Ticket price rise will harm tourism

Unjustified increase in scenic areas' ticket prices will harm the tourism industry, says an article on Caijing website. Excerpt:

Eight ministries and commissions jointly issued a statement on April 4 last year, prohibiting scenic areas' managements from increasing ticket prices for one year. But immediately after the moratorium expired, several scenic areas began raising ticket prices without realizing that it could harm the tourism industry as a whole.

Natural sceneries and other places of interests are public resources, and hence their managements should solicit public opinion before raising ticket prices because any arbitrary increase is against social fairness.

The government has taken measures such as granting subsidies - by issuing coupons - to promote tourism in order to tide over the sluggish market caused by the global economic crisis. As the National Day Golden Week holiday approaches, any unjustified increase in ticket prices could prevent people from visiting those sites.

The public deserves a justified reason for any price rise. Some scenic areas are still at a low development level and depend on the sale of tickets for sustenance. Hence, they should not pass on the cost of poor operation to visitors. Such managements should develop their scenic areas and local authorities must strengthen tourism services and products to attract more people, instead of fleecing visitors, to earn more money.

(China Daily 08/25/2009 page9)