What are the hidden tricks and scams in "Suzhou One Day Tour"?

This article is the 30th observation article of the Tourism Knowledge Forum

The 30th stop of the "High-speed Rail Tour in China" series - Suzhou

Author: Navigator

Introduction to the "High-speed Rail Travel in China" series

This topic starts from the author's city, Chengdu, and travels along the high-speed rail to 100 tourist cities across the country (the routes are not repeated, one line After walking), each city has a question, a theme, and an article to deeply explore the city's natural and humanistic tourism culture.

This is not a travelogue or a guide, but a tasteful, attitude and analysis of city travel observations!

Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway

G140, Shanghai Hongqiao-Suzhou North, lasts 23 minutes

Suzhou, a famous tourist city in China, has always been known for its beautiful scenery and elegant gardens. It is famous all over the world, with the reputation of "Jiangnan gardens are the best in the world, and Suzhou gardens are the best in the south of the Yangtze River". It is also known as the "Oriental Water Capital" because of its ancient water town characteristics of small bridges and flowing water.

However, as a national civilized city and an ecological garden city, and also a city famous for tourism, Suzhou has been criticized for the chaos of "one-day tours".

Today’s article will take you to Suzhou, the 30th stop in the “High-Speed ??Rail Tour to China” series, and reveal the routines and scams of those “Suzhou one-day tours”.

Suzhou Overview

Suzhou, known as Wu in ancient times, also known as Gusu and Pingjiang, is a national ecological garden city and scenic tourist city.

Suzhou is one of the first 24 national historical and cultural cities in China. It has a long history of nearly 2,500 years and is the birthplace of Wu culture. The ancient city of Suzhou and Suzhou gardens combine "World Cultural Heritage" and "World Intangible Cultural Heritage".

Suzhou has always been famous for its beautiful scenery and elegant gardens. It has the reputation of "the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River are the best in the world, and the gardens in Suzhou are the best in the south of the Yangtze River". It also has the characteristics of an ancient water town with small bridges and flowing water, and has the reputation of "oriental water." It is known as the "city" and is as famous as Venice in Italy.

01/Travel Scam

The one-stop scam of "Suzhou one-day tour" starts from the train station and bus station. "No matter it rains or winds, they will always be there waiting for you", this is not a romantic love saying, but a black tour guide outside Suzhou railway station and bus station.

In the parking lot outside the station, there is an official bus running directly to the city, called Suzhou Haoxing. Buy a card and take the special bus directly to various attractions. But in the same parking lot, there are also many free tourist buses that are said to be "Huimin Buses".

If you listen to the tricks of tourist solicitors and get on these so-called free "people-benefiting buses", you will fall into the trap of "Suzhou one-day tour" from the moment you enter Suzhou.

As the saying goes, "There is no free pie in the sky." Similarly, taking a free tour bus to visit scenic spots is a small gain but a huge loss. From the moment you get on the bus, the black tour guide will work hard to sell you various attractive discounted travel packages, one-day tours, shopping and dining spots. If you can't resist the temptation and buy these so-called "preferential products", then congratulations, you will go further and further down the road of being deceived.

If you remain unmoved and insist on going to hotels, restaurants, etc. that have been booked in advance, then they will show their true colors and kick you off the bus midway and drive away.

After being kicked out of the car, you may encounter some enthusiastic old men pulling rickshaws. The fare for a rickshaw is not high, usually a few yuan, which is much more cost-effective than taking a taxi. Coupled with the scorching sun or the biting cold wind, seeing how difficult it is for them to make a living and make money, you feel pity for a moment and get on the rickshaw.

Along the way, the old man pulling the rickshaw is extremely enthusiastic, which makes you feel good. At this time, you are imagining that there are still many good people in the world, and Suzhou is still a civilized and friendly city. After that, the old man began to introduce you to Suzhou’s local subsidies for the tourism industry, as well as various preferential tourism policies.

Believing it to be true, you finally let this old man send you to a place similar to a "distribution center". As soon as you get off the bus, there are still advertisements for various discounts on package tickets, cars, etc. If you really can't stand the temptation at this time, the ending will be exactly the same as being cheated in the last season.

If you are stubborn by nature, not fooled by rhetoric, and always stick to your inner principles, then what awaits you is either being refused ride by a rickshaw, or being kicked off again midway.

02/Ticket Routine

When you unfortunately fall into the trap and buy these so-called "discount ticket packages", you may be lucky to get a big deal at first. After all, for just over a hundred yuan, you can visit famous scenic spots such as the Humble Administrator's Garden, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Panmen, Ding Garden, and Tangyin Garden.

When paying and signing a contract, you should keep your eyes open and carefully check whether the contract includes well-known attractions. Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will be fooled. By then the "contract" will be written in black and white, and even if you find you have been cheated, it will be difficult to get your ticket money back.

If when signing the "contract", you find that the scenic spot does not match the number, they will also use various reasons to stall you. For example, "The Humble Administrator's Garden is under maintenance recently, and it doesn't look good even if you go in." "The roads in the Lion Forest are slippery when it rains, and it's easy to fall when you go in." Balabala? Then he started to promote the cruise ship, Ding Garden, Tang Yin Garden and other scenic spots, which will make you laugh. There is an impulse of "if you don't go now, you will regret it for the rest of your life".

In fact, when you board their "thief ship", you will find that the so-called canal tour around the city actually only covers less than three thousand meters, and the scenery on both sides of the bank is really unsightly. There is no beauty in the ancient canal.

Not only that, the ship boss not only knows how to sail a ship, he also has a side business. A pair of Suzhou travel playing cards cost 10 yuan. Buy them. They are of no use. Don’t buy them. The boat boss muttered again, “People nowadays don’t support China’s tourism industry at all. They all go to Japan to buy toilet seats.” It seems that you are all traitors to the motherland and scum of the nation.

In addition to the main business and side business, the tertiary industry is also indispensable. When melodious singing comes from a nearby cruise ship, the boat owner will ask you if you want to listen. After getting a positive reply, when the boat was approaching the shore, he would say, "I usually don't sing, but it's not easy to sing today. Please give me a tip." Then, he was tricked again.

I finally got ashore and went to the legendary "Qili Shantang", only to find out that it was free! Only a few of the small attractions are charged. Similarly, most of the so-called "Suzhou Gardens" attractions for individual tourists in the itinerary are copycats, with constant negative reviews and complaints.

03/Copycat Attractions

The most favorite "Suzhou Garden" attractions among tour groups are Dingyuan Garden and Tangyin Garden.

Dingyuan is not an official scenic spot in Suzhou, but a small privately contracted scenic spot. According to the tour guide, it was built by Liu Bowen, but there is actually no verification. As early as April 2015, Dingyuan received a "serious warning" from the Tourism Bureau due to untimely rectification, outdated facilities, chaotic management of the scenic spot, and numerous complaints. In other words, it is a "copycat version of Suzhou gardens".

As a favorite attraction for tour groups, once you enter Dingyuan, the smell of copper is everywhere. If you listen to the tour guide’s explanation and want to pay homage to the temple inside, the Flower Temple, then what awaits you will be a one-stop service of bowing, burning incense, drawing lots, interpreting lots, presenting flowers, and making donations. Of course, if you lose money to eliminate disaster, even if your wallet is bleeding, you will still feel like crying without tears.

Speaking of Tang Yin Garden, it was not a tourist attraction at all before, but now it is occupied by people selling calligraphy, paintings and antiques. As for authenticity, only the store knows. It is also full of masters from "So-and-so Painting Academy" who make lies and deceive people. They write poems and paintings and charge people staggering fees. Of course, they are all aimed at tourists, and they can deceive everyone.

As for the certain garden near Tiger Hill, it actually does not belong to Tiger Hill, and the two are not connected to each other. The free Zhongwang Mansion is also separated from the Humble Administrator's Garden by a wall. Shantang Street is free to enter, but some small attractions inside charge tickets.

If by this time you have discovered these "one-day tour" scams, you should either complain to the police in time, or run away early to avoid being deceived further. If you can't get out, there are even more serious "shopping traps" waiting for you.

04/Shopping Trap

It’s not too much to take a “one-day tour” in Suzhou and just visit the scenic spots, even small fake ones. However, a “one-day trip” without shopping is not a “one-day trip to Suzhou”.

Suzhou XX Silk Exhibition Hall and XX Pearl Museum have dual existences as copycat attractions and sky-high-priced shopping spots, further refreshing people's understanding of "Suzhou one-day tour".

At the Silk Exhibition Hall, tour guides will try their best to trick you into buying so-called "authentic silk products". “In other five-star hotels, the cheapest ones are 1,200 a night, and family suites are as high as 7,000 a night.

The silk exhibition hall we are visiting now costs more than 2,000 for three kilograms of silk quilts. Think about being able to sleep in the silkiness of the silk quilt every day. It is equivalent to wearing a silk mask all over your body. Your skin will become extremely smooth and soft. ?"

Are you very excited at this moment? If you come with your parents, you will be considered an "unfilial descendant" if you don't buy it. Buy it, the sky-high price of "silk products" will make your heart bleed. This At this time, the tour guide would snicker, so many brainless people took the bait again.

Not counting the silk, Suzhou is rich in pearls. But who knows? There is indeed a so-called "Pearl Museum" in Taihu Lake.

Just like the Silk Road, you first visit the pearl exhibits and then start to be tricked into buying various pearl jewelry and pearl powder. , pearl facial cleanser, pearl toothpaste? There are only things you can't think of, and there is nothing that can't be made here. It would be fine if they were all genuine, but when it comes to authenticity, whoever buys them will know?

If you don't. Just the sarcastic looks and words of the tour guide will make you feel ashamed. If you feel confident enough to argue or persuade your fellow travelers not to buy, you will be greeted with insults at best and fists at worst.

In addition, the sky-high price of meals in the itinerary also forms an intertwined chain of interests with transportation, black tour guides, copycat attractions, shopping spots and other links. Although the Suzhou government is also vigorously investing in this. To rectify this tourism chaos, the effect does not seem to be obvious.

We also hope that one day it can be completely solved. After all, Suzhou is a famous tourist city with world cultural heritage sites such as Suzhou Ancient City and Suzhou Gardens. Essence attractions. We cannot deny the entire city of Suzhou because of the tourism chaos of "Suzhou One-Day Tour", but if it continues to deteriorate, it will not only lose Suzhou's tourism industry, but also China's good image among tourists at home and abroad. .

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