On October 9, the 2017 Poverty Alleviation Day Forum - Transport Poverty Alleviation Parallel Forum was successfully held at the Beijing Conference Center. During the forum, China's leading online travel group Ctrip announced the joint launch of the "Transport Public Welfare + Tourism Poverty Alleviation" project with the Ministry of Transport, and released the first batch of 100 poverty-alleviation tourism routes nationwide, actively promoting the development of transport-tourism poverty alleviation projects and products to create a "happy industry".

　　Leveraging Ctrip's Travel Platform Advantages to Attract More Outside Tourists

　　The China National Tourism Administration proposed that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, tourism would help 12 million impoverished people nationwide escape poverty. Against this backdrop, enterprises have actively participated, such as online travel platforms like Ctrip, which connect hundreds of millions of travelers with practitioners across the country. Previously, Ctrip CEO Jane Sun stated that in the process of continuously penetrating China's third- and fourth-tier cities, Ctrip has further narrowed the gap between poor and affluent areas, benefiting millions of families by creating jobs.

　　At the forum, Ctrip Vice President Li Tao spoke about the "Transport Public Welfare + Tourism Poverty Alleviation" project: China's regions with rich natural and cultural resources and unique tourism advantages are often in mountainous rural areas, ethnic regions, border areas, and old revolutionary base areas, which inherently have the advantage of developing tourism and attracting outside tourists to spend. But "to get rich, first build roads" - transport infrastructure is key, and "travel" is one of the six major elements of tourism. Therefore, "transport + tourism + poverty alleviation" is the best combination. This time, referring to the Ministry of Transport's tourism transport poverty alleviation highways and the National Tourism Administration's published national tourism poverty alleviation scenic spots, Ctrip's domestic product team has developed and designed the first batch of 100 poverty-alleviation tourism routes nationwide, covering nearly 20 provinces including Fujian, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shanxi, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Henan, across the eastern, central, western, northeastern, and northwestern regions, and nearly 1,000 tourist attractions.
　　
　　"In the next year, Ctrip will organize and serve more than 10 million tourists to travel to second-, third-, and fourth-tier regions through the country's largest group tours, independent travel, customized tours, one-day tours, and ticket and entertainment businesses, promoting tourism to eliminate poverty," said Li Tao.

　　Combining Tourism Routes with Poverty Alleviation to Make Travel Happier

　　How are tourism routes combined with poverty alleviation? The reporter learned that the 100 poverty-alleviation tourism routes have been specially designed by Ctrip's self-operated business team and packaged into group tours, independent travel, and local tour products, integrating the most advantageous flights, hotels, road vehicles, gourmet dining, and tour guides for each route, providing one-stop service. To enhance the service experience, the poverty-alleviation tourism routes implement the industry's first "diamond-level service standards" and "six-fold travel guarantees", mainly featuring high-grade 5-diamond and 4-diamond products, offering high-star hotels, zero shopping and zero optional fees, VIP small groups, 15% empty seat rate, and star tour guides. Some routes also arrange visits to poverty alleviation model villages such as Miao villages.

　　It is reported that Ctrip is also continuously penetrating China's third- and fourth-tier regions, central and western regions, and remote rural areas, further narrowing the gap between poor and affluent areas. Currently, Ctrip's vacation products have developed more than 6,000 tourist attractions nationwide, and the local guide platform provides job opportunities for more than 8,000 destination practitioners. Ctrip's more than 6,000 stores provide entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for tens of thousands of people.

　　In this regard, Li Tao stated that tourism is a dual consumption of material and spiritual aspects and a "happy industry" that enhances well-being. "Making travel happier" is Ctrip's purpose. We hope that through the demonstration effect of poverty-alleviation tourism routes, while providing tourists with truly high-quality service experiences, we can bring more consumption and income to the destination tourism industry and local people, enabling more locals to make money, escape poverty, and become prosperous through tourism, achieving a "win-win" situation.