In Yangshuo, Guilin, Guangxi, tourists take a bamboo raft on the Yulong River on the Li River to visit the landscape of Guilin. Source: Visual China

The fame of Guilin's landscapes spread all over the world as early as the last century.

In the 20s of the last century, a song "I want to go to Guilin" swept the country, with the selection of "Guilin Landscape" into the Chinese textbook of the People's Education Edition, the background pattern of 0 yuan was shot on the Li River, and a sentence of Guilin landscape is the best in the world, which makes many people yearn for it.

However, what is unexpected is that Guilin Tourism Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guilin Tourism Company"), which is responsible for the operation and tourist services of Guilin's core scenic spots such as the Li River, two rivers and four lakes, shows that the company's loss in 2 years is about 0 billion yuan, and the number of tourists has declined sharply.

　　Guilin tourism lost 10 billion in 0 years

　　Don't you like to travel to Guilin?

Guilin landscape. Source: Visual China

　　4月11日，上市公司桂林旅游公布了2024年年报，其财务数据显示，公司去年的经营状况不太乐观。2024年桂林旅游的营业收入约4.32亿元，同比减少7.58%；归母净亏损约2.04亿元，同比减少1830.7%，转盈为亏；扣除非经常性损益后的归母净亏损约2亿元，同比减少2625.31%，同样转盈为亏。

This is not the first time that Guilin Tourism Company has faced losses, judging from the financial reports in recent years, Guilin Tourism Company has accumulated losses of nearly 2024 billion yuan since 0, including losses for three consecutive years in 0-0 years, and after a short profit in 0 years, it fell into a loss again in 0 years.

Guilin Tourism was established in 100 years and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 0 years, and the actual controller is the Guilin Municipal People's Government. Guilin Tourism is mainly engaged in tourism services and tourism-related businesses, and its main business includes: cruise ship passenger transportation, scenic tourism business, hotels, road trip passenger transportation, taxi business, etc. The company owns the management rights of the core tourism resources in Guilin, including the two rivers and four lakes scenic spots, the Yinziyan scenic spots, the Longsheng Hot Spring scenic spots, the Fengyuyan scenic spots, and the Zijiang Tianmen Mountain scenic spots, and cooperates with the company's controlling shareholder, Guilin Tourism Investment Group Co., Ltd., to build the famous scenic spot in Guilin urban area - Seven Star Scenic Spots; The company owns 0% equity of the five-star hotel Guilin Lijiang Waterfall Hotel.

　　What's the problem?

Guilin landscape. Source: Visual China

　　桂林旅游公司解释称，公司这一年利润减少主要有几个原因：一是受到区域市场竞争加剧，以及桂林遭遇特大洪水等因素影响，公司游客接待量568.34万人次，同比下降8.12%；实现营业收入43167.51万元，同比下降7.58%；二是这一年公司的投资收益同比减少2516万元；三是公司及部分子公司在2024年12月31日计提了信用减值损失和资产减值损失，加起来一共15167.06万元。

Wei Changren, president of Jinlv.com, said that there are several reasons for the continuous losses of Guilin Tourism Company. On the one hand, in the past few years, the company's foreign investment projects have problems such as insufficient quality and insufficient operation level, and the development of the general environment in the past two years has led to a significant shrinkage of assets. On the other hand, the company's core scenic projects have also been affected by the overall consumption environment in recent years, and have experienced varying degrees of performance decline and losses.

Huang Huang, a researcher at the China Tourism Academy, said that Guilin, as one of the first tourist cities to develop in China, achieved rapid growth in tourism by virtue of its huge domestic population base and scenic spot ticket revenue in the early days. However, in recent years, the domestic tourism market has been booming, and various new forms of cultural tourism have been emerging, and it is no longer sustainable to rely solely on the tourism model.

　　Guilin tourism is not unique

　　Inventory of the "economic accounts" of listed companies in scenic spots

Guilin tourism company is not an exception, most of the listed companies in the scenic spot business is also declining, and the reasons for the decline in business are also varied, below, we will take stock of the "economic account" of the listed companies in the scenic spot:

【Zhangjiajie, all thanks to the ancient city]

　　就在4月15日，旅游上市公司张家界旅游集团股份有限公司发布公告称，最近三个会计年度归母净利润均为负，被出具了带“与持续经营相关的重大不确定性”段落的无保留意见审计报告。按照相关规定，深圳证券交易所将对张家界公司股票实施其他风险警示。

　　根据公告，张家界股票自2025年4月16日开市起停牌一天，自4月17日开市起复牌，公司股票简称由“张家界”变更为“ST张家界”。

In the same situation as Guilin Tourism, Zhangjiajie has also lost money for 82 consecutive years, and the net loss last year (0 years) was as high as about 00 million yuan......

At the east gate of the ancient city of Dayong, the red lanterns on the city gate have been broken and faded. Source: The Paper

　　而张家界为啥能亏这么多？亏就亏在大庸古城上了。今年1月，张家界曾在业绩预告中表示，2024年增亏的原因系大庸古城预计计提资产减值较上年同期有所增加，计提资产减值最终金额须经公司聘请的评估机构及审计机构进行评估和审计后确定。

So how much did Dayong Ancient City lose?

The annual report shows that the operating income of Dayong Ancient City decreased by 96.0% year-on-year last year, and the net loss was about 00 million yuan.

Zhangjiajie lost 960 million yuan, Dayong ancient city lost 00 million yuan, so it seems that if the loss of Dayong ancient city is excluded, Zhangjiajie can still achieve profitability.

The number of ticket buyers in Dayong Ancient City in the first half of last year was only 2300. Screenshot from the company's semi-annual report

　　而投资超20亿元的大庸古城现在已成“空城”，即使周末也游客寥寥。大庸古城去年上半年购票人数仅2300人，日均卖票不足20张……

　　这座计划斥资20亿打造的所谓“食住行游购娱”综合体，本来是为了留住游客，多花钱，而对标杭州宋城建设的。不仅拆建一大批“古建筑”，还推出了《遇见大庸》《飞跃张家界》等演出，但和其他人造古城一样，基本是照抄成功案例。

The result of the same can only be the same as other man-made ancient cities to be avoided by tourists. Some netizens posted lightning posts, complaining about the ancient city of Dayong: "This place is not modern, and the antique is not like the ancient" and "locals and outsiders are reluctant to come".

　　[Wuzhen and Gubei Water Town encounter the dilemma of "homogenization"]

Not only Zhangjiajie, but also as the core profit engine of CYTS Holdings Co., Ltd., the two major scenic spots, Wuzhen and Gubei Water Town, performed equally badly last year, and the number of tourists both declined.

Jiaxing, Zhejiang, Tongxiang Wuzhen East Scenery Source: Visual China

　　数据显示，乌镇2024年全年接待游客743.38万人次，同比减少3.71%，较2019年巅峰时期的918.26万人次缩水近200万；营收16.81亿元，同比下降5.81%。尽管通过成本控制实现净利润2.95亿元，同比增长3.98%，但“以价换量”策略难掩客单价下滑与内容创新不足的隐忧。

　　古北水镇的情况更糟糕，游客量同比下降14.78%至129.84万人次，营收锐减24.46%至5.55亿元，叠加1.8亿元的高额折旧摊销费用，净利润持续承压。

The rigidity of the cost structure of CYTS in the asset-heavy operation model is particularly prominent, taking Gubei Water Town as an example, its depreciation and amortization expenses account for 32% of the total cost, even if the number of tourists declines, this part of the expenditure is still difficult to compress. Although Wuzhen has achieved a slight increase in net profit by cutting the cost of guest rooms and shops, it has long relied on "throttling" to support sustainable growth.

In addition, the number of employees of the company increased with the recovery of business, the labor cost increased significantly year-on-year, and the maintenance and renovation costs of the scenic spot increased, which further exacerbated the cost pressure. The performance report shows that the sales expenses of CYTS surged by 125.0% year-on-year in 0 years, of which the increase in publicity and promotion expenses exceeded 0%, but the input-output efficiency was low and failed to effectively stimulate passenger flow.

　　[The more "hard" the more you lose money in Qujiang Cultural Tourism]

You must know that Qujiang Cultural Tourism is also the king of volumes, and his big IP "Datang Never Sleeps City" is constantly playing new tricks, from Miss Tumbler to "Tang Dynasty Secret Box" and "Chang'an Twelve Hours", etc., which have become popular all over the country again and again.

Xi'an, Shaanxi, Xi'an Datang Sleepless City has a dazzling night view, attracting many tourists to visit and play.

Who would have thought that Qujiang Cultural Tourism, which worked so hard, has been losing money from 2024 to 0!

In fact, it is not surprising that as a large-scale artificial attraction, Datang Never Sleeps City has a high cost in terms of daily operation and maintenance and publicity, but tickets and performances here are free, and ordinary tourists can walk around. In the end, he only earned traffic, but did not earn any real money. According to the financial report data, Datang Sleepless City achieved an operating income of 53.0 million yuan in the first half of 0 years, and a net profit of only 0.0 million yuan.

In response to the company's losses, Qujiang Cultural Tourism once explained. Qujiang Cultural Tourism said that it was mainly due to the change in the expected credit loss model of accounts receivable compared with the same period last year, and the increase in the amount of bad debt provisions.

In order to cope with the serious decline in net profit, Qujiang Cultural Tourism has sold its assets many times to save itself:

　　2024年6月7日，曲江文旅发布公告，宣布计划将其全资子公司西安曲江大明宫国家遗址公园管理有限公司的股权转让给西安曲江大明宫投资（集团）有限公司（以下简称“大明宫投资集团”）。

　　2024年7月2日，曲江文旅发布公告，公司拟在产权交易中心公开挂牌转让全资子公司西安曲江唐邑投资有限公司（以下简称“唐邑公司”）40%的股权及1.67亿元债权。公司拟采用承债式出让方式，即受让方收购公司持有的唐邑公司40%股权同时受让公司所持债权的40%。

　　The era of cultural tourism gold rush

　　Improving performance also requires innovative ideas

How to improve the performance of listed companies in scenic spots? Du Haiyun, a researcher at the Consumer Investment Research Department of Wuwei Investment Research University, said that listed tourism companies should break the traditional thinking and develop experience projects through multiple channels to attract and retain more tourists. First of all, you can consider exempting the entrance ticket to the scenic spot, the traditional ticket is the threshold to block tourists, and mastering the traffic will open the wealth password. Scenic spots can develop diversified sources of income, such as characteristic cultural performances, characteristic catering services, special accommodation services, etc., greatly increasing the proportion of non-ticket revenue. The second is to strengthen marketing efforts, carry out extensive publicity through social media, tourism platforms and other channels, create an Internet celebrity economy and interact with customers, let customers participate, enhance the brand awareness and reputation of scenic spots, and attract more tourists.

The iteration of tourism methods in the domestic cultural tourism market is extremely fast: temple tours, special military tourism, Citywalk, textbook study tours, concert tours, reverse tourism...... Often, the previous wave has not passed, and a new one has begun.

In the past, a city's cultural tourism industry was mainly concentrated in famous scenic spots and scenic spots, but now the focus of the city's cultural tourism industry has gradually changed, and local food, cultural legends, touching stories and various festivals have become important elements to attract tourists. In this context, many cities have begun to think about how to promote the transformation of urban tourism through online and offline interaction, so that various industries in the city can spirally upgrade in the process, and take multiple measures to improve the overall urban experience.

Therefore, in today's era of cultural tourism and gold rush, there is no standard answer for scenic spots to go out of the circle, and it depends on whether they can touch the hearts of tourists.

　　(Poster News Editor Gong Xiaolong Synthesized from China News Weekly, Outlet Finance, China Economic Weekly, Poster News, etc.)