One-stop travel shop-without shopping
Sun XiaohuaChina Daily  Updated: 2004-09-18 09:52

Holiday-makers these days prefer organizing their own agendas when they go away, rather than wasting time on trips planned by tour operators which often include forced shopping trips that they have no interest in going on.

The only problem is that self-designed trips can cost a little more money and time to arrange.

On the eve of "Golden Week" of the National Day holiday, a new design of tour operator is providing travel excursions which pledge not to include these superfluous shopping sprees.

The first "no-shopping" group was masterminded in 2001 by the Shanghai Spring International Travel Service, a top-notch domestic travel agency.

Agency head Wang Zhenghua said it had received a lot of good response.

When the package was first marketed, he said eyebrows were raised among staff and other travel agencies. They all thought it was mission impossible.

Time that used to be spent on going shopping would now be spent on sight-seeing, and the greater expense would not be borne by customers.

The tourist package also offered a higher-standard of accommodation and better quality of service.

But contrary to popular predictions, the no-shopping tours have actually proved even more popular as time goes on.

For a long time, China's travel market has been plagued with price wars. Quoted programme prices are often equal or even lower than cost. Travel agencies squeeze money from guides' pay and cut service items and sightseeing activities from the schedule to cut costs even further.

By adding more shopping excursions and escorting tourists to expensive stores, travel agencies and guides can earn commission to make up for this loss.

And the result of this is a poorer service and a higher number of complaints.

The new way does not mean guides suffer from lower pay.

Because the price of the holiday is higher, their employers can afford to pay them more. They also have no need to pressurize tourists into buying souvenirs. All their energy can be channelled into what they are trained to do - go sight-seeing. So can this new way help improve the rest of the sector?

Xiao Qianhui, publisher of China Tourism News, said the no-shopping travel package was the result of a change in travel offers. Different kinds of travel packages should be produced to meet different consumers' requirements to push forward the country's tourism. And with an increase in better-designed packages like this one, the lower-quality options should gradually leave the market.

As yet, the desire of agencies themselves to shake up the market is not enough.

There should be more comprehensive legislation for the travel industry and vicious price wars should be curbed, in turn improving service standards.

Close