在线国产一区二区_成人黄色片在线观看_国产成人免费_日韩精品免费在线视频_亚洲精品美女久久_欧美一级免费在线观看

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Opinion
Home / Opinion / Kang Bing

An example of how to make tourists feel more welcome

By Kang Bing | China Daily | Updated: 2025-03-18 09:23
Share
Share - WeChat
Tourists enjoy flowers at the Summer Palace in Beijing on March 16, 2025. [Photo by Jiang Dong/chinadaily.com.cn]

When traveling home or abroad, we tend to avoid purchasing goods or dining in restaurants near tourist sites because prices there are usually high. We dine or shop in such places only when we have a tight schedule or when buying unique souvenirs. On such occasions, we don't mind paying 20-30 percent more.

But when people think they have been cheated into paying a lot more than usual for a simple dish or drink, arguments follow, leading to a physical brawl in some cases. Then there is online condemnation of the "extortion" and appeals to market administrators to get things in order.

There have been many such scandals in China in the past 10 years or so, which in most cases have led to disastrous consequences for the local tourism industry. To restore their reputation, what most local governments do is to conduct investigations, punish the merchants involved and instruct retailers to put price tags on all goods and properly mark the prices of dishes on the menu.

Other measures include issuing a "black list" of rule breakers to deter potential offenders, rewarding those reporting such malpractices, and sending market watchdogs to conduct checks on the retailers and restaurants to ensure they are not making profits through illegal means.

Such measures are effective in preventing retailers and restaurants in and around tourist sites from charging exorbitant prices, though the hide-and-seek game between local market administrators and the merchants has not altogether stopped. In fact, "extortion" scandal cases have been repeatedly reported from some cities and tourist sites, frustrating administrators.

Xuexiang (Town of Snow) in Heilongjiang province has become an exception after it did something exceptional. Located 300 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital of Harbin, Xuexiang, with its fantastic snow landscapes and colorful local culture, became a popular winter tourist attraction a dozen years ago. However, its booming tourism business was dealt a heavy blow in 2017 when some visitors reported online that local hotels refused to accommodate guests at the pre-contracted room tariffs, and restaurants and shops were ripping off customers by charging many times more than normal for goods and food.

After some mainstream media outlets reported about the scandal following thorough investigations, tourists largely deserted Xuexiang. To attract visitors back, Xuexiang, which is in fact a State-owned forest farm, did something unique. Apart from taking measures that have been implemented by many other price scandal-hit tourist sites and cities, it opened two State-owned supermarkets and a restaurant.

State-owned shops and restaurants used to be popular four decades ago. But with the intensifying of reform and opening-up, most of them have been privatized or turned into share-holding companies. So the opening of State-owned shops and restaurant was welcome relief for tourists, as they brought down prices in Xuexiang. In the State-owned supermarkets, a bottle of water costs only 1 yuan (14 US cents) and a bucket of instant noodles only 5.5 yuan, about the same as that in shops elsewhere.

The State-owned restaurant offers buffet for a little more than 50 yuan per person, the normal price in cities and towns. The low prices in the State-owned shops and restaurant have compelled hundreds of other shops and restaurants to lower their prices to a competitive level, or risk going out of business. I visited several restaurants to check their menus and found the prices reasonable. Hopefully, other tourist attractions will learn from Xuexiang's successful experience to become more visitor-friendly.

Braving strong winds and snow on Xuexiang streets, nothing is better than getting a cup of hot and sweet ginger tea from local volunteers. The tea is free, a thank-you-for-visiting token from the local authorities who are doing their best to please visitors.

But high accommodation charges remain a problem in Xuexiang — a room in a motel during peak season could cost more than 1,000 yuan per night. To address the problem, a new street, with more hotels, has been built in Xuexiang to increase the availability of rooms in a bid to lower hotel/motel room charges.

As tourists, we hope the local administrators succeed in their bid to make life easy for visitors.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 男女羞羞视频免费观看 | 自拍偷拍亚洲欧洲 | 美女操网站 | 国产一二区在线观看 | 91久久精品www人人做人人爽 | 综合久久久 | 国产激情在线 | 亚洲精品视频一区 | 99免费精品 | 最新中文字幕在线观看 | 欧美国产在线一区 | 国产传媒毛片精品视频第一次 | 久操草| 欧美日韩中文在线 | 九九久久久 | 天天天插 | 午夜婷婷激情 | 精品永久免费 | 成人一区二区三区在线观看 | 中国国产一级毛片 | 福利片免费观看 | 久久久久久久久久久免费av | 国产第一区在线观看 | 在线中文视频 | 免费一区二区三区 | 精品99久久久久久 | 在线观看成人小视频 | 一级网站在线观看 | 嫩草影院在线观看91麻豆 | 久久99久久98精品免观看软件 | 日韩中文字幕在线播放 | 亚洲精品一区久久久久久 | 国产乱码精品一品二品 | 99精品一区 | 日韩亚洲视频 | 亚洲福利| 日本二区在线播放 | 嫩草影院懂你的 | 午夜久久久久 | 日本欧美中文字幕 | 欧美日韩在线免费观看 |