*This article is the content of the 16th issue of "Half Moon Talk" in 2023
"Small package" tourism is a kind of tourism mode that has emerged in recent years, and it is popular for its freedom and convenience to charter customized tours independently by friends and family. An interview with a reporter found that at the moment when summer tourism is in full swing, many tourists are "subcontracted" layer by layer after participating in the "small package group", and constantly "stepping on the pit" during the tour, which is discouraged and tossed.
"Small packets" form an industrial chain
Mentioned the feeling of traveling a while ago, Ms. Cai from Guangzhou was angry and helpless, she wanted to come out to relax, and fought with others in a "small package", but she didn't expect to suffer a dumb loss: "There is no service to say, the key is that the driver still lets you consume, you don't consume, he dares to throw you into the wilderness." ”
The reporter's investigation found that at present, the "small package group" tourism has formed a complete industrial chain.
First, network drainage signing. Some tourism intermediary companies publish soft articles on popular online platforms, recommending "independent trips" led by various tour guides in the tone of tourists, and then special customer service staff communicate with the consulting tourists, collect a certain deposit after receiving orders, and transfer the tourist resources to the second link.
Second, travel agencies receive subcontracting on the ground. The cultural and tourism law enforcement department investigated and learned that tourism intermediary companies subcontract tourists who receive orders to travel agencies in various places, and after tourists arrive, travel agencies pick them up and sign travel contracts. In the past, most of the deposits paid by tourists belonged to the commission of intermediary companies.
The third is to send a car to accompany the tour. According to industry insiders, after signing the contract, there are two kinds of "small package group" tourists: a small number of tourists are taken by the travel agency themselves and arranged for their own vehicles to accompany the tour (a small number of vehicles have operating qualifications); Most tourists are subcontracted again by travel agencies, dumping orders to "black car" drivers who do not have operating qualifications, and services such as vehicles, tour guides and ticket purchases are provided by these "black car" drivers. Some drivers said that in some carpooling groups, the phenomenon of "buying and selling" tourist resources is also common, "10 tourists, 8 appear in the group".
There are many potential safety hazards and tourism disputes
Industry insiders told Banyuetan reporters that about seventy or eighty percent of tourists on some popular tourist routes in China are "small package groups", but "small package groups" have problems such as large safety risks and many tourism disputes.
On the one hand, most "small package" travel vehicles do not have operating qualifications, which has great safety risks. The person in charge of a travel agency told the reporter that the vehicles with less than 7 seats on the local tourist route are basically "black cars" without operating qualifications, which has been confirmed by a number of local drivers and cultural and tourism management departments. "Drivers drive hundreds of kilometers a day, and are also responsible for buying tickets and getting tickets, etc., and the fatigue is relatively high." An industry insider said that once something goes wrong, it is difficult to protect rights and interests.
On the other hand, "small packages" subcontracted and "skinned" layer by layer, resulting in a decline in tourism quality and a large number of disputes. A cadre of the cultural market comprehensive administrative law enforcement team said that the online customer service promised everything in order to receive orders, and the offline travel agency signed the contract after receiving the order, and then dumped the tourists at a low price to the driver of the vehicle with different benefits. "Docking, signing contracts, dispatching cars, and services belong to different links, and they don't care when they get to the front of the next link, and they often can't even find people when there is a problem."
A city's cultural market comprehensive administrative law enforcement team received dozens of complaints this year about an international travel agency, some of which were even disputes caused by travel agencies in other provinces pretending to be signing contracts. According to a law enforcement department staff, because all travel agencies are in the traffic pool of tourism intermediary companies, they are pulling each other apart but are not easy to debunk, and when the relevant departments investigate and deal with similar cases, it is difficult to file a case because of incomplete evidence.
Three aspects of governance challenges
The staff of the regulatory department told the reporter that there are three difficulties in the management of the chaos of the "small package group".
First, it is difficult to track Internet companies. According to the staff of the cultural and tourism law enforcement department, because the QR code collection name can be changed, although the collection code displayed by the customer service staff seems to be some travel agencies, it is often impersonated. Law enforcement had previously tried to contact third-party payment institutions to investigate the accounts, but backed down due to difficulties in providing formalities. When tourists ask the unit of customer service staff, the other party generally only admits that they are travel agency personnel, and for the soft text with their phone number on the Internet, they say that "tourists take the initiative to send it, they do not know".
Second, "black cars" are difficult to supervise. For one-way car rentals by tourists, the tourism department does not have the right to supervise, and after the travel agency provides the vehicle, it can only supervise whether it provides reasonable services. When the vehicle is moving, it is supervised by the transportation management department, and the traffic department on the one hand finds limited vehicles, and some drivers and tourists agree to say that they are family members when they encounter the inspection car; On the other hand, checking too much can easily cause traffic jams and affect smooth travel. Some staff said that for vehicle supervision, if there is no dispute, tourists can hardly find it without complaints.
Third, disputes are difficult to handle. The staff of the tourism supervision department said that at present, there are more and more new means, new businesses and new forms, and there is a lag in supervision, "we have few grasps and cannot exceed our authority, and sometimes we can't do anything." The supervision methods for travel agencies are mostly fines, coordination, and supervision of refunds. In fact, there is no way for travel agencies to return without refund, tourists can only go through judicial procedures, but it is not realistic to come out for tourism to fight a lawsuit. Generally, major administrative punishments, such as suspension of business for rectification or revocation of business licenses, need to occur such as the detention of tourist groups and the occurrence of major accidents to meet the punishment standards.
Tourists playing by the sea Photo by Fei Maohua
Take care of the "flow outlet" and protect the tourist road
Interviewees such as regulators and practitioners said that eliminating the chaos of "small packages" and promoting the healthy development of the tourism market requires the joint efforts of all parties.
The first is to manage the "flow port" well. Respondents suggested that first of all, it is necessary to control online false advertising and promote chaos, increase the supervision of online platforms, and squeeze out the moisture in "fake soft texts and real advertisements".
The second is to improve the legal supervision system. Zhang Peng, a lawyer at Beijing DeHeng Law Firm, said that the "small package group" involves the interests of travel agencies on the one hand and the interests of drivers on the other, but in fact feeds many drivers. The barbaric development of tourism "black cars" shows that there is market demand, and in the process of its development, relevant regulatory regulations should be introduced as soon as possible, and the intensity of regulation should be strengthened, so as to avoid controlling it to death, screen out the obvious problems and hidden dangers, and increase the necessary protection for tourists.
Third, tourists should raise their awareness of risks. Some of the shares that seem to be ordinary netizens are actually mostly promoted by intermediary companies or travel agencies. Tourists should look for a reliable travel agency, sign a formal electronic contract with the travel agency, and pay by transferring money to the public account of the travel agency.
Half moon on reporter: Sun Liangquan
Source: Half Moon Talks