It took me forty years to figure out the next money-making opportunity in the tourism industry.

Universal Tourism Exhibition (UTE) - Outbound Tourism Exhibition

 February 6, 2026, 08:50

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 Stop talking about "recovery." As the wave of "revenge travel" subsides, a more realistic and brutal market landscape has unfolded. The tourism market has transitioned from a high-growth "incremental era" to a "stock era" centered on structural adjustments and quality competition. All astute industry players have sensed this: while the total number of tourists may be slowly recovering, they are becoming more discerning, savvy, and dispersed than ever before. The most piercing question in the minds of every practitioner is: "With so many choices, what makes your business stand out?"

I've seen too many once-glorious companies crumble at the crossroads of trends, simply because they bury themselves in yesterday's successful models, like sandcastles silently collapsing as the tide turns. Today, let's talk about those "value gaps" quietly opening up in seemingly saturated markets, allowing pragmatists to firmly establish themselves and win the next decade.

From "serving tourists" to "connecting kindred spirits"

In the past, we were used to roughly dividing the world into "mass market" and "high-end market." Today, this concept is completely ineffective. The real opportunity no longer lies in serving vaguely defined "tourists," but in precisely attracting and deeply serving like-minded "kindred spirits."

While many traditional travel agencies are still fiercely competing for meager profits, a group of astute peers have already quietly shifted their focus. They've launched products with highly distinctive themes and immersive experiences, such as "In-depth Nighttime Archaeological Visit to the Forbidden City: Explore Unopened Areas with Researchers" and "Private Hiking and Photography Tour of Yubeng: Guided by National Geographic Photographers." These products are pricey, yet they often sell out quickly, boasting astonishingly high customer loyalty and repurchase rates . A survey of customized travel companies shows that organizations specializing in serving specific interest groups such as hiking adventures, cultural heritage, and bird watching photography achieve, on average, customer repurchase rates and net profit margins that are 2-3 times higher than those of traditional mass-market travel agencies.

When a group gathers based on shared interests, values, or lifestyles, they are seeking more than just a relocation or sightseeing; they are seeking identity affirmation, resonance within their community, and a unique experience that is difficult to obtain elsewhere. If you can provide irreplaceable value to this precise community, price ceases to be the primary competitive factor. What you are selling is essentially a "collective ritual of identity recognition." This gap requires us to transform from a resource integrator into a community operator and cultural interpreter.

Beyond traffic anxiety, building "trust assets"

Content marketing has become an industry consensus, but most people are probably on the wrong track. Blindly chasing fleeting trends in short videos and indulging in the GMV frenzy of live-streaming e-commerce often only leads to a mess after the hype dies down and ever-increasing traffic costs. We've forgotten that in the tourism sector, where decision-making is crucial and risks are high, the real core isn't fleeting "traffic," but rather rock-solid "trust."

Algorithms can give you a million eyeballs, but only trust built on professional knowledge and deep resonance can bring in a lifelong customer who will repeatedly choose you and recommend you to their friends. Why is it that a meticulously researched and detailed guide to an ancient city can generate far more precise conversions over the long term than a high-energy, generic live stream? Why do niche- themed offline sharing sessions cultivate such a high-quality core user base? Because the former systematically builds your professional authority, while the latter mostly just exhausts attention to create fleeting impulses.

The future industry winners will undoubtedly be those who can cultivate themselves and their teams into "travel consultants" or even "lifestyle designers" in a specific niche, not just "route product vendors." Every in-depth analysis, every professional lecture, and every meticulously crafted itinerary plan you create is an accumulation of "trust assets." When the industry is saturated with homogenized information, professional depth itself is the most scarce resource. This asset cannot be easily copied or bought by competitors; it will become your most reliable ticket through market fluctuations.

Build a "moat that others cannot copy".

When a trendy online route or a popular activity is imitated by countless people in a short period of time, and prices plummet, what truly gives you a sense of security that allows you to sleep soundly at night? The answer lies in the most demanding, tiring, and patience-intensive part: your deep, exclusive, and stable cooperative relationship with upstream resource providers—that is, the depth of your supply chain.

This substantial asset might stem from a decade-long friendship and mutual trust with the chief of a remote ancient village, from a group of highly individualistic designer home stays you've exclusively signed contracts with, refusing direct connections to major OTAs, or from the handicraft experience projects you've deeply explored and exclusively integrated, taught directly by intangible cultural heritage inheritors. It's intricate, weighty, and requires long-term emotional maintenance and shared benefits; it cannot be "copied" by competitors with a single click. This is precisely where your competitive advantage lies.

While others are still battling it out over prices and distribution channels for popular attraction tickets and chain hotel rooms, you already hold a "source of fresh resources" they can't access. The World Travel & Tourism Council emphasizes in its report that "future tourism competitiveness will increasingly depend on the ability to acquire and manage unique, sustainable, and immersive destination resources." This gap requires us to evolve from lightweight "resource movers" to operationally-driven "resource co-creators," growing alongside destinations.

To execute a precise "strategic assembly" in the right place.

Having identified these three value gaps, a more practical question arises: As a business leader, how can one most efficiently and effectively acquire these key elements—precise networks, deep trust, and scarce resources? Relying on luck to get by is costly in terms of time and money.

This is precisely the original intention and answer behind our meticulous preparation for each UTE Global Travel Expo.

UTE Global Travel Expo provides a platform for domestic and international destination management companies, hotels, visa agencies, air ticket providers, travel platforms, tour operators, online booking platforms, wholesalers, MICE companies, customized tour companies, family travel agencies, and conference and exhibition companies to exchange ideas. Partnering with 118 countries and covering 30 major cities in China, it has become a leading global travel trade platform with the longest touring exhibition cycle.

Free admission for: tour operators, online booking platforms, wholesalers, MICE companies, customized tour companies, family tour companies, and conference and exhibition companies.

Paid exhibitors include: domestic and international ground handling agencies, hotels, air tickets, visas, hotel booking platforms, car rentals, and travel platforms.

We reject the "large and comprehensive" approach to exhibitions, instead employing a rigorous "two-way screening" system. We not only invite exhibitors, but also, with stringent standards, specifically invite tourism professionals from various sectors, including group tour operators, online booking platforms, wholesalers, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), customized tours, family tours, and conference and exhibition companies. At UTE, your goal is extremely clear: bypass all ineffective networking and establish deep, honest, and immediately actionable connections with "similar" companies or channels that truly understand your product's core values and whose user profiles highly overlap.

Forty years in the tourism industry have taught me a simple truth: all upward cycles of prosperity are not simply opportunities that come to pass, but rather the future created by a group of insightful, pragmatic, and courageous partners at the right juncture.

The UTE 2026 Spring Exhibition will be held in 10 cities in China . We sincerely invite all tourism professionals to participate.

Scan the QR code now to reserve your seat and secure a place for in-depth dialogue with the future.