Author: Zhao Zhijiang.
On February 13, Ms. Tian, a tourist, posted on social platforms that a family of five was driven out of the car by the tour guide because she did not buy a jade bracelet during a group tour in Lijiang, Yunnan, which caused widespread heated discussions among netizens. On February 18, the Lijiang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism issued a notice on the incident, intending to impose an administrative penalty of a fine of 20,000 yuan and a temporary detention of the tour guide card for three months on the tour guide Zhang.
The punishment of the tour guide involved can be said to be self-inflicted, but the basis for the punishment of the relevant departments is somewhat unexpected. According to the notice issued by the Lijiang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the tour guide Zhang entrusted other travel agencies to perform the package travel contract in accordance with the requirements of the travel agency without the written consent of the tourists, and proposed to change the car for Tian and a certain group of 5 people, and the two sides had a disagreement, which violated the provisions of Article 69 of the "Tourism Law" that "if the travel agency shall perform its obligations in accordance with the package travel contract, it shall not change the travel itinerary without authorization", and accordingly made a penalty. In addition, the Lijiang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism also said that "no forced shopping has occurred".
The incident sparked strong online concern due to complaints from tourists about forced shopping. Although the Lijiang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism issued a detailed briefing, it was vague on the key issue: the so-called "no forced shopping" was the absence of forced shopping, or the failure of forced shopping?
Judging from the content of the briefing, the tour guide Zhang proposed to change the car for Tian's group of five people, which happened during the tour group's stay in the shopping store. It is easy to make people wonder: What happened before Tian's family was asked to change cars? To put it simply, did the tour guide involved ask the tourists to buy bracelets? This kind of questioning is not superfluous - the public is concerned about this matter, not only to see the results of the relevant departments, but also to see the relevant punishment basis, and how to prevent similar problems from happening again.
Regarding forced shopping, many people are accustomed to blaming the tour fee being too low. There is a saying in the industry that "gambling groups": travel agencies and tour guides are willing to lose money to pick up groups, gambling that they can earn back money through forced shopping. In fact, this is just a symptom, many so-called quality groups have had forced shopping scandals, forced shopping is not the result of low group prices, but the cause of unreasonably low prices. Because some people believe that they can make money by forcing them to shop, they don't care what the tour price is. The key to rectifying such tourism chaos is to crack down on forced shopping and maintain tourists' consumer confidence with the sincerity of the rule of law.
Specific to this incident, the official intervention in the investigation, firstly, is to restore the cause of the incident and respond to the public**; The second is to promote the development of the tourism industry in a healthy and orderly direction through reflection and correction. In the face of doubt, sincerity is always nirvana. Although the tourist guide involved has accepted the punishment, the public's doubts have not been dispelled. In this incident, did the tour guide force the shopping behavior, and what does this have to do with the tourist's later change of car? These specific circumstances may require more detailed briefings from the relevant authorities. More empathy, from the perspective of safeguarding consumer rights and improving the tourist experience, is the right way to promote long-term sustainable development. (Zhao Zhijiang).
*: Guangming Network - ** channel.