Abstract
With the development of the Internet and the strong support of national policies, network technology has been widely used in all fields, and the way of information release is not only faster but also more extensive. With the strong support of the state, network technology has been widely used in all areas of society, and the number of Internet users is also increasing, and rural homestay tourism is a new force in the development of rural tourism. Rural homestay tourism plays a unique role in rural employment increase, active industry, active environment, active culture, and other aspects, so more measures should be taken to promote the development of rural homestay tourism. Therefore, by combining the above two points, rural homestay tourism also needs to carry out practical changes. The combination of Internet and rural tourism marketing is a new marketing mode, which opens up a new way for rural tourism product marketing innovation. Due to the huge market demand and various policy support at the national level, the homestay industry has become a breakthrough point for local activation. The author conducted a survey on the situation of “Internet +” rural tourism, guided and analyzed the results, found out the problems existing in the Internet marketing of rural tourism products, and put forward the strategies to deal with the Internet marketing of rural tourism products.
1. Introduction
“Internet plus” represents a new economic form [1]. That is to say, give full play to the role of Internet optimization and integration in the distribution of factors of production, integrate Internet innovation in various economic and social fields, promote innovation and productivity in the real economy, and use the Internet as an infrastructure to form a new form of economic development tool implementation [2, 3]. With the thorough application of information and communication technology, the innovative forms of the Internet gradually evolve and interact with people in all fields.
Rural homestay tourism is not only a new product of rural tourism but also a simple upgrade of traditional rural tourism. Rural homestay tourism mainly meets the needs of tourists [4, 5]. Combined with various types of rural tourism in the past, other single rural tourism products are linked to a complete travel itinerary [6].
According to the survey, poor transportation and accommodation conditions, long tour routes, and inadequate support facilities have caused great difficulties for tourists [7, 8]. In addition, the operation mechanism of some tourism enterprises is not perfect, which has brought great trouble and bad influence to the group tourists. In addition, the lack of obvious regional cooperation, lack of understanding of social development, lack of government investment and lack of natural resources, and many other problems in tourism restrict the development of rural homestay tourism industry, so that the development of rural homestay tourism is restricted [9–11].
Driven by the Internet, more B&B families can promote business ideas and pursue fresh and unique styles, attracting the attention of many young people who hope to find leisure and comfort away from the streets in the countryside [12]. However, although the market demand of homestay industry continues to expand, there are still many urgent problems to be solved in the development of domestic homestay [4, 13]. First, the quality of B&B families is uneven. Homestay families in many places are following suit [14]. In order to keep up with the trend and economic interests, only to provide no experience of individual industrial and commercial homestay, characteristic service competition intensified, leading to the loss of personality of the soul. Second, most homestay families are directly managed by nonlocal residents, with simple operation methods, difficult specialization, and standardization of services, and health problems and security measures also need to be solved [15, 16]. Moreover, the trend now increasingly shows that the competitor of B&B is not only the rest of the industry but also a characteristic hotel that is constantly reforming and improving its quality [17]. In a word, how to improve the quality of service and use the core ability to win the support of consumers is the national homestay industry development of the top priority.
2. Research on Internet Marketing of Rural Tourism Products
2.1. Development Status of Internet Marketing Rural Tourism
Under the guidance of the national strategy, all regions of the country rely on policy support, enterprise follow-up, and equipment investment to actively develop the rural tourism market. In the first half of 2021, the domestic environment tends to improve, and the domestic rural tourism market is also picking up steadily. In the first five months of 2021, rural tourists totaled 866,540, up 55.5 percent from 2020. Tourism industry as a whole into the boom channel, the industry is generally optimistic about the development of rural culture and tourism.
Tourism industry as a whole into the channel of prosperity, the industry is generally optimistic about local culture and tourism development. Moreover, the development of rural tourism is not limited to tourism. Through the cooperation between the government and enterprises, farmers have completed the opening of Douyin brand and Douyin store, which helps to build a “short video” Sanyingyi direct production and marketing chain+live broadcasting+high-quality agricultural product e-commerce marketing platform. It is also equipped with professional training and counseling services. This series of perfect support means has broken the original dilemma that agricultural products have products but no market. It not only increases farmers’ income but also makes rural development more feasible, which is widely recognized in the industry (Figure 1).
Obviously, the country vacation is gradually becoming an important leisure vacation for city dwellers. The suburbs of 20~150 kilometers become the golden development zone of rural tourism. The source of rural tourists in the state is mainly in the state, and the development of rural tourism in most county-level cities is also controlled (Table 1).
According to the China Tourism Academy and Giant Engine Cities, the results of a special survey on rural culture and tourism market in the first half of 2021 jointly carried out by the institute show that in the first half of 2021, 48% of those who choose to travel to rural areas around the city, 40% to rural areas outside the city within the province, and 12% to cross-provincial rural areas (Figure 2).
2.2. Problems Existing in Internet Marketing of Rural Tourism Products
2.2.1. The Propaganda Function of the Website Is Too Simple
At present, China still has relatively few local travel websites. Compare the travel sites in these places, and you will find that many of them are too simple and timely. There are no target market segmentation and no advanced web technology for marketing. Website function development and utilization is relatively simple, and online customer service cannot timely answer consumers’ questions. These major issues make it difficult for consumers to find the information they need. Of course, unappealing local travel sites lose potential customers, making it difficult to gain repeat customers.
2.2.2. Poor Awareness of Marketing Rural Tourism Products
Rural economic development has always been the weakness of national economic development, and the traditional agricultural production methods have not changed for a long time. Most farmers do not pay enough attention to online education, hence the need for social development. When the Internet era arrived, many farmers did not have an in-depth understanding of network marketing. Many people are used to one-handed payment, one-handed delivery transactions that focus only on land farming and migrant workers and fail to exploit the unique resources of the countryside, making it difficult to promote. Network marketing technology. At the same time, farmers in some areas have high-quality rural tourism commodities, but they know little about e-commerce and do not master the Internet marketing skills of rural tourism commodities, so they cannot use the Internet for publicity. They feature local tourism merchandise.
2.2.3. Tourism Informatization Infrastructure Is Weak
Although China has made a good development in the direction of the Internet, in some relatively backward rural areas, the infrastructure is still relatively weak, and low equipment investment, backward technology, and lack of talent and other factors lead to the lag in solving this problem. The problem, without the guidance of Internet big data, farmers do not know urban residents’ demand for rural tourism commodities, and urban residents do not know that there are more rural tourism commodities. The information shield will severely restrict the development of local tourism products. It also interferes with the way farmers get rich.
2.2.4. Low Trust in Internet Marketing
With the rise of the Internet and the demand for aggregated travel, aggregated travel information on the Internet has now been mixed, with unrealistic photos of aggregated travel products and overly exaggerated text descriptions due to the lack of official aggregator sites for the release of formal information, inconsistent product prices, unreasonable price setting, etc. For example, some tourists book a B&B online, but there is no B&B when they arrive in the local area, or the quality of the product is quite different from that introduced online. These problems have seriously weakened consumers’ enthusiasm for rural tourism and seriously affected the online marketing of rural tourism products (see Table 2).
2.3. Internet Marketing Models Are Similar
There are many enterprises that use Internet to sell local tourism goods, and their marketing models are basically the same, which are reflected in search engine marketing, online image marketing, and Internet advertising marketing. These three-dimensional marketing models are difficult to attract consumer attention and need to be very convincing. At the same time, the content of marketing must be clear, unambiguous, popular, and easy to understand. Use this method only. Consumers accept it or do not pay their bills, or even people who do not resist. The same marketing model is not only ineffective but also affects the marketing quality of local tourism products.
3. Countermeasures for the Development of Rural Homestay Tourism
At present, with the rapid development of local air travel, the existing problems are becoming more and more prominent, such as software and hardware equipment logistics construction, lack of professional tourism planning, low level of staff, and single marketing strategy. In order to give full play to the role of rural family tourism in the development of rural family tourism and regional revitalization, we need to strengthen the construction of rural family tourism from the following aspects.
3.1. Improve the Quality of Tourism Services
Further improve support facilities and optimize processes. The existing guesthouses will be transformed to meet the needs of tourist development while maintaining a simple style. The reconstruction of homestay with different historical characteristics and the implementation of modernization enhance the uniqueness of local home tourism, to attract more tourists. In addition to infrastructure enhancements in the traditional sense, there is a need to enhance the built of the latest communication equipment to ensure access to local online networks, making full use of local talents to provide professional training for medical practitioners and improve the quality of boarding travel services, not only to improve their cultural knowledge level, training tourism etiquette, tourism hotel management, and tour guide service skills and other tourism service knowledge but also to develop good personal habits and service habits, attracting more travel and hospice specialists and increasing efforts to enrich the travel specialist team.
3.2. Construct a Scientific Management System
Scientific and reasonable planning and design can promote the healthy development of rural homestay tourism, integrate the achievements of rural poverty alleviation, and prevent poverty return. The planning and design of rural B&B tourism development must break down restrictions, not just be based on rural B&B tourism spots. In essence, rural homestay tourism is a new form of rural tourism, rural homestay tourism is difficult to exist independently of other rural tourism products, and rural homestay tourism planning should be included in the overall planning of rural tourism. In addition, the rural tourism industry must be integrated with the overall regional social and economic development plan. Rural homestay tourism can only be realized by combining local rural tourism development and regional economic development, so as to achieve long-term healthy development, expand the industrial chain, better serve for rural revitalization, help local people to eliminate poverty in the long term, and truly eliminate poverty.
3.3. Extend the Product Life Cycle
Rural B&B tourism should not be seen as the country’s “villa” for city visitors. Visitors to the country lodge should not only pay attention to boarding but also pay attention to the laid-back scenery, country life experience, traditional customs, and so on. Country home tourism is built on a “rural” basis and needs to be well integrated with other rural tourism products. Rural homestay tourism needs to improve service quality and consumer experience satisfaction. High-quality tourism commodities are the basis and premise of rural homestay tourism marketing. With the rapid development of homestay families, the convergence of goods is also in progress. Local villages have their own conditions to provide their own goods, and they need to provide high-quality and characteristic services corresponding to their own characteristics.
The lack of the latest information resources in rural areas and the lack of the right to speak make rural homestay tour need more attention to marketing. In addition to traditional marketing methods, attention should also be paid to online marketing. Note the use of new we-media methods and “celebrity influence.” For example, as a grassroots star, one of the main reasons for Zhu Zhiwen’s “enduring popularity” is that he passively becomes an Internet celebrity during major live broadcasts. A man set fire to the village. Create rural tourist attractions. At present, affected by the epidemic of “new coronary heart disease,” roads are closed, scenic spots are closed, and the tourism industry has been seriously affected. However, online live broadcasts about rural life are still very popular, and netizens can gain new experiences through local people’s live broadcasts of rural life. Online live broadcasting is not only a marketing technique but also a brand-new rural tourism experience and brand-new online tourism products in a sense. The products are cyclic, and the tourism products of rural homestay also have their own life cycle. Only by providing high-quality and unique products and making full use of marketing techniques and using “Internet plus,” village home tourism can enhance its ability to taste risks, extend the life cycle of products, and bring long-term benefits to the region, realizing the activeness of the industry.
3.4. Make Full Use of Internet Resources
3.4.1. Establish a Rural Tourism Website
There are so many kinds of local tourism products that consumers can hardly find them. Therefore, local travel websites must contain the information consumers need. Consumers will be able to find their favorite stores or commodities according to their preferences, and rural tourism product information will be provided from different places. It also has the recommendation function, that is, push rural tourism information and special activities that consumers like, and update information and maintenance at any time. At the same time, in order to facilitate transactions, online payment function is also needed.
3.4.2. Use the Internet for Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Sharing has become a new type of word-of-mouth marketing popularized by the Internet in modern society, breaking the previous word-of-mouth mode. In rural tourism, 94.76% of consumers share experienced rural tourism products with their relatives and friends through the Internet, so it is necessary to make the Internet with information sharing function, in order to share easily in Weibo and QQ space. Family and friends browse and share users to get detailed information on real rural tourism products through text, photos, and videos. This will greatly improve the marketing efficiency of local tourism products to meet the needs of more tourists (see Table 3).
3.4.3. Use Internet to Integrate Tourism Resources
Rural tourism commodity marketing is a whole marketing mode to realize resource integration and sharing, brand promotion, and market integration, rather than individual marketing. The rural tourism product portfolio based on Internet satisfies this condition. Thanks to the ubiquity of data and real-time sharing of the dynamics of local tourism products, the browser at the front of the computer becomes the local tourist. Business people can get more passenger flow through the Internet, and tourists can get better service experience through the Internet, which is beneficial to both sides.
3.5. Improve the Tourism Service System
High-quality service is not only the pursuit of rural tourism but also the expectation of consumers. Therefore, Internet businesses must provide consumers with the most detailed, clear, and complete electronic map of tourist attractions, so each place in the scenic spot should have a corresponding electronic map, which will enable consumers to quickly find their favorite tourist sites. When consumers travel in other places, they can learn about local knowledge, including local culture, and get help from the service director at the specified place and time.
4. The Impact of Rural Homestay Tourism on Rural Revitalization
4.1. Promoting Local Employment
As a labor-intensive industry, tourism plays an important role in absorbing surplus labor. The development of country home tourism allows jobs to be found locally, attracting labor for tourism hospitality and service jobs. More attractive to local migrant workers and foreigners are the talents for entrepreneurship and employment back home. Ensuring local talent, attracting talent from abroad, and attracting talent from outside can promote the vitality of local people. The activation of talents is the foundation of the activation of rural areas. The activation of population and rural areas effectively makes the activation of talents.
4.2. Revitalize the Rural Economy
In order to revitalize the countryside, we must first solve the revitalization of rural industries. The development of local family tourism will realize the change of economy and population dynamics, attract more urban tourists to live in the countryside and go to the countryside for consumption, and promote local industrial activities. The development of various forms of rural tourism activities, such as tourism, leisure, and sightseeing agriculture, can promote the adjustment of agricultural industrial structure and the transformation of “old and new kinetic energy” in agriculture, promote agricultural modernization, and realize the activation of rural industries.
In the past, due to poor accommodation conditions, rural tourism was basically a “day trip,” mainly short-term tourism and low-level rural vacation, but the economic benefits brought by rural areas were not obvious. The development of local B&B tourism has changed it. The stay of local visitors can be greatly extended by homestay families. This will expand the traditional rural tourism routes in space and time and promote the development of rural economy.
4.3. Improve the Rural Ecological Environment
The development of rural homestay tourism can not only boost the rural economy but also realize the smooth interaction between rural tourism and infrastructure. Rural homestay tourism development needs all kinds of supporting facilities, good transportation, telecommunications, catering, sports, entertainment, and other facilities to improve and promote the development of rural tourism. Nowadays, local transportation has made great progress compared with the past, but it is still backward on the whole, not to mention that the demand of tourism cannot fully meet the needs of the public. The development of rural-ride tourism can greatly enhance and improve local infrastructure, meet the needs of local people and tourists at the same time, and narrow the urban-rural divide in the urban-rural integrated infrastructure.
Tourism may cause some damage to the environment, but it can be completely avoided as long as it is scientifically planned and managed. Compared with other industries, tourism can be called “smokeless industry” and is most compatible with “ecological habitability.” In order to activate the rural ecosystem, the development of rural tourism in the form of rural homestay tourism can be expressed as “my role.” On the other hand, rural homestay tourism and other rural tourism activities do less harm to the ecology of the rural environment, which can maximize the protection of the existing rural animal and plant ecosystems and rural ecological environment. On the other hand, under the influence of modern life, the impact of human activities on the rural ecological environment is far beyond the ability of ecological self-purification. Rural living environment, with tourism opportunities in developing countries, government departments have made great efforts to improve infrastructure, including dedicated environmental cleaning and maintenance personnel and equipment, greening and beautifying the living environment, and improving the living environment. Villagers feel the change of living environment, environmental awareness has also been improved, and they are committed to the activation of ecological environment.
4.4. Inherit Excellent Traditional Culture
With modern progress, the rural culture inherited for thousands of years has also been greatly affected, and some excellent rural material and nonmaterial culture is on the verge of extinction. Through the development of rural homestay tourism, we can inherit and explore the traditional culture with excellent rural characteristics and protect the rural homestay with characteristics and historical value. For example, enjoying local opera, folk experience, rural life, and production mode experience activities developed based on local characteristic literature and art and other forms of tourism activities can also inherit and protect the excellent rural traditional culture.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, the relevant theories and thinking mode of “Internet +” are taken as the research object, the rural B&B is taken as the research object, the basic theory of network marketing and the product life cycle theory are taken as the research basis, and the problems existing in the current Internet marketing process of rural B&B are understood as follows: the structure of Internet marketing platform is unreasonable. The main reasons are the incorrect positioning of target customers, unscientific price strategy and logistics, and conservative marketing concept.
This paper reasonably advocates the network marketing of rural homestay tourism products and puts forward relevant countermeasures and suggestions. In order to improve the future network marketing research of rural homestay, the following conclusions are drawn: the target market should be subdivided for correct network marketing, the development of the website, and the production of rural home products suitable for network marketing. Promote the upgrade of Internet marketing application of rural homestay. Use the Internet to strengthen the characteristic marketing of rural homestay.
Therefore, this paper discusses the current network marketing strategy of rural homestay, but the network marketing research of rural homestay and future local tourism products needs to be further explored. Therefore, this study explains how to deal with the possible problems in the process of network marketing of rural homestay and puts forward a series of countermeasures for network marketing of rural homestay and how to implement and change the marketing measures according to the regional situation. In addition, due to the lack of reference materials and data collection, there are certain limitations in drawing conclusions, so there is room for improvement in this study.
Data Availability
The figures and tables used to support the findings of this study are included in the article.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express sincere thanks to the contributors of the techniques used in this research.