CCTV News: Nowadays, "silver train" has become a hot word. This kind of tourist resort on the rails has caused many retired elderly people to have a strong impulse - "Don't look at my hair white, but the world is so big, I want to go and see it."

Qingming Festival and Dragon Boat Festival holidays... This spring, the "silver train" became popular, and in some places it was difficult to get tickets.

From the data, the number of tourist trains in my country has increased by more than 20% per year, reaching 1,860 trains last year, setting a record high in history. At the beginning of this year, nine units including the Ministry of Commerce and China Railway Group jointly issued a document, which inspires the enthusiasm of various places to launch "silver trains".

"Silver train" is a new term this year, but what it does not have started this year. This has been going back for more than ten years. At that time, the railway department and tourism institutions jointly planned and launched the "Tourism Train" series of products. There are countless things like "Panda Special Train", "Kongtong", "Xinghua", "Jinghe", etc.... As we count, those who are interested in this industry have discovered a rule - those who love to take tourist trains are quite distinctive! What are the characteristics?

Di Bin, President of China Tourism Research Institute: The vast majority are elderly people.

In 2024, tourist trains transported more than 1 million tourists, and the proportion of elderly tourists was close to 80%, which is a veritable main force. The country has always said that it is necessary to "cultivate new growth points for service consumption", so the new growth points are here.

The elderly today are really different from the elderly in the stereotyped concepts in the past.

At the end of 2023, the national population of elderly people aged 60 and above had reached nearly 300 million, and they had a strong desire to travel, but the popular tourist trains transported only 1 million tourists a year last year, which is too low-key. Comparing the two data, do you think the market is extremely broad and you haven’t done many things yet?

As for this person, as soon as he gets older, there are many problems with "bottlenecks" when going out for a trip!

The "Silver train" first relaxes the age restrictions, of course this is done on the basis of being prepared.

Aging-friendly transformation is a must. Handrails, anti-slip pads, emergency call buttons, emergency medical equipment... are all arranged; medical staff are standard, follow the car, and medical institutions along the way must be on standby at any time. There are also the morning wake-up service, medication reminders before going to bed, ticket reservations, green channels, transportation connections, reception services, etc., all within the service scope.

Let’s put it this way, the “silver train” is not only available to elderly tourists, but the services for elderly tourists must be guaranteed in place.

In 2027, more than 100 high-quality railway silver-haired tourism routes will be designed nationwide, with a scale of more than 2,500 trains.

The function of the silver train is just to take everyone to play?

Dai Bin: A good tourist train arrives at the tourist destination, the passenger flows down and logistics comes, which injects new vitality into local consumption and employment.

Let’s look at what consumption this “silver train” can drive.

First of all, you have to decorate the train, right? This "silver train" you can imagine it as a "tourist resort" on the rails.

Han Zhiwei, Deputy General Manager of the Tourism Group of Zhengzhou Bureau of Railways Group: Some questionnaire surveys were also conducted in the early stage. Now the transformation of tourism trains is divided into three types: quality, comfort and universal. This is called the style of EMU, hotel-style management.

This is the new silver-haired tourist train "The South of the River" that has just been removed from the line. Let's take a look at what's in this slender and star-rated hotel!

The designer divided the 18 carriages into three areas: catering area, entertainment area, and rest area. But the designer is exhausted. The appearance design alone is not simple. There are plans A, B, C, D...

You can choose any 2-person room, 3-person room, and 4-person room. Each room also has an independent bathroom, which is separated from dry and wet. You can drink, chat, play cards, sing in the tea room... Do you think this running elderly resort is okay?

Han Zhiwei: Some scenic spots along the way have also begun to undergo aging-friendly transformations, and some vertical elevators have been installed on the mountain.

The consumption driven by the "Silver train" is more than this. In order to attract tourists, silver trains have to roll them up and pick up useful and fun ones to the train.

I have to get a set of grass planted on the train when I get home. Look, hasn’t this aroused another wave of new consumption?

Experts remind those who are looking for new business opportunities that we must carefully study the consumption needs of the "silver-haired family". In the future, health care, travel and other projects will also contain similar business opportunities, and the silver economy has great potential!