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Revamped wetland's fee blasted
By Ni Yinbin |
April 8, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DONGTAN Wetland Park on Shanghai's Chongming Island is set to open again at the end of this month after a decade's renovation.
But whereas admission used to be free, it will now cost 200 yuan (US$29.30) per person.
Netizens are in an uproar.
About 64 percent of 1,446 Netizens thought the price was "robbery". Less than 5 percent said it was reasonable, given the island's good environment, according to an online survey on xinmin.cn, one of the most popular local news Websites.
About 19 percent thought the park should let local residents in for free and just charge tourists from outside the city.
Dongtan International Wetland Co Ltd, the park's operator, said the price was intentionally set to limit visitors and protect the ecology.
No more than 2,000 are to be allowed in the park every day from May to October, said Qiu Zhonghong, the general manager.
Each visitor will get a wrist-band ticket when entering the park. With the visitor's mobile phone number set in the wrist band, each will be connected to a global positioning system to avoid losing anyone, Qiu explained.
Guides in Chinese, English and Japanese will be automatically available on the wrist band.
Visitors can also use the smart ticket to shop in the park and settle the bills when leaving.
Nevertheless, Netizens insisted the admission was too high.
"The point of protecting Chongming's ecology is good, but using the way of robbing money is just too out of date," said another a user with the Net name "yu54007".
Dongtan Wetland Park is the only wetland park in China connected to a natural reserve for migratory birds.
Each autumn and winter, up to 149 species of migratory birds flock to Dongtan, the company said.
Qiu said the park also planned to cut fees to 20 or 30 yuan for children from Monday to Thursday to encourage schools to take students to this ecological classroom.
And it may offer discounts of up to 60 percent during the World Expo, but it hasn't yet decided on that.
But whereas admission used to be free, it will now cost 200 yuan (US$29.30) per person.
Netizens are in an uproar.
About 64 percent of 1,446 Netizens thought the price was "robbery". Less than 5 percent said it was reasonable, given the island's good environment, according to an online survey on xinmin.cn, one of the most popular local news Websites.
About 19 percent thought the park should let local residents in for free and just charge tourists from outside the city.
Dongtan International Wetland Co Ltd, the park's operator, said the price was intentionally set to limit visitors and protect the ecology.
No more than 2,000 are to be allowed in the park every day from May to October, said Qiu Zhonghong, the general manager.
Each visitor will get a wrist-band ticket when entering the park. With the visitor's mobile phone number set in the wrist band, each will be connected to a global positioning system to avoid losing anyone, Qiu explained.
Guides in Chinese, English and Japanese will be automatically available on the wrist band.
Visitors can also use the smart ticket to shop in the park and settle the bills when leaving.
Nevertheless, Netizens insisted the admission was too high.
"The point of protecting Chongming's ecology is good, but using the way of robbing money is just too out of date," said another a user with the Net name "yu54007".
Dongtan Wetland Park is the only wetland park in China connected to a natural reserve for migratory birds.
Each autumn and winter, up to 149 species of migratory birds flock to Dongtan, the company said.
Qiu said the park also planned to cut fees to 20 or 30 yuan for children from Monday to Thursday to encourage schools to take students to this ecological classroom.
And it may offer discounts of up to 60 percent during the World Expo, but it hasn't yet decided on that.
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