中国旅游度假区降低门票价格

The news of 80 tourist attractions across the country offering cheaper tickets at first thrilled the masses, but now people are realizing that the popular attractions haven't changed much, arousing suspicion that this move is more bluster than benefit.

Deputy Director Wu Bo from the National Development and Reform Commission is in charge of designing policy concerning tourist attraction prices. He explains that lowering entrance ticket prices is the ultimate trend.

"Concerning the current situation in our country and local economic development, it is not suitable to offer low price tickets on those popular attractions or even free of charge to people. But as the local government invests more in those places, with more tourists visiting, the entrance tickets will have to be lowered, and this will be the trend eventually."

For years, the prices for tourist attractions across the country have kept rising, and the national development planners say they are currently trying to alter the situation. According to the Commission, this is the first time for the country to lower ticket prices among major tourist attractions.

Most spots have paid back their loans completely and are able to give cheaper ticket prices. For example, among the 80 scenic resorts, 13 of them will be totally free of charge, including the Shanghai Earthquake Museum and Uxin Banner Resorts in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Admission fees for some scenic spots dropped by as much as 60 percent, such as the Xinlong Karst Cave in Hebei Province and the Prince Zhuang's Mansion in Tianjin. The government suggests that the non-listed resorts offer discounts based on their own situations. Wubo says the lower prices will benefit multiple parties.

"With cheaper entrance tickets, attractions and resorts can attract more tourists, which can cover the losses on the discounted tickets, and it is also possible for these places to make more profit out of this."

This year, more than 20 tourist attractions in the country have raised their ticket prices, from 20 to 60 percent on average. More than half of the first tier resorts have ticket prices higher than 100 yuan, and more than 10 percent of them offer prices higher than 200 yuan. Dai Bin is president of the China Tourism Research Institution.

"If we compare citizens' income levels, then we can say that the tourist ticket prices are a lot higher. Many citizens are complaining about the high ticket prices, especially the resorts which rely on local natural environment. Few people complain about places like the Disney Park, since the whole thing is designed and built by a company."

Dai says most tourist resorts in China are still mainly relying on the income of entrance tickets. Even though free and low price tickets are not the norm, market insiders believe this will be a trend in the future.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, another 90 tourist sights offer discounts soon.
 
For CRI, I'm Liu Min.