Recently, the State Council approved toll-free travel for small passenger vehicles during the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Labor Day, and National Day holidays. The news has caused a huge stir in the tourism market. Industry insiders estimate that after the toll exemption, the transportation costs of self-drive tours could be reduced by up to 40%, and self-drive tourism is expected to more than double.
Tourism professionals said that transportation accounts for the largest proportion of self-drive tour costs, mainly tolls and fuel expenses. The road toll per kilometer is around 0.6 yuan, while the fuel cost per kilometer is also about 0.8 yuan. Exempting tolls can save 30% to 40% of transportation costs. Most self-drive tours on weekends and holidays cover distances of 500 to 600 kilometers, and toll savings could amount to about 300 yuan.
“The toll-free policy during holidays will lead to a boom in the self-drive tourism market and drive growth in the domestic tourism industry, which is a significant boon for self-drive tour products, hotel bookings, car rentals, and other services. Currently, our self-drive tour product clientele has reached over 100,000 people per year, and we expect growth of over 100% this year,” said He Yong, Deputy General Manager of Ctrip’s Travel Business Division.
In recent years, self-drive tourism has emerged as a significant trend in China’s tourism market, drawing high attention from the industry. Currently, self-drive tours have become an important mode of travel for medium and short-distance trips. Taking the East China market as an example, over 80% of customers traveling self-drive routes such as Suzhou, Huangshan, Qiandao Lake, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Changzhou choose to travel during holidays. Thanks to the toll-free benefit, industry insiders predict even more rapid growth in self-drive tourism in the second half of the year. Self-drive tourism is expected to join group tours, independent travel, and bus tours as one of the mainstream forms of travel products and travel methods.
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