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Anywhere but here(2)

2014-10-30 09:14 Global Times Web Editor: Qian Ruisha
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Reasons for downturn

In addition to China's air pollution deterring foreign tourists, reasons that have been suggested for the decline in inbound tourism include poor infrastructure and a failure to deliver the kind of tourism experience that foreigners are looking for.

"The concept of tourism is rather different between most foreigners and Chinese," said Ye.

Unlike Chinese tourists abroad who prefer to travel in large tour groups, said Ye, foreigners prefer to "travel independently," and to have "flexibility during their travels."

In a report published by the World Economic Forum, out of 144 countries and regions, China ranked No.101 in "tourism infrastructure" and No.129 in "affinity for travel and tourism," despite scoring highly in "cultural resources" (No.15) and "natural resources" (No.5).

"[Traveling] in Europe is extremely boring, but it's convenient in terms of guidance, transportation and the quality of facilities," said 32-year-old Beijing-based Romanian architect Alex Damboianu.

Damboianu has traveled through a number of Chinese cities including Chongqing, Shanghai, Qingdao in Shandong Province and Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"In China, the places are more interesting, but you have to crawl through huge amounts of garbage, and deal with smalltime scams from locals who think that all foreigners are rich."

Wu Songping, a private tour guide with more than 10 years' experience, admitted that both the infrastructure for tourism and the approach to looking after tourists in China has to change.

"We used to think foreigners were rich and silly, and could easily be seduced into spending lots of money," said Wu. "This attitude is one of the main reasons that more tourists are refusing to come to China."

Wu said that governmental restrictions were partially to blame for tour agencies in China not being able to deliver the kinds of experiences that foreigners were after.

"Many foreigners want to travel on foot to places like Tibet, but discover that they're not permitted to go there unless they have special authorization from the government," said Wu.

In addition, Wu suggested that more needed to be done to promote the diversity of China's cultural heritage. He noted that other Asian countries, like South Korea, had managed to successfully parlay their traditional folk festivals and rituals into tourism draws. "What grand official cultural ceremonies or events do we have to attract foreigners?" Wu asked rhetorically.

"If we had such events, we could surely lure more tourists, but we don't have a single one. We're just living off our past successes by always taking them to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace."

Damboianu, however, did not agree that China needed more cultural events to lure tourists. Rather, he felt that the exploitation of Chinese culture by the tourism industry was part of the problem.

"China is losing the authenticity by trying to make money using the cultural heritage," Damboianu said.

"[Travel agencies] are trying too hard to attract travelers, which removes the mystery of discovery. They're too focused on making money, rather than taking satisfaction from showing to the world something that they are proud of from their culture."

What is to be done

In an effort to attract more tourists, the government introduced a 72-hour visa-free transit policy for 51 countries on January 1 this year.

However, according to Ye, the policy has done little to encourage more foreigners to stay.

"Most of my customers don't even know about the policy," said Ye. "Perhaps the government needs to do more to publicize it."

Wu thought that more creative, customized trips were needed to reinvigorate China's inbound tourism industry.

He gave the example of personalized six-day itinerary he designed for an American family during this year's National Day holidays.

Rather than simply ticking off the major tourist spots in the city, Wu took them to little-known hutong alleys and organized activities that would allow them to better understand China's local foods and customs.

On the last day of the trip, Wu took the family to a charity-funded disabled children's home.

"Both [the mother and father] were involved in philanthropy, and asked me if I could arrange a one-day trip for them to see a charity initiative in China," said Wu. "I took them to disabled children's home, where they saw the 'real China.' Their small daughter had a great time with the children there, although they didn't speak the same language."

"Tourists who come to China don't like being stuck in queues with the thronging masses," said Wu. "As local tour guides, we need to think more carefully about what they want instead of blindly leading them to crowded tourist sites."

 

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