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Scenic spots raise admission to screen out poor visitors
March 31, 2012, Saturday
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IT'S that time of a year again. Travelers are ready to pack and go traveling as the weather warms in spring.
And as usual, admission fees to most scenic spots in China have soared in anticipation of a hot tourist season.
Of the country's 130 5-A (highest-class) scenic spots, more than half have each raised their admission fees above 100 yuan (US$15.8), and 10 percent have each hiked their fees above 200 yuan.
Prohibitively high admission fees serve no purpose other than screening out lower-income travelers, which is unfair.
A lower-income family of three indeed cannot afford such expensive admission fees which, like colleges' high tuition, have become a new watershed separating the poor from the rich.
In a sense, travel has become a luxury for the not so rich. Forget about the poor.
Children from richer families can afford not only high tuition fees, but also expensive travel across the globe. While they ramble in Paris, their peers from poorer families cannot even be admitted to world heritages in their own country.
Income gap is only natural in a market economy, but scenic spots, especially those that offer world heritage attractions, should be made to cater to public benefits more than profit maximization.
(People's Daily)
And as usual, admission fees to most scenic spots in China have soared in anticipation of a hot tourist season.
Of the country's 130 5-A (highest-class) scenic spots, more than half have each raised their admission fees above 100 yuan (US$15.8), and 10 percent have each hiked their fees above 200 yuan.
Prohibitively high admission fees serve no purpose other than screening out lower-income travelers, which is unfair.
A lower-income family of three indeed cannot afford such expensive admission fees which, like colleges' high tuition, have become a new watershed separating the poor from the rich.
In a sense, travel has become a luxury for the not so rich. Forget about the poor.
Children from richer families can afford not only high tuition fees, but also expensive travel across the globe. While they ramble in Paris, their peers from poorer families cannot even be admitted to world heritages in their own country.
Income gap is only natural in a market economy, but scenic spots, especially those that offer world heritage attractions, should be made to cater to public benefits more than profit maximization.
(People's Daily)
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