Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 9th Question: Another batch of scenic spot tickets have been reduced in price. How to improve the tourist experience?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Ke Gaoyang, Shao Luwen and Zhai Zhuo
The General Office of the State Council recently issued an opinion on further stimulating the potential of cultural and tourism consumption, demanding that the price of tickets for state-owned scenic spots be further reduced. During the National Day holiday, Xinhua Viewpoint reporter found that the price reduction of tickets in state-owned scenic spots has been carried out for more than a year, and the price reduction intensity and scope of tickets in various scenic spots have been increasing. But at the same time, there are still some scenic spot price reduction policies that are not implemented in place. It is particularly noteworthy that in the case of price reduction, the management of some scenic spots has not kept up, and the service is inconvenient, which affects the tourist experience.
Some scenic spots have been lowered and even opened for free, and individual scenic spots have not been implemented in place.
The price reduction of tickets for state-owned scenic spots started in 2018. The reporter noted that with the continuous advancement of the work, the price reduction of tickets in scenic spots around the country has further increased. Since October 1st this year, 20 scenic spots in Fujian Province, including Guanzhi Mountain in Liancheng and Da ‘anyuan in Wuyishan, have implemented price reduction, with an average price reduction rate of 21.55%. Suzhou Qilishantang Scenic Area cancels the original ticket of 45 yuan and opens it to tourists free of charge.
On the basis of last year’s price reduction, other scenic spots launched a second price reduction or other preferential policies for ticket purchase. The Longmen Grottoes Scenic Area in Luoyang has implemented time-sharing and phased preferential activities for the surrounding areas and provinces in China for a specified period of time. During the preferential period, the tickets were reduced from 90 yuan to 60 yuan. On the eve of the "Eleventh" this year, 38 4A-level state-owned key scenic spots priced by the government in Anhui Province lowered their ticket prices. Among them, 19 scenic spots, including Langya Mountain in Chuzhou and Taohuatan in Xuancheng, made a second price reduction on the basis of price reduction in 2018. According to the preliminary calculation of Anhui Development and Reform Commission, after the price reduction, it will benefit 3.5 million tourists every year and reduce the spending on tourist tickets by more than 30 million yuan.
At the same time, the coverage of price reduction scenic spots has been further expanded. Since 2018, a total of 100 scenic spots in Henan Province have implemented price reduction or free of charge. At present, 12 of the 13 5A scenic spots in the province have introduced price reduction measures, accounting for 92% of the total 5A scenic spots.
In addition, some scenic spots also reduce the price of supporting services to reduce the economic burden of tourists. From October 1 this year, the one-way fare of Buyun Cableway in Meihuashan, Longyan, Fujian Province was adjusted from 106 yuan to 85 yuan; Peach Blossom Island Cable Car in the Three Gorges Scenic Area of the Yellow River in Henan Province has also been reduced in price, and the round-trip fare has been reduced from 90 yuan to 70 yuan.
However, there are also scenic spots that have not been implemented after announcing price cuts. National 5A scenic spot — — Last October, Longtan Grand Canyon Scenic Area announced that it would reduce the ticket price from 85 yuan to 80 yuan. However, when the reporter recently purchased tickets through the scenic spot official website and the official WeChat WeChat official account, he found that the ticket purchase page still showed that the fare was 85 yuan. Why hasn’t the price of online shopping tickets come down after a year of price reduction? The reporter consulted the operation department of the scenic spot in this regard, and the staff said that they "don’t understand the situation".
After the price reduction, the popularity is bullish, and some scenic spots are spit out, which is messy, disorderly and inconvenient to pay.
Some scenic spots have become increasingly popular after playing "price reduction cards" and "free cards". At the end of September this year, tickets for Wulongtan Park in Jinan, Shandong Province were cancelled, and the park was integrated with Daming Lake and other landscapes, forming a more complete spring tourism route and landscape. During the first National Day holiday after free opening, Wulongtan welcomed a total of 195,000 guests, more than doubling compared with the same period of last year, and the popularity-driven effect was obvious.
After the ticket price is reduced, the number of tourists increases. How to ensure that the service quality is not "discounted"? This is a challenge faced by many scenic spots in the "post-ticket era". During the "Eleventh" period, the reporter found that some price reduction scenic spots attracted a large number of tourists because of preferential prices, but the management ability did not improve accordingly, which led to overloaded passenger flow, messy hygiene and disorderly tour, and poor experience of being spit out by tourists.
After the ticket price of Long Ting Park in Kaifeng, a 4A scenic spot, was adjusted in 2018, the ticket price was reduced from 45 yuan to 35 yuan. The reporter saw in the scenic spot on the morning of October 4 that there were more tourists visiting in the rain. Some sections of the park are muddy due to rain, and there are many cigarette butts, plastic bags and other sundries on the stone steps leading to the Long Ting Hall. There are no garbage bins and no staff to clean them around. Ms. Luo, a tourist from Nanjing, said: "Looking at so much garbage, I have no interest in visiting at all."
In 2018, Shanxi Jinci Scenic Area reduced the ticket price by 15% according to the unified requirements of the higher authorities. During the National Day, reporters saw tourists here, and many "black tour guides" and "black explanations" in the scenic spot openly solicited business, but the quality of explanations was not high. A "black tour guide" said that they are all residents around who come to earn extra money. The explanations are found on the Internet, so just deal with them casually. "Anyway, the scenic spot is also turning a blind eye."
On social networks, many tourists complain that the service convenience of some famous scenic spots is insufficient, and the ticket window only charges cash, which delays tourists’ time and increases congestion.
"I didn’t expect that mobile payment is so popular now, and the ticket office in the scenic spot only accepts cash!" On October 3, the reporter saw at the ticket office of Pingyao ancient city that there were long queues in front of several windows, but the staff only accepted cash and didn’t prompt in advance. Mr. Ding, a tourist from Zhejiang, said that he had already opened the payment code paid by WeChat in advance when he was waiting in line. He thought that he could buy the ticket in a few seconds, but he was told that he only accepted cash when he got to the window, so he had no choice but to find someone to change money everywhere and queue up again to buy the ticket.
Reducing the "ticket dependence" forces the scenic spot to improve service quality and innovate management.
In view of the problem that the price reduction of some scenic spots is not implemented in place, experts suggest that relevant departments further strengthen the supervision of ticket prices, promote the ticket prices of state-owned scenic spots to gradually return to a reasonable range, reduce the travel costs of tourists, and promote the sustained and healthy development of scenic spots and tourism industry.
Wang Chenguang, director of the Cultural and Tourism Research Center of Shandong University, said: "Subtracting the ticket price is adding the popularity of the scenic spot and multiplying the tourism industry." After the ticket price reduction, although the income of the scenic spot will be reduced in the short term, it will bring a large number of passengers. Tourists will put their money into consumption such as food, catering and special performances, so that the scenic spot can get more comprehensive benefits.
Statistics released by Jinan City show that in just four months after Daming Lake was opened for free, the number of tourists increased by 472%, which led to a substantial increase in the number of tourists staying overnight in Jinan, and the consumption of surrounding restaurants and shopping surged.
Wang Chenguang said that it is not difficult to calculate the "small account" of reducing the ticket price and the "big account" of the tourism economy. Only by reducing the price of scenic spots or normalizing them for free can we force scenic spots to quit "ticket dependence" and transform global tourism so that the broad masses of people can "want to travel", "can travel" and "dare to travel".
Yang Yanfeng, director of the Online Tourism Research Center of Beijing Union University, believes that at present, the problems of inefficient management of some scenic spots and the price of goods in scenic spots are still outstanding, and it is urgent to further improve the service quality and business innovation ability.