According to documents from the State Council, the highway toll exemption policy only applies to four holidays: Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Labor Day, and National Day. During the three-day New Year's Day holiday in 2013, small passenger vehicles were not exempt from highway tolls. Reporters learned that our province also implemented this national policy. So, does this affect residents' travel plans for New Year's Day?
Reporters interviewed several travel agencies and car rental companies in our province and learned that due to the weather, the New Year's Day period is also an off-season for travel in the northeast, so this regulation will not have a significant impact on tourism.
"Actually, most self-driving tourists choose to travel within the three provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning, where highway tolls are not very high. But it's a psychological feeling that causes some people to cancel their travel plans," said Manager Pei, head of a car rental company in Changchun.
Self-driving tours have been in the off-season
"Recently, there have been many inquiries from tourists, but not many have actually decided to go on self-driving tours," said Manager Ding Jisheng of a travel agency in our province. The agency has carefully designed several distinctive ice and snow routes. For example, skiing and hot spring soaking around Jilin City. "There are more ski spots around Jilin City than in Changchun, and there are also more hot springs, which are quite popular with some residents of Changchun as well as tourists from other places." In addition, there are tours to Chagan Lake to watch winter fishing and experience authentic rural life, with highlights including ice-swinging, sledding, and eating northeastern stewed dishes. The trips are mostly designed for two to three days, but currently, there are many inquiries from tourists.
Manager Sun of another travel agency in Changchun revealed that although the company has also launched self-driving tour routes to Changbai Mountain and Harbin's Ice and Snow World, due to recent temperatures being lower than in previous years and increased risks associated with self-driving travel, the number of people going on self-driving tours is expected to be low.
However, because of the heavier snowfall in the northeast this year, it has also brought a lot of business for local travel agencies in receiving tourists from other places. "Ice and snow routes are very novel for tourists from the south, and this year’s heavy snowfall in our province has attracted many southern tourists," Ding Jisheng revealed. Some experienced out-of-town tourists skip local travel agencies and directly contact local travel agencies in the northeast. After getting a quote, they are received by the local northeastern agencies, often at a lower price than booking a tour group in the south. "This part of the business has increased by about 20% compared to the same period last year," Ding Jisheng said.
Car rental companies see more business from short-distance travelers
"Self-driving tourists or those who rent cars generally have relatively good financial conditions and usually don’t care much about highway tolls. But waiving highway tolls can psychologically encourage some people who want to travel to actually follow through. Once there’s no such benefit, they might give up the idea," said Manager Pei. Car rental business mainly targets short-distance travelers.
Currently, the company has booked out about 40% of its vehicles for the New Year's Day period, mostly for business use. "Without any positive incentives, no one wants to travel far," said Manager Pei.
The main reason for the decrease in business is the opening of the Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway. "The impact on the car rental business is very obvious. The Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway has shortened the travel time between Harbin and Dalian, making it even faster and more convenient than driving. And most of our car rental business for out-of-town travel is between Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces," said Manager Pei.
Manager Pei expects the impact in winter won’t be very significant, as car rental is already a relatively off-season. Perhaps the impact on business will be more noticeable in the summer and autumn of next year.