on Promoting the Healthy Development of Study Tourism Business of Travel Agencies, which focuses on promoting the development of study tourism industry, standardizing the behavior of travel agencies and consumers in contracting performance, strengthening the safety management and risk prevention of study tourism, and strengthening the supervision of study tourism market and other four aspects of the nine measures; and explains the background of the introduction of this “Notice”: study tourism is a new industry of the integration of education and tourism that has developed rapidly in recent years, and plays a positive role in the current study tourism market has also seen some unnoticeable chaotic phenomena. And explain the background of the Notice: study tourism is the rapid development in recent years, the integration of education and tourism, the new industry, in the rapid development, play a positive role at the same time, the current study tourism market also appeared some can not be ignored chaos, part of the study tourism product advertising and promotion is not true, the quality of the content is not high, the price of the product does not match the services provided, and there are individual products have safety risks.
 

As we all know, study tour is an innovative way to educate people with “education + tourism”, which plays an important role in promoting the improvement of students' core qualities.GITF2025 set up a theme forum for study tours, which deconstructed the trend with top-level thinking, reshaped the logic with practical cases, and explored the market with a global vision. ...... In this forum, the guests of each deep-rooted research and study theme destination deepen their communication and understanding, and jointly search for the code to open a new chapter of study tours.
 

Dr. Wu Xiaoxia, a think tank expert of Guangzhou Research and Learning Practice Association, pointed out in her speech “Breaking Homogenization: How to Reshape Tourism Competitiveness by Curriculum-based Research and Learning Tourism” that it is necessary to dig deeper into the needs of the customer groups to crack homogenization, empower tourists through the educational connotation, resource value and humanistic stories behind the scenery, and enhance the research and value of tourism. She put forward the concept of “tourism curricularization”, emphasizing that it should focus on fun, practice and diversity, so as to avoid turning tourism into a boring “classroom” teaching.
 

02

Refactoring

Improving Scalability from Passwords
 

The development of study tours has long been opened and entered the era of rapid development. According to the analysis of “2025-2030 Study Tour Industry In-depth Research and Future Development Status Trend Forecast Report” by CRRP Industry Research Institute, in recent years, the market scale of China's study tour market has shown a rapid growth trend.In 2023, the market scale of China's study tour industry has reached 146.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 61.6%.In 2024, the market scale was further enlarged to 179.1 billion yuan with a year-on-year growth of 21.9%. It is expected that the market size will continue to grow in 2025, with a growth rate of more than 15%. In the long run, the national study tour market scale is expected to reach 242.2 billion yuan in 2026, and by 2028, the market scale of China's study tour industry is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan. This series of data fully demonstrates that the study tour market has huge development potential and broad market space.
 

The essence of study tours is to learn while traveling, and the core of learning is actually culture. Under the background of further acceleration of global exchanges, study tours are also deepening cultural identity under the global perspective, and thus realizing a high degree of empowerment for people and the study tour industry. Under the global vision, the content of study tours is becoming more in-depth and extensive. For the “operators” who are reconstructing the content and product experience of study tours, this is also a profound insight that the industry needs to think about the development of study tours in a higher dimension.

At the forum, Yu Li, representative of the Hong Kong and Macau Youth Mainland Study Tour Alliance, introduced the ten-year history of the Alliance since its establishment and its exploration in promoting exchanges between Hong Kong and Macau youths and the Mainland. “How to turn resources into opportunities for cooperation? Our alliance has a few special core activities.” Yu Li introduced, the first is held annually Hong Kong and Macao youth mainland study tours Alliance General Assembly, the General Assembly to fully demonstrate the rotating chairman of the local study tours and create a theme of the distinctive study tours and exchange activities, and held annually “resource matchmaking meeting” is also to promote cooperation within the alliance plays a very large role. At present, the alliance has released more than 100 study tours, which are basically through the 31 member units of the local travel study institutions, study bases for the collection, by the alliance through the theme of the year for screening and release. “We hope to create a 'global youth study resources integration benchmark' in order to promote the global dissemination of Chinese culture.” Yu Li said.
 

Under the global vision, culture is borderless, and so is music. Xing Daqi, representative of the Beijing Office of the Polish Tourism Board, who appeared later in the forum, shared the road of building Polish music study tours with the theme of “IP creation in study tours, Poland pries China's cultural tourism market with Chopin music tours”. “Poland has utilized 200 years to create such a music brand as 'Chopin', and in the process of building the Chopin IP, we have refined such a theme - the unending feelings of family and country. ”

Xing Daqi introduced: Chopin was very patriotic in his life, and he composed many songs and music that missed his motherland, so Chopin reflected his love for his motherland with his music and his whole life trajectory, that is, “endless feelings of home and country”. Under the world-renowned Chopin IP, Poland has designed a rich Chopin music study tour itinerary by “following in the footsteps of Chopin”, which is favored by young people and many middle-aged and old-aged customers. “In fact, Poland is a country that is not only about Chopin and history, but also very rich in natural resources.” Xing Daqi said that the eastern part of Poland has the Mazury Lake area, which is the “Lake of a Thousand Lakes”, and is very suitable for the training and study courses of various water sports such as sailing, yachting and kayaking; and the mountainous areas of Poland, especially in the south and southwestern parts of the country, have abundant hot springs, which is very suitable for the middle-aged and elderly guests to experience.
 

In the roundtable forum, the in-depth dialog on “Empowering the Growth of Hong Kong and Macao Youth with Cultural Identity” also focused on the topic of Mainland studies for Hong Kong and Macao youth. Guests believed that the cultures of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in the Greater Bay Area have “similarities” and “differences”, and it is this characteristic that lays the foundation for cultural exchanges in the Bay Area.

Li Xieju, executive director of Guangdong Provincial Travel Agency Industry Association and vice president of Guangzhou Study and Practice Association, believes that Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area is very special, the three places are the birthplace of Lingnan culture, the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures, and the practice of “one country, two systems”, with a high degree of internationalization, and the same clan and the same ethnicity, all speak Cantonese. Research as an effective and beneficial way of national education has given rise to rich and meaningful research products. In Guangdong, 10 thematic cultural heritage tour products, 40 boutique products, and 70 red tourism products have been designed; the Guangzhou Research Association has set up more than 160 research bases in Guangzhou, which cover all the research routes, so the resources are quite rich; in addition, there are 80,000 students in Macao, 600,000 in Hong Kong, and 2 million in Guangzhou, so the resources are quite rich. students in Macao, 600,000 students in Hong Kong, 2 million students in Guangzhou, more than 19 million students in Guangdong Province, and more than 300 million students in the whole country, so the source of customers is quite rich.
 

President Li also recounted an interesting question he recently encountered, “A teacher from the International Institute of Tourism asked me a question, ‘What are the best things for students of the Hong Kong Institute of Tourism to do after graduation, and nowadays the career is nothing more than working in a hotel’? I told him that there is another good career, that is, research instructor, and there is a big market for it”.
 

President Li suggested that the Bay Area study market is very large, a lot of resources, but to promote the development of Hong Kong and Macao youth study tours to the mainland, the education sector and schools between the three places should strengthen the links between the three places should also set up relevant organizations, the introduction of a number of relevant standards, in particular, the safety and security measures, including insurance in all aspects. President Li also introduced: Guangzhou Study Tour Association took the lead in the introduction of local standards in the country's contractors service standards landmarks, this standard in the whole of Guangdong Province to promote, and was well received.
 

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Alumni Presidents' Association Chairman Li Jingwen believes that from “tour” to “learning” to enrich the connotation of study tours, such as more cultural experience activities, so that students can feel the Chinese culture and increase emotional resonance; it is proposed to increase the interactive mechanism, with a precise curriculum, and the study tours will be thematic and systematized. Study tour products will be thematized and systematized.
 

“Last year about 3,000 Macau students came to Guangdong to do study tours.” Liu Xiaofeng, deputy secretary-general of the Macau Association of Travel Agents, spoke with figures to prove the demand for study tours to the mainland by Macau youths, and he believed that safety and security were also crucial.

Zhuo Yousen, Executive Director General of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Study Tour Research Institute, analyzed some of the shortcomings of study tours in terms of cultural exchanges and other aspects: “We have to take our time and don't be in too much of a hurry. At present, many study tour products do not allow young people to go to a deep experience of standing.” He believes that it should start with the love of Hong Kong, first tell the story of Hong Kong, before going to tell the story of the Bay Area, before going to tell the story of China; to let the youth of Hong Kong to understand the history of the first, in the Mainland after first-hand experience will have more experience and understanding.
 

03

Constructing

Conform to the law, follow the characteristics, empower the new chapter

In the forum, the roundtable discussion on “Linkage of Study Resources under Global Perspective: Innovative Cooperation and Sustainable Development” led the guests and audience to think more deeply about the future of study tours.
 

Where is the future of study tours? Under the moderation of Zeng Jianyun, Secretary General of Guangzhou Association of Study and Learning Practice, Xing Diaoqi, Representative of the Beijing Office of Polish Tourism, Dr. Chen Rui, Founder of Stone Exploration, Biologist of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhang Yan, Managing Director of China Travel Service Limited, Liu Jian, Head of Sri Lanka Special Line of Guangdong Qingzhi International Travel Agency Limited, and Xu Fengying, Tianya International Travel of Tianya Educational Group, centered on the theme in this roundtable forum. They expressed their views on the topic.

Xu Fengying of Tianya Education Group Tianya International Travel said that our era is the era of core literacy, and intercultural communication skills, quality literacy, global vision and awareness of sustainable development become particularly important: “It is difficult for a person to have intercultural communication skills if he does not know enough about his own culture.” Xu Fengying took the opportunity of this forum to call on the education administration to really incorporate the study program into the class schedule, such as stipulating which important monuments or points carrying the glory and vicissitudes of national culture must be visited for field study at the elementary school stage, middle school stage, and high school stage, so that the children can all really touch the deeper culture of the motherland. “'The sky has boundaries, the heart has no boundaries', we hope to ignite the children's passion for studying archaeology, history and science and innovation through the study, so that they can discover their infinite possibilities.”

Zhang Yan, general manager of China Travel Service Limited, said that now do research is to stand in the travel agency's point of view to look at research, and research is divided into three categories - base, course, service guarantee, to cooperate with a large number of camps, bases, as well as common market development, the marketing of camps and the entire source market, the destination and the source of the real combination of things that can be done. This is what travel agencies can do.

Dr. Chen Rui, a biologist at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, describes the interesting business being done, “Within this business, we have developed a series of science curricula starting from kindergarten class, set up science stations and camps all over the world, and produced a large number of books. We have only one purpose - to bring up our children.”
 

In the opinion of Xing Daqi, representative of the Beijing Office of the Polish Tourist Board, the globalization of resources is very important, and she cited the example of a new Polish amber eco-learning product jointly developed with Dr. Chen Rui, which is one of the few eco-learning products in the whole of Europe, and it has become a very successful case of resource linkage. However, she also admitted that the biggest bottleneck encountered in the promotion of study tours is “how to find suitable channels”. In the process of promoting study tours in Poland, the Polish Tourist Board has made many attempts and is willing to help travel agencies to better promote and publicize the IP and platform of study tours and study tours.

For Liu Jian, head of the Sri Lanka line of Guangdong Qingzhi International Travel Agency, the topic of tourism resources linkage and cooperation also resonated with him: “We have to stand on a higher perspective, not only focusing on a certain point, so that the research and study tours can be a bit more broader, but also to integrate these perspectives of culture, sports, public welfare as well as business. ”
 

Participants have a consensus that, in addition to the educational value, study tours also have emotional value, in addition to learning things, more should be to feel the local history, humanities and emotional value, that is, the industry should be study tours in the depth of the link between culture, tourism, education and other fields, the depth of the integration of the study tour and study tours and study tours to extend the value of the industry to give concern and attention.
 

At the end of the forum, industry insiders called for the study is a cross-border activities, is a kind of production, learning, research the whole chain of topics, I hope that the industry as far as possible linkage, innovation, and connect more resources for the study tour industry to create more possibilities for the audience in the study in the study in the quality of the experience, but also in the cultural exchanges under the ambition of the sustainable development of the study tour of the “new core! It is also the “new core” for the sustainable development of study tours under the ambition of cultural exchange.