Hotel price increases, scenic spots are congested, how to solve the holiday cultural tourism city disease?

Text | Space Detective, Author | Wu Shuang

During this year's "May Day" holiday, the average daily cross-regional movement of people in the whole society exceeded 270 million, exceeding the level of the same period in 2023 and 2019, and was rated as the "busiest May Day in history". With the huge flow of people comes all kinds of urban problems such as hotel price hikes and scenic spot congestion, and this kind of holiday city disease has to be staged several times a year, and how to really improve the governance has also become a headache for many cities and cultural and tourism departments......

What "urban diseases" did you encounter during the small long vacation?

Affected by the increase in hotel supply and the active guidance of local governments, the chaos of hotel price increases seems to have improved this year, and hotel prices in some places have fallen instead of rising. However, according to the observation of space detectives, the "disease" of hotel price increases still exists. Through a random search of some popular tourist cities such as Beijing, Xi'an, Nanjing, Dali, Chongqing, Tianshui, Zibo, etc., it was found that the price of hotels and B&Bs during the May Day holiday generally increased by 2~3 times compared with usual, and a few increased by 3~4 times, of which the highest price appeared on May 1~3. In Beijing, for example, the price of a well-known mid-range brand (Beijing Qianmen Subway Station Branch) rose from 514 yuan on April 28 to 1,101 yuan, while the price of a well-known economy brand (Beijing Qianmen Subway Station), which is also part of the same hotel group, also rose from 337 yuan to 1,087 yuan. The situation is similar in cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing, where house prices generally rise to several times as many times as usual during the May Day holiday.

There is also the cliché "B&B contract breaking and price increase". In the early stage of May Day, consumers on the Black Cat complaint platform successively initiated complaints about the price increase and cancellation of orders for many B&Bs without reason. In a number of complaints, many merchants have used delayed confirmation of orders, insufficient rooms, forced cancellations and other means to increase prices and then list rooms again, and even there is a strange situation of 1.5 times the price increase in one minute and 6 price changes in a few minutes. #民宿涨价1500后被退单平台只赔230#, #订民宿被强制退单全怪周杰伦#等相关新闻也相继冲上了微博热搜榜. Due to work needs, the party booked the accommodation service of a homestay in Fuzhou three months in advance. However, as he was about to leave, he was told by the B&B owner that the order needed to be cancelled due to the B&B's decision not to continue in the industry. Subsequently, the guest found that the homestay he had booked was still there, but the room rate had risen significantly to twice the original price.

Compared with the price increase of hotels and B&Bs, what makes tourists even more upset is the uncomfortable experience of crowded people in scenic spots. originally chose to travel and go out to relax, but it seems to have turned into going out to "see people". Many netizens ridiculed that now in the desert scenic area, there is a long queue to ride a camel, as if reproducing the grand scene of the ancient attack on the Huns on the mainland. There are also netizens in Gansu who posted graphic notes from Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang: "Good news: don't block camels; Bad news: it's blocked...... Walk two steps and wait five minutes. Statistics on May 2 show that the six major scenic spots, including Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring, Mogao Grottoes, Yadan Global Geopark, Yumen Pass, Yangguan and Dunhuang Ancient City, received more than 62,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 51.7%.

Not only is it blocked on the ground, but it is also "blocked" on the water and on the mountain. Guilin's Li River staged a hundred boats competing for the current to "capture Shuibo Liangshan", countless boats of uniform specifications floated densely on the river, and according to tourists, they queued for more than an hour before getting on the boat. Wenzhou Yandang Mountain rock climbing cliff side "blocked" situation, a rock climbing tour of tourists pull the safety rope, close to the cliff wall, standing on the pedal frame lined up in a long line. According to netizens, due to the congestion in the climbing area, some tourists stayed in the middle of the mountain for more than an hour. Many of them start queuing up at the entrance of the scenic spot at three or four o'clock in the morning.

Popular tourist destinations are full of tourists, which also makes local citizens "complain". Some Suzhou netizens posted a video saying that they were just going out to exercise, and when they returned, they were blocked at the subway entrance and "couldn't go home", and some netizens cried that "I couldn't buy a ticket home", "I went downstairs for breakfast and found that the store was crowded with tourists", "Prices also rose as there were more tourists". The influx of a large number of tourists has made residents' activities, urban services, and tourist attractions highly overlap in time and space, and have put a lot of pressure on local residents' transportation, accommodation, and catering.

Why some places "persuade" tourists to go home

Two months ago, about 100 residents of Hallstatt, Austria, gathered in the tunnel leading to Hallstatt and shouted slogans to protest against "overtourism"; The Japanese call foreign tourists a "social nuisance" and complain that "foreign tourists don't come", and Japan's most famous building, the "Church of Light", is also permanently closed to tourists; Hallstatt, Austria's "most beautiful town in the world", which became popular because of the movie "Frozen", has about 10,000 tourists visiting this town with a population of only 800 every day. There are a large number of hutong courtyards near popular attractions such as Shichahai, Drum Tower, and Lama Temple in Beijing, and homemade notices are usually posted at the doors: "Do not disturb private houses", "Do not enter", "Do not visit", etc......

The arrival of a large number of tourists means that it will bring a lot of economy, why do these places instead refuse tourists and "persuade" tourists to go home? In Kyoto, which attracts 50 million tourists a year, the problem of overtourism is thought to have seriously affected the lives of local residents. Located in the village of Gassho in central Japan, many tourists use warm babies to keep warm due to the low local temperatures. Some people throw used baby warmers into the toilet, causing a blockage. There are also many people who stuff used bamboo skewers and drink bottles into the snow, regardless of the garbage on the ground after the snow melts. During last year's climbing season, there were long queues of tourists to climb the mountain, and Mt. Fuji became a "garbage mountain", and the night was as bright as day. On the Hanami Kodo in Gion, Kyoto, many tourists see geisha walking by, so they come forward to watch and take pictures, causing the streets and alleys to be blocked.

Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, has seen the average monthly rent rise by 200 euros (about 1,500 yuan) in the 10 years to 2020 due to the influx of tourists, which has exacerbated the burden on local residents. In the old town of Venice, Italy, the locals are on the verge of "extinction", and many landlords have converted their homes into B&Bs for rent and moved to the new town themselves. Young people who cannot afford to rent a house have no choice but to find another way out of their hometown. Since the 50s of the 20th century, more than 90% of the Venetians have moved out. This water capital has been reduced to a theme park for sightseeing.

In China, after the White Elephant Residence in Yuzhong District, Chongqing, which was built in the 90s of the last century, became an Internet celebrity check-in place, it was overcrowded, and locals had to queue for 1 hour if they wanted to eat a simple breakfast, and they had to go to a far away market to buy vegetables. Sometimes it is as high as thousands of people per day, and it will reach a peak of more than 30,000 people during the "May Day" period in 2023, which makes it inconvenient for residents in the community to travel, and also brings hidden dangers to the environmental sanitation and public security stability of the community. The sudden rush to check in at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has caused the roads near the school gate to be blocked by tourist buses, and the students have been unable to go to the canteen to eat at lunchtime, which has caused the students and surrounding residents to be disturbed.

On the one hand, tourism generates economic income for the local area, and on the other hand, it also affects the local environment and the original livelihood of residents. Unbearable local residents had to start "persuading" tourists to go home, and local governments have also introduced relevant policies. Venice, for example, will have a city fee from the spring of 2024, and visitors who enter the city during peak hours will have to pay 5 euros (about 39 yuan) if they do not stay overnight. From October 1, 2023, the "Miyajima Visit Tax" (there is the famous Itsukushima Shrine in the local area) will be levied, and 100 yen (4.6 yuan) will be levied for one person. The corners of Hanamikoji in Gion, Kyoto, are plastered with "no photography" notices, and offenders are fined up to 10,000 yen (about 487 yuan). In Spain, which became famous for Roman Holiday, from 2019 onwards, any visitor who stays on the steps like Hepburn will be fined. In 2021, two American tourists were fined 450 euros (about 3,496 yuan) each for washing their feet in a historic fountain in Rome's Piazza Farnese......

Is "charging" or "price increase" a long-term solution?

On the whole, in order to limit the negative impact of excessive tourism, most foreign and domestic local governments have adopted measures such as "fees", "price increases" and "restrictions on people", but are these really long-term solutions? Take the hotel price increase during the May Day period as an example, the exponential increase in hotel prices did have a certain effect on some tourists, but from the results, the number of hotel bookings around the popular tourist destinations still reached 100%, and the effect of limiting the flow did not reach the final high hotel prices, which also attracted a lot of scolding, which had a negative impact on the hotel itself and the local area.

Venice, Italy's water city, has been charging a €5 entrance fee for day trippers since April 25 in order to control traffic during peak tourist periods. As of May 5, more than 144,000 people had paid the fee, including 53,000 on May 1 alone. The mayor of Venice, Brugnaro, said that one out of every five people at the checkpoint was checked, but no problems were found. In just eight days, Venice, Italy, achieved a record revenue of 724,000 euros under the newly implemented city entry fee policy. Policies that were meant to limit the flow of tourists have not actually stopped tourists. On the contrary, it is impressive that the amount already received has exceeded the expected revenue for the whole of 2024.

Fujian Zhangzhou National 5A-level Tourist Attraction - "Yunshui Ballad", as the filming location of the movie "Yunshui Ballad" starring Chen Kun and the variety show "Where Are You Going, Dad", has triggered a craze for everyone to watch tulou, and countless people come to Yunshui Ballad to see tulou. However, due to the long history of tulou and its lack of sturdiness, crowds of tourists can damage the structure of tulou and disturb the lives of some indigenous people. In order to limit the flow of visitors, after charging 90 yuan at the gate of the scenic spot, a secondary fee was levied on tourists entering some scenic spots, which attracted a large number of dissatisfied and bad reviews from tourists. Despite this, because of its geographical proximity to Xiamen, it has become an excellent destination for a day trip to Xiamen, and even if it charges 90 yuan a ticket, there is still a steady stream of tourists.

Similarly, the "flow limiting" method has little effect on the congestion of scenic spots. Before May Day, local scenic spots and cultural and tourism departments have issued various tips before the festival, focusing on various aspects such as scenic spot ticket reservations, scenic spot limited visits, scenic spot opening hours, scenic travel strategies and scenic spot consumption tips. Huashan Scenic Area has set a maximum daily reception limit of 30,000 people, of which group reservations do not exceed 8,000 people per day, and ticket sales will stop when the upper limit is reached; Hengshan Scenic Area implements the reservation reception mode of "time-based reservation, time-based entry, non-reservation and non-reception", and the scenic spot window only reserves part of the tickets for foreign tourists, students, soldiers, disabled people and other special groups; Located in Anyang, Henan Province, Yinxu Scenic Area and Yinxu Museum have opened a limited reservation system. However, at the same time that some scenic spots prompted the current restriction, the tickets for a certain period of time in some scenic spots have been sold out, and the mountain routes in many scenic spots have also reached saturation. During the "May Day" period, tourists in Mount Tai, Huashan and other scenic spots said that "they can't walk the road", and Huashan Scenic Area received 122459 mountaineering tourists.

It can be seen that whether it is "charging", "price increase" or "current limit", it is not the ultimate way to solve the "disease" of tourist destinations.

What a good tourism experience requires from the city rulers

Although our country has a large land area and a relatively strong environmental carrying capacity, the huge flow of people during the holiday still causes trouble to local citizens and the environment, and brings tourists a bad travel experience. Therefore, even if "over-tourism" is not the main contradiction in China at present, it still cannot be ignored, and the public who have suffered from "congested" tourism for a long time also urgently need a truly relaxing travel experience. And what does a good tourism experience need to be done by the city rulers?

Beware of the Matthew Effect and revitalize marginal tourism resources

At present, it seems that cultural tourism everywhere has fallen into the Matthew effect, the more out of the circle of tourist attractions get more tourism resources, the more complete supporting facilities, in order to attract more tourists will also choose to increase the promotion of out of the circle of tourist attractions, as a gimmick to expand their own influence. And those tourist attractions that are not paid attention to due to the lack of tourists, the supporting facilities will also be relatively backward behind the top attractions, so there are fewer tourists who are willing to come, and some tourists may also default to "the lack of people should be because it is not fun".

For example, Jiangxi Wugong Mountain received 24,200 tourists on the first day of "May Day", and staged a big drama of "crowding people", while the same beautiful scenery of Jiangxi Yichun Mingyue Mountain is slightly deserted in comparison, according to netizens, the sightseeing car ropeway on the mountain does not have to queue. In fact, Mingyue Mountain is not inferior to Wugong Mountain. As a national forest park, Mingyue Mountain has a wide variety of plants and many rare animals, and is known as the "natural zoo" and "plant kingdom". There are many warm soups on the mountain, containing more than 20 kinds of trace elements, low sulfur content, rich in selenium, which has the effect of preventing cancer and inhibiting cancer for the human body, and can be drunk and bathed. There are six scenic spots of Wentang, Tanxia, Tangjia Mountain, Taiping Mountain, Yujing Mountain and Yangshan Mountain, and more than 20 scenic spots. The 1,736-meter elevation of Mingyue Mountain is slightly lower than the 1,918.3-meter elevation of Wugong Mountain, but it can also meet the needs of mountaineering enthusiasts.

This kind of situation exists in almost every province in China, and these niche scenic spots are gradually marginalized because they are little known. And if tourists can be diverted to these niche attractions, the problem of tourist congestion may be greatly improved. However, some netizens reported that "I also want to find unpopular places to shop, but the problem is that I can't find them, and I can only find overcrowded Internet celebrity check-in points." Therefore, it is urgent for local politicians to formulate preferential policies for niche scenic spots, provide financial support and strengthen publicity and promotion, etc., to create a good external environment for them. For example, provide tax incentives, loan interest discounts and other policy measures to help scenic spots reduce economic pressure; invest in improving infrastructure and service quality; Strengthen publicity and promotion, and improve the visibility and reputation of niche scenic spots.

Do a good job in service and city management

When traveling, the factors that affect the experience are nothing more than transportation, accommodation, meals, shopping, scenic spots, etc., which are closely related to the service and management capabilities of the city administrators. The service and management are in place, even in the face of a huge flow of people, most tourists still say that the experience is good. For example, in the first week of March, more than 21,000 passengers arrived at Zibo Station for two consecutive days, and 48,000 passengers arrived on Sunday, but the crowding did not affect the tourists' good travel experience.

In terms of transportation, the Zibo Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have opened special barbecue trains and bus lines, and the block is also equipped with special shuttle buses, which can stop at the beckoning and ride for free. In the face of the problem of parking difficulties in the Eight Bureaus, the Zibo local government completed the laying of 6,000 square meters of green belts on both sides of the road within 1 day, and completed the transformation and upgrading of the roads near the convenience market of the Eight Bureaus within 3 days, and the installation of fences and rest seats in key areas. In terms of food and accommodation, Zibo not only does not have the chaos of "stealing customers" and "raising prices", but even some stores also "give more" and "taste for free", and the local government organizes personnel from various departments such as market supervision, transportation, and urban management to work together to solve the problems reported by tourists at any time.

The same is true of Harbin, which is also out of the circle. The Harbin Central Street Management Committee Office issued an initiative to more than 1,100 merchants on the street, calling on everyone to provide warm and full service to make tourists feel at home. The public security traffic management is on duty on Central Street around the clock to ensure the safety of tourists; The urban management team is on standby at any time to clear the snow and ice on the road; In order to meet the needs of tourists to take pictures, an artificial moon rises at Sophia Church; The underground passage is icy and slippery, and the non-slip carpet is laid out for fear of southern tourists falling. In response to some netizens' feedback on the increase in hotel prices in Harbin, the Harbin Municipal Government organized a symposium on improving the service quality of hotels in Harbin Winter Tourism. Subsequently, a number of hotels in Harbin issued an initiative to the same industry, reasonable pricing, clear real price, no fraudulent consumption, no additional price increase, no arbitrary price increase, no price increase, no price gouging.

A good tourism experience not only depends on the "revitalization" of the city, but also on the needs to be seen and satisfied, which depends on the development pattern and the feelings for the benefit of the people shown by the city rulers in the handling of public opinion and service concepts.

Clarify the advantages and disadvantages of the city and publicize it reasonably

Through this "May Day" holiday, a problem was also discovered. Many places seized the opportunity of the long holiday to promote it, attracting huge traffic and causing various situations. According to the feedback of netizens, it can be found that the evaluation of different people in the same city may be thousands of miles apart, some say "very satisfied", and some call "lightning protection". The reason for this problem may be that some parts of the city really need to be improved, or it may be that many netizens do not understand the city, or it may indeed be a "personality incompatibility". For example, some people will prefer a slower-paced city, some people will prefer a more humane city, and some people will prefer a more commercial city. However, most cities seem to ignore this point when promoting, thinking that the more tourists come, the better, but they are not prepared or attract a large number of tourists who are "not suitable for local culture", which may have a negative effect on the city's image and is not conducive to the long-term development of urban cultural tourism.

If each city can explain its own advantages and some current shortcomings to the public, introduce its own cultural characteristics and customs in detail, and give suggestions, such as suitable and unsuitable people. Perhaps not every city is willing to do Harbin, and some cities may be more willing to retain some of their edge. However, if the advantages are highlighted in the publicity, the public may also lose the complete understanding of the city. On the contrary, if city rulers are willing to be more sincere with themselves and the public, they may also win more tolerance and respect. Tourists can also reasonably choose the right place for them to travel, and avoid the situation that they are all crowded together due to poor information.

To sum up, people have been sick for a long time in the cultural tourism city, and this year's "May Day" county tourism is the best example, people try to get rid of the uncomfortable experience in popular scenic spots in the past through "reverse tourism", but I didn't expect the resonance of the public to make county tourism popular. With the revival of tourism, the disease of cultural tourism in the city during the holiday may become more and more serious in the future, so the process of treating the disease has a long way to go.