日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)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: 日本a视频| 99热久久这里只有精品99 | 四虎在线免费观看视频 | 日韩欧美在线视频 | 九九九色 | 欧美搞b | 国产精品久久久久久久久久免费 | 日韩精品一区二区三区在线观看 | 超碰在线97国产 | 亚洲欧洲精品一区二区三区 | 香蕉视频在线观看免费 | 国产一级大片在线观看 | 久久精品久久精品国产大片 | 欧美不卡一区二区三区在线观看 | 国产h视频在线观看高清 | 国产成人精品一区二区仙踪林 | 成人国产永久福利看片 | 日韩欧美在线免费观看 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区 | 91久久国产综合久久 | 27xxoo无遮挡动态视频 | 日韩欧美国产一区二区 | 国产一区在线免费观看 | 欧美成人一区二区三区在线视频 | 欧洲精品久久久 | 久久国产精品区 | 泰国一级毛片aaa下面毛多 | 国产精品视频久久 | 一级特黄女人生活片 | 亚洲一区二区三区欧美 | 久久久久国产亚洲日本 | 国产一区二区精品在线观看 | 欧美在线网| 性做久久久久久 | 天堂中文在线最新版地址 | 国产一级毛片高清 | 国产在亚洲线视频观看 | 91麻豆精品久久久久蜜臀 | 婷婷精品国产一区二区三区日韩 | 亚洲精品免费在线视频 | 香蕉视频黄色 |