Great travel gets better

Posters of the app's QR code are ubiquitous in Yunnan's scenic areas.

Tourists can also use the app to make complaints to tourism authorities. The average resolution time is six hours and 45 minutes.

"Destinations across Yunnan are responding to the provincial government's call to strengthen tourism's transformation and upgrades in different ways," Yunnan's culture and tourism department head He Ligui says.

"Yunnan is also striving to eradicate low-cost group tours with hidden traps like forced shopping, with remarkable success. Such illegal phenomena are hardly seen in scenic spots now."

The provincial government adopted 22 measures to improve the tourism market in April 2017. About 780 complaints were made to authorities across the province in 2018, a decrease of 53 percent compared with 2017.

In 2018, Lijiang city investigated and handled 2,624 violations in the tourism market and issued fines totaling 19.4 million yuan ($2.86 million).

Drink prices in Lijiang's old town's bars dropped 40 percent during the period.

The government of Yunnan's Dali Bai autonomous prefecture undertook a campaign to curb pollution starting in 2017.