Austerity campaign dents tourism industry
Source: Xinhua |
May 14, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AN austerity campaign launched in China has produced a chilling effect on the tourism industry, with travel agencies having to realign their strategies to heat up their profits.
Group tours are among the hardest hit business, with many travel agencies reporting a sales decline of up to 50 percent since the beginning of the year.
Lu Bo, a manager of a travel agency based in Jiangxi Province, said his company's group tour business has halved from a year ago as fewer travelers are signing up for packages.
Industry insiders said agencies used to rely on group tour packages tailored for government officials for nearly 80 percent of their profits.
However, not all such tours were paid with officials' own money.
The public were angered over reports of officials using business trips and conferences as a disguise to go on personal vacations, splurging taxpayers' money on extravagance.
He Luhua, former head of the Bureau of Justice at Longgang District, Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province, was removed from his post for spending 140,000 yuan (US$22,820) on luxury hotels and travel during what was supposed to be a five-day inspection tour.
The 24 people involved in the case, including He, were asked to return the money they had spent.
In December, the ruling Communist Party of China rolled out a series of measures to improve work style and efficiency, such as controls on the number of people on inspection tours and banning lavish receptions.
Travel agencies are not the only ones to have suffered from the government's crackdown. High-end catering and luxury goods have witnessed plunging revenues after the campaign kicked in.
In response, a lot of restaurants have started to offer half servings of food, allowed diners to bring their own beverages and canceled extra charges for individual dining rooms.
A fancy restaurant in Jinan City, capital of Shandong Province, recently replaced shark fin soup and abalone with 8 yuan specials on its menu to attract less affluent diners.
Chen Guozhong, head of the Tourism Planning and Design Institute of Shandong Province, said similar changes must take place in the tourism industry.
He said there will be opportunities to make money by providing packages tailored to the growing number of middle-class Chinese people.
The rise of individual travelers heralds the coming-of-age of China's tourism industry, added Chen.
Group tours are among the hardest hit business, with many travel agencies reporting a sales decline of up to 50 percent since the beginning of the year.
Lu Bo, a manager of a travel agency based in Jiangxi Province, said his company's group tour business has halved from a year ago as fewer travelers are signing up for packages.
Industry insiders said agencies used to rely on group tour packages tailored for government officials for nearly 80 percent of their profits.
However, not all such tours were paid with officials' own money.
The public were angered over reports of officials using business trips and conferences as a disguise to go on personal vacations, splurging taxpayers' money on extravagance.
He Luhua, former head of the Bureau of Justice at Longgang District, Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province, was removed from his post for spending 140,000 yuan (US$22,820) on luxury hotels and travel during what was supposed to be a five-day inspection tour.
The 24 people involved in the case, including He, were asked to return the money they had spent.
In December, the ruling Communist Party of China rolled out a series of measures to improve work style and efficiency, such as controls on the number of people on inspection tours and banning lavish receptions.
Travel agencies are not the only ones to have suffered from the government's crackdown. High-end catering and luxury goods have witnessed plunging revenues after the campaign kicked in.
In response, a lot of restaurants have started to offer half servings of food, allowed diners to bring their own beverages and canceled extra charges for individual dining rooms.
A fancy restaurant in Jinan City, capital of Shandong Province, recently replaced shark fin soup and abalone with 8 yuan specials on its menu to attract less affluent diners.
Chen Guozhong, head of the Tourism Planning and Design Institute of Shandong Province, said similar changes must take place in the tourism industry.
He said there will be opportunities to make money by providing packages tailored to the growing number of middle-class Chinese people.
The rise of individual travelers heralds the coming-of-age of China's tourism industry, added Chen.
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