Tourists in Sanya check seafood prices in front of a restaurant on February 2, 2012. Photo: CFP
Nicknamed China's Hawaii, the country's southernmost province Hainan has been endowed with just about everything a vacationing snowbird would want: beautiful, white sand beaches, palm trees, lush vegetation, plenty of amenities and fun things to do by the sea.
Yet many of the nearly half-million tourists who flocked there over the Spring Festival holiday were left feeling like the goose that is expected to lay too many golden eggs.
They complain of outrageous prices for sky-high airplane tickets, being held hostage by over-priced hotels and scammed by local eateries, food vendors and even pedicab drivers.
Latest reports:
◆GT In-depth: The Sanya swindle, Feb 19;
◆Hainan starts to crack down on tourism price-gouging, Feb 9, Xinhua;
◆Hainan apologizes for overcharging tourists, Feb 2, Xinhua;
◆Tourist influx causes pains in Hainan, Jan 30, Global Times
Neitizens show bills in sky-high price on Internet:
 |
@罗迪, Jan 28:
Three normal dishes cost about 4,000 yuan
($ 635).
|
 |
@黑人光辉, Feb 5:
Seven dishes of normal seafoods cost 9,746
yuan($1,547). |
 |
@山鹰加错, Feb 5:
20 normal dishes such as fried potato strips
cost 6,149 yuan($ 976).
|
|
@裴川, Feb 7:
A simple breakfast costs 280 yuan($ 44). A
cup of milk costs 110 yuan($ 17).
|
Government reactions:
◆Jan 29, Sanya Government Information Office said on Sina Weibo that the government did not receive any complaints during Spring Festival.
◆Jan 30, Sanya Government Information Office said on Sina Weibo that they made a mistake in the last message they published. The government did not receive any complaints with seafood stalls and fruit retailers during Spring Festival.
◆Feb 1, Jiang Sixian, the vice governor of Hainan Province, apologized to the tourists who were overcharged. He said, “We’ll carry on investigations with the cases we have received. Cheating customers is not at all tolerable."
◆Feb 4, The Sanya Price Bureau published the average prices of seafood in Sanya. The tourists can now complain about the illegal restaurants to the government according to the price list.
◆Feb 7, Sanya Government punished the two seafood restaurants which tourists complained about. One restaurant was fined 500,000 yuan ($80,000) for charging customers 9,764 yuan for a seven-course meal. The business license of the other restaurant was revoked.
◆Feb 18, Sanya Government decided to rectify seafood restaurants within three months.
Internet votes:
Voices:
@Zhou Hongyu, professor of Central China Normal University:
It is necessary to complete the tourism law in our country. China is now in an important period of economic structure transformation. Tourism is an important industry for us. If the law cannot protect the rights of tourists, then the tourism market will not develop well.
@Wang Jianmin, an expert of the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences:
The goal to develop Hainan into an international tourism island by 2020 is not practical. According to experiences learned from abroad, to build an international tourist island usually takes about 20 to 30 years. The 10-year plan for Hainan will result in many contradictions, such as incidents where tourists are overcharged.
@Zhang Lingyun, Vice president of Beijing's Union University Tourism Institute:
Hainan cannot provide a high quality of public service to tourists now. However, the government should inform tourists that the commodity prices will be higher than their expectations during Spring Festival. There is a difference between price fluctuation and overcharging people. Tourists should be informed of the price increases in advance.
@Liu Simin, an expert of the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences:
The unbalanced development of holiday resorts in Sanya makes these holiday paradises become lonely castles isolated within the local environment. The luxurious resorts have been invested in by endemic companies and only serve the tourists, which mean local residents receive nothing. At the same time, the abundant amount of tourists traveling to the city interrupts the peaceful lives led by the locals.
In 2010, China government made a plan to develop the southern island of Hainan into a top international tourism destination by 2020. Hainan becomes the hotest place for the investment. And in the past 10 years, Hainan has gradually become the best choice of holiday paradise for Chinese in winter, especially in Spring Festival. However, the expert says that the goal to develop Hainan into an international tourism island in 10 years is not practical.
The undesirable changes of Hainan in these years:
◆Amazingly-high commodity prices:
Take Sanya as an example. Sanya's tourism costs were out of control during the high season: A hotel room was 8,800 yuan per night, one breakfast was more than 300 yuan, a bottle of water was 6.5 yuan, and the price of supermarket commodities was two or three times the normal amount. Total expenses for one tourist per day reached 10,000 yuan.
◆Marginalized local residents:
With the vast investments from other provinces or countries in Hainan, local residents began to feel strange in their hometown. They cannot afford to buy a house at such a high price. They cannot take a taxi to urban areas as taxi drivers only want to give rides to tourists. The beautiful beaches become luxurious for them, and they can even not have a peaceful Spring Festival because of the heavy influx of tourists.
◆Loss of reputation among tourists:
Along with the ubiquitous high prices, tourists in Hainan complained the island had lost all signs of being a quaint and relaxing place to spend time while observing native culture. It's now become far too commercialized. One tourist from Beijing surnamed Zhang who spent Spring Festival in Sanya said, "The concept of an international tourism island has become a pretext for overcharging visitors. Scenic spots that charge entrance fees are everywhere and without spending lots of money there is no way to have fun."
Causes of the Hainan's tourism industry in chaos:
◆The contradiction between the amount of tourists and poor public service:
With the increasing number of tourists every year, we can easily see a shortage in Hainan’s ability to deal with the influx of tourists. The government only pays attention to the construction of facilities, such as hotels and holiday resorts. Public service and regulations on the tourist market are ignored.
◆Unbalanced benefit distribution:
Local residents in Hainan feel that the goal of building Hainan as an international tourist island has nothing to do with them. The luxurious resorts are invested in by endemic groups, and the abundant amount of tourists interrupts their peaceful lives. Some of the local residents want to receive a share of the benefits that are received from overcharging tourists.