The charm of autumn in Wulingyuan, the core scenic area of Zhangjiajie
Two price-gouging incidents severely punished
(Wang Jianjun) On the evening of October 9, Zhangjiajie City’s tourism authorities investigated and dealt with two incidents of tourist rip-offs overnight in accordance with laws and regulations. Cheng Danfeng, member of the Standing Committee of the Zhangjiajie Municipal Party Committee and deputy mayor, said that cases that infringe on the interests of tourists and damage the image of Zhangjiajie must be investigated quickly, thoroughly investigated, cracked down in accordance with the law, and dealt with with the utmost severity.
Before the National Day, a reporter from the Beijing News made an unannounced visit to a travel agency for a "six-day tour of Hunan." With the title "The tour guide charged 230 yuan for a 96-yuan ticket to a scenic spot in Zhangjiajie," he reported that the tour guides persuaded the tour guides one by one to participate in self-funded projects, which was a disguised form of forcing tourists to spend money. On the evening of October 9, the half-hour economic column of CCTV’s financial channel reported on Zhangjiajie’s low-price rip-off: You can’t leave.
Joint law enforcement inspects scenic area prices
The Zhangjiajie Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attached great importance to the two incidents of cheating and rip-off of tourists. During the National Day, Zhangjiajie formed a joint law enforcement team to comprehensively inspect the prices of scenic spots to prevent the occurrence of cheating and rip-off. They also strengthened clear price tags and service announcements, dispatched additional working groups, adopted methods such as open and secret visits and public notifications, and focused on supervising travel agencies and tour guides.
Involved travel agency fined and license revoked
On October 10, the Zhangjiajie tourism authorities fined Zhangjiajie Nabaili Travel Agency 50,000 yuan for false propaganda when organizing a group, which was involved in the unannounced Beijing News investigation. Nabaili Travel Agency also imposed a fine of 300,000 yuan for failing to notify the group when it was handed over to Ping An Travel Agency for ground pick-up, and failing to obtain written signatures from the tourists themselves. The manager of the store department involved in the incident was fined 20,000 yuan. The illegal income of Naberry Travel Agency was also confiscated, and the tour guide certificate of the tour guide involved was temporarily detained for 6 months.
For the Zhangjiajie China International Travel Service Co., Ltd. and Zhangjiajie CYTS International Travel Service Co., Ltd. involved in the CCTV report, preliminary processing was carried out and the provincial tourism bureau was reported to revoke their travel agency business licenses and tour guide certificates in accordance with laws and regulations. The municipal industrial and commercial department revoked the travel agency business licenses in accordance with laws and regulations. The Zhangjiajie tourism "Yichengtong" management system has banned two tour guides from engaging in tourism reception activities for life.
The Zhangjiajie Municipal Tourism Working Committee also made a decision to immediately terminate the bundling of scenic spots in the city and standardize and rectify the price behavior of scenic spots; to investigate whether there is commercial bribery in the scenic spots involved; to carry out in-depth special activities of "Safety and Satisfaction in Zhangjiajie" citywide, and to unite all tourism-related functional departments to comprehensively rectify the city's tourism market order. As well as consolidating the results of years of tourism order improvement and maintaining a safe and satisfactory image of Zhangjiajie.