There are many free traps, ten classic tips for preventing travel fraud

1. The first tip to prevent tourist scams:

Beware of tourist scammers at stations and piers: In any city with developed tourism, a large number of unidentified tourists with various disguises gather in tourist distribution centers. There are people who sell such signs, including those who sell tickets, and some who offer hotel accommodation. Nowadays, there are still a large number of people who solicit people to go on tours. They certainly do not have legal qualifications, but most of them have a very strong ability to observe what is happening and can invest in others. What he likes is that he is also eloquent and can sell it at a high price first. If it doesn't work, he will deceive it at a super low price. Once he succeeds, he will immediately buy it to some travel agencies at a lower price, and he will no longer be able to find anyone in an instant. Many people will say that I don’t care who takes me there, in the end I am only responsible for the travel agency that hosted me. In fact, there are many problems here. Since I can do it at a low price, of course I have a way to do it at a low price. Due to space constraints, I will not go into details.

2. The second way to prevent travel fraud:

Check the qualifications of travel agencies carefully: This is a cliché, but it is indeed crucial: travel agencies are divided into different types. At present, China Travel agencies are divided into two categories, not three categories as many people say, one is "international travel agencies" and the other is "domestic travel agencies", and "international travel agencies" are divided into two categories, one is those that can operate Outbound tourism, and the other category can operate inbound tourism and domestic tourism. For example, there are only more than 30 international travel agencies in Sichuan Province, and only two of them can directly operate outbound tourism, namely Sichuan Overseas Travel Agency and Chengdu Overseas Travel Agency. However, Chengdu Overseas Travel Agency has been suspended from operating outbound tourism due to illegal operations. Other international travel agencies generally only operate outbound tourism as agents and cannot directly operate outbound tourism.

So what is the difference between "domestic travel agency" and "international travel agency"?

First of all, "domestic travel agencies" only have a deposit of 100,000 yuan, while "international travel agencies" have to pay a deposit of 600,000 yuan;

In addition, to put it more simply, "domestic travel agencies" cannot accept Except for tourists from outside mainland China, such as compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, they cannot receive tourists, and tourists cannot join the tour groups organized by them. Many tourists ignore this, which is actually very dangerous. Not to mention the big aspects, The interests of tourists alone cannot be protected. For example, travel agencies across the country are now required to implement liability insurance, and the amount and scope of insurance for "domestic travel agencies" and "international travel agencies" are different. If a travel agency outside the mainland If someone joins a team organized by a domestic travel agency and something goes wrong, since the insurance coverage of "domestic travel agencies" does not cover foreigners, you may not receive compensation at all. Even if you are compensated at the same amount as a mainlander, the amount can be up to The difference is as much as 2-3 times, not to mention whether the business methods of "domestic travel agencies" can meet the quality required by foreigners.

3. The third way to prevent travel fraud:

Check whether the travel agency is a sales department or headquarters: This is equally important. For example, in Chengdu, Sichuan, the tourism industry is relatively developed, but the market is very chaotic. , there are so many employees, there are more than 200 travel agencies in Chengdu, but when the market was first formed, some older travel agencies, like other big cities across the country, adopted a contracting method to wholesale a large number of stores, and the relationship between the headquarters and sales departments The relationship is just a relationship of paying money, and the business ideas, business methods, etc. are not cared about. However, the Tourism Bureau has been unable to find a way to manage it for a while. Although it has issued many documents, policies, regulations, etc. to stop it, it has not improved so far. At present, the department The number is dozens of times that of travel agencies. This has become a major tourist attraction in Chengdu. It has even alerted the National Tourism Administration and ordered strict rectification. According to national policy, all tourism departments that are not together with the headquarters can only receive tourists for the headquarters, and they are not qualified to operate like travel agencies. According to statistics from the Sichuan Provincial Tourism Bureau, 80% of tourism complaints in the Chengdu market come from stores operating in violation of regulations, so it is crucial to identify these stores.

First of all, check whether they have a business license hanging in a prominent place. Secondly, check whether they have a license issued by the Tourism Bureau, and whether they have a complaint sign from the Tourism Bureau. Do not look at the copy. Whether the formal travel contract supervised by the bureau can issue a formal invoice? If the above is missing, you'd better leave first.

In addition, you also need to check whether the travel agency's business facilities are complete, whether the office is regular, whether the employees are regular, etc. This depends on your discernment.

4. The fourth tip to prevent travel fraud:

Remember the phone numbers of tourism bureaus in various places. If you are not sure about travel agency qualifications and other issues, you can call for consultation. For example, the complaint hotline in Chengdu, Sichuan is as follows: 6622065 6629858. The province-wide unified complaint hotline is:

5. The fifth tip to prevent tourism fraud:

Pay attention to identify the star rating of the hotel promised by the travel agency: In order to deceive tourists, many illegal tourism sales agencies often use deceptive methods to promise tourists how many star hotels they will stay in. However, when the guests check in, they find that there is actually a huge difference. In addition to some star hotels with many different types of rooms, , often due to differences in geographical location, resulting in differences in hotel prices.

Many tourists who come to Chengdu are often deceived into staying in a well-known three-star hotel near the train station when they get off the train, and are promised a very low price. Sometimes it only costs 60 yuan to get a room. The secret is that the rooms on the lower floors of the hotel are terrible, worse than an ordinary guest house, and of course the price is very low. There are often many similar ways when traveling.

Tourists are advised to indicate in the travel contract the name of the hotel and whether the hotel they are staying in is the main building, etc., and consult some relevant agencies about the hotel's grade. For example, in Sichuan, Jiuzhaigou International Hotel, the only five-star hotel in Jiuzhaigou, is known as the East Building and the West Building. Of course, the prices are different. Generally, formal travel agencies will do better in this regard.

6. The sixth tip to prevent travel fraud:

Beware of price traps: low prices are of course tempting, and regular travel agencies are also pursuing low prices to win more tourists. , but at the same time, we should also pay attention to some illegal travel agencies or tourism sales departments that lure tourists to join the group at low prices, and then obtain more illegal benefits in improper ways, such as increasing shopping, shopping in black stores, lowering the grade, changing attractions, etc. They even absconded with the money.

How to distinguish between normal prices and low-price traps: Find more regular travel agencies to compare. More importantly, look at cost-effectiveness and the ratio of price to quality, not just price. Unreasonable prices are not It is possible to receive reasonable services, which is the law of market economy.

7. The seventh trick to prevent travel fraud:

Distinguish between group transfers and group purchases: In today’s tourism market economy, it should be said that it is normal for different travel agencies to carry out different divisions of labor. Because it is impossible for any travel agency to monopolize all aspects of the market, and it does not have the strength to obtain enough customers every day to launch separate tours for dozens of routes. It is unreasonable to accuse travel agencies of reasonable division of labor, but this is not the case. It is tantamount to allowing the implementation agency to deprive tourists of their right to choose at will.

First of all, tourists should understand that the tour group you are participating in cannot change the responsibilities of the travel agency you signed up for due to group transfer or merger. This travel agency should handle all the problems you have during the tour. Responsible.

Secondly, after group transfer or group merging, the travel agency’s commitment to you cannot be changed, otherwise you have the right to complain to the travel agency.

Third, the travel agency must tell you whether the group will be transferred or merged when signing the travel contract, and the name of the travel agency that transfers the group to the merged group must also be written in the contract.

8. The eighth tip to prevent travel fraud:

Pay attention to shopping traps: Generally speaking, groups that do not specifically indicate not to shop will arrange shopping, but there are a few things to pay attention to when shopping. :

Tourism bureaus in various places have regulations on tourism shopping. For example, the Sichuan Provincial Tourism Bureau has clearly stipulated that shopping should not exceed once a day and each shopping trip should not exceed 40 minutes. You can ask the tour guide not to violate the regulations, otherwise you have the right to complain.

In addition, the shopping spots that the tour guide takes you to must be designated shopping spots recognized by the Tourism Bureau (of course, except for shops and roadside shops that you request to enter), all should be clearly designated by the Tourism Bureau. Shop sign.

The most important point is that no one can force you to buy, cannot force you to consume, nor can they trick you into shopping. Once you find that what you are buying is fake, counterfeit, counterfeit, inferior goods, or low-quality goods, For non-conforming goods, as long as you can produce an invoice or evidence, you can request a return or compensation for your losses.

9. The ninth tip to prevent travel fraud:

Pay attention to the traps of self-paid items: Tourism is inseparable from consumption, so in addition to the stipulated must-see items, general tour groups generally include There are self-financed projects. In principle, self-financed projects are only voluntary for tourists and cannot be forced. Therefore, you must carefully choose self-financed projects and do not fall into the trap of self-financed projects because there are many self-financed projects that do not match the actual price.

For example, when traveling in Sichuan, in addition to the regular attractions, the more normal self-funded items include roast sheep bonfire parties in various places, Chengdu snacks, Chengdu hot pot, Chengdu medicinal cuisine, Sichuan Sichuan opera, Sichuan teahouses, etc. As long as the price is reasonable for hot spring baths, etc., there is generally no problem.

10. The tenth tip to prevent travel fraud:

Beware of free traps: In order to attract tourists, many illegal travel agencies or illegal tourism departments will offer certain attractions for free. Tourists, as the saying goes, there is no free lunch in the world. In fact, these gifts are either already included in the travel fees collected, or there are other traps. You should pay special attention to them. For example, there is Gami Temple on the way to Jiuzhaigou when traveling in Sichuan. Many illegal tourism departments used to send tourists to tours free of charge. In fact, after entering, they would defraud tourists of a lot of money in the name of burning incense and worshiping Buddha or buying goods. If they did not comply, they would be cursed by the pretended monks. There have been numerous complaints in this regard, and even insults. Now the tourism bureau has banned this tourist attraction. Only when it was banned did they discover that the monks inside were all dressed up as local farmers and had joined forces with illegal travel agencies to deceive tourists and reap benefits.