Research study: "Why are domestic tickets so expensive?"

“Why are domestic tickets so expensive?”

As tickets to tourist attractions become more and more expensive, people begin to pay attention to whether the tickets for a trip are worth it. There is no most expensive ticket, only more expensive ones. Expensive, here are the top ten most expensive scenic spots in China:

The first place is the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon in Tibet, with ordinary tickets costing 270 yuan and package tickets costing 680 yuan. The Yarlung Zangbo River is very rich in tourism resources, and hiking in the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is the most arduous hiking scientific research route in the world. The second place is Hengdian Film and Television City in Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, which is called "China's Hollywood" by the American "Hollywood" magazine. General admission tickets are 255 yuan, and unified tickets are 420 yuan. The third place is Zhangjiajie. Zhangjiajie was named China's first national forest park in September 1982 and was included in the World Natural Heritage List by UNESCO in 1992. Tickets are 245 yuan. The fourth place belongs to Huangshan Scenic Area, with a ticket price of 230 yuan. The fifth place is Xixiakou in Weihai. This is a combined ticket for three scenic spots. The total combined ticket for Chengshantou Scenic Area, Shendiao Mountain Wildlife Nature Reserve and Motianling Scenic Area is 230 yuan.

Jiuzhaigou is ranked sixth among the top ten most expensive scenic spots in China. Jiuzhaigou is a key scenic spot in the country and is included in the World Heritage List. It is known as the "Fairy Tale World". Tickets are 220 yuan. The seventh place is the Potala Palace in Tibet, with a ticket price of 200 yuan. The eighth place is called Huanglong Scenic Area, and the ticket is 200 yuan. The ninth is Qufu Three Holes, and the normal ticket price is 200 yuan per person. The last place is Wuyi Mountain. Wuyi Mountain implements a one-ticket system, and the ticket price is 140 yuan. The above are the top ten scenic spots with the most expensive tickets in China.

After returning from traveling during the May Day holiday, many people feel helpless when talking about the ticket prices of scenic spots. It is understood that the price of tickets for domestic scenic spots has increased by 20% to 60% on average. Tickets for 10% of 5A scenic spots have risen to more than 200 yuan, tickets for Huangshan in Anhui are 230 yuan, and tickets for Zhangjiajie in Hunan [1.32% funding research report] are 258 yuan.

Domestic attractions are very expensive. How do foreign attractions charge? Data shows that the per capita income of many countries is higher than that of China, but the ticket prices for scenic spots are very cheap. For example, tickets to Japan's Mount Fuji and South Korea's Halla Mountain are free, while tickets to the famous Eiffel Tower in France and the Taj Mahal in India only cost more than 40 yuan and 10 yuan respectively.

It may seem like a few dozen yuan or one or two hundred yuan is not that expensive, but if you calculate it carefully, you will be shocked. Taking the ticket price of the Potala Palace in Tibet as an example, the ticket price is 200 yuan. The per capita monthly income in my country is about 2,000 yuan, and this ticket accounts for 10%. Looking at the United States, the more expensive Yellowstone Park ticket is 150 yuan. The average monthly income of Americans is 19,800 yuan, and tickets account for 0.08%. The price-to-income ratio of a tourist attraction ticket for Chinese people is 125 times greater than that of Americans.

How much do you know about the ticket prices for foreign attractions?

Italy: Ticket revenue is turned over to the national government and the management of tourist attractions is very strict. After ticket revenue is turned over to the national finance, it is uniformly withdrawn from the national treasury.

Finland: Issuing lottery tickets to fund museums Finland raises funds through issuing lotteries to fund museums and reduce ticket prices.

Egypt: The ticket price for locals is only one-tenth of that of foreigners. In Egypt, when locals visit various attractions and parks, the ticket price is usually only one-tenth, or even 20%, of that of foreigners. One tenth.

Japan: Most scenic spots are free. Japan is a high-priced place, but admission tickets are not expensive, and most scenic spots are even free.

France: Low-priced tickets improve national quality. Ticket prices for French tourist attractions are basically below 10 euros. The government hopes to maximize the cultural life of the people, improve the national quality, and attract more foreign visitors. .

Russia: Care for vulnerable groups In Moscow, most attractions offer free admission to preschool children, disabled people, family members with many children, and World War II veterans.

“The scenery you look down upon”—this is a newly labeled label for a well-known tourist attraction in China, with a hint of sigh in the joke. What makes industry insiders sigh even more is how China’s tourism can truly realize the transformation and upgrading of its connotation and extension after widespread doubts about the “ticket economy”.

Statistics show that among the 130 5A-level scenic spots (non-off-season) in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), nearly half of the ticket prices have exceeded 100 yuan. Only 22% of the top-ranked attractions in the country this year have ticket prices of less than 60 yuan.

"Relying on tickets for scenic spots is a business model in itself. In the tourism development stage of 'big investment and big output', it is necessary to obtain 'high returns' through 'high ticket prices'," said Shandong University School of Management Tourism Professor Wang Degang, head of the Department of Management, explained, "The ticket price issue cannot be raised just because the price is raised. The social return mechanism is missing, so scenic spot operators must make up for it by raising prices."

In 2007, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a decree Issue a notice stipulating that the frequency of adjustment of ticket prices for tourist attractions shall not be less than three years.

In the past 10 years, tourist attractions regarded as a source of local economic wealth in China have raised their ticket prices several times: Huangshan Scenic Area raised their ticket prices three times in 2002, 2005 and 2009, with the peak season ticket rising from 80 yuan to 230 yuan; In 2005, Zhangjiajie [1.32% Fund Research Report] Wulingyuan core scenic spot tickets were raised from 158 yuan to 245 yuan; in 2001, Mogao Grottoes tickets were raised from 66 yuan to 80 yuan, and later to 160 yuan; the once free Taierzhuang Ancient City in Zaozhuang After several adjustments, the scenic spot has stipulated that from April 1 this year, the ticket price will increase from 100 yuan to 160 yuan...

Industry insiders said that the operation and management costs of the scenic spot have increased, coupled with the lack of effective social supervision , local governments regard ticket revenue as one of the important sources of finance, which has also caused the rapid increase in ticket prices.

“The 6-day tour currently launched by travel agencies to major scenic spots in Jiangxi such as Jinggangshan, Lushan, Wuyuan, Sanqingshan and Longhushan includes meals, room charges, large and small transportation expenses, and tickets. The total travel cost is about It exceeds 2,000 yuan, but the cost of scenic spot tickets, ropeways and environmentally friendly sightseeing cars exceeds 1,000 yuan, accounting for more than half of the total travel expenses." Zhu Jianhua, general manager of Jiangxi Longxing Tianxia Travel Agency, said helplessly that the travel agency is under great operating pressure.

At the beginning of this year, the British "Economist" magazine compared the ticket prices of scenic spots in many countries through the "'Big Mac' Informal Economic Index". The index makes a horizontal comparison based on "the number of Big Macs that can be purchased locally based on the scenic spot ticket price." The indices represented by the Louvre Museum, the Kremlin, and Mount Fuji are: 2.87, 2.47, 0 (tickets are free). Huangshan, Brahmaputra Grand Canyon, and Zhangjiajie are 14.94, 270, and 15.91 respectively.

Zhu Jianhua said: "In countries and regions with developed tourism, the ticket fees for scenic spots are very low, or even free. When the tickets are low, tourists will be more accepting, and the popularity and reputation of the scenic spots will also increase. This will lead to greater passenger flow and promote the development of tourism-related industries such as hotels, catering, and transportation.”

“If the scenic spot is a public resource, it will have public nature. We cannot rely entirely on market pricing." Wang Degang said that if the government can repay scenic spots through transfer payments from local finances, a reasonable mechanism can be established to balance the redistribution of tourism benefits through government finances.

Hangzhou West Lake has become an example. Starting from October 2002, Hangzhou began to open the park around the lake for free, making the West Lake Scenic Area the only and first 5A-level scenic spot in China that does not charge tickets. In the past 10 years of free admission, ticket revenue has been conservatively estimated to have dropped by more than 200 million yuan, but Hangzhou has benefited even more. Before West Lake was opened for free, Hangzhou's total annual tourism revenue was 54.9 billion yuan, and last year it reached 119.1 billion yuan.

Chen Guozhong, president of Shandong Tourism Planning and Design Institute, also believes that at this stage, whether ticket pricing is reasonable depends on whether scenic tourism is worth the money and whether it meets the affordability of the vast majority of tourists. However, what China's tourism industry urgently needs to solve is the issue of industrial cooperation and how to improve the comprehensive income of scenic spots.

From the end of December 2011 to the end of January this year, 71 key scenic spots in Jiangxi jointly launched a free ticket campaign month to stimulate the off-season market with a "collective free ticket" approach. Data shows that although a total of about 1.1 billion yuan in tourist attraction tickets are waived, it has boosted revenue of nearly 6 billion yuan in the transportation, hotel, catering, and entertainment industries.

“The focus of tourism reform should be on the development of tourism business resources. The tourism industry should transform from a 'ticket economy' to an 'industrial economy'. If we focus on tickets, we will not focus on finding new alternative income growth points. If we blindly develop attractions by raising ticket prices, the tourism industry will reach a dead end.