Why are ticket prices at tourist attractions in Wuxi so expensive?

Laugh without saying a word!

Why do ticket prices for mainland scenic spots remain so high? We might as well give two examples: Before the transfer of the management rights of Dajin Lake in Fujian in 2001, the ticket price for a single point at Jinhu was 15 yuan. After the transfer, it was increased to 30 yuan, and around 2007 it was increased to 80 yuan; in 2009, the Hua'an Tulou in Fujian Before it was listed on the World Cultural Heritage List, the ticket price was 30 yuan. After the world heritage application was successfully declared and the company took over the development and operation, the overall ticket price was adjusted to 150 yuan.

The above two examples clearly describe the direct reasons for the soaring ticket prices of tourist attractions: as public resources, tourist attractions have seen the privatization of their operating rights in recent years. This is the biggest change in domestic tourism since 2001. One of the major turning points in the industry. In order to attract tourists, companies are willing to spend more on the construction of scenic spots, and the recovery of this cost must be realized through ticket sales. But just seeing this is too superficial. The pricing of tickets for scenic spots by tourism enterprises must be submitted to the price department for approval, which means that the final pricing power is in the hands of the relevant government departments. Therefore, we will find that a successful scenic spot management company usually has a dedicated public relations government price department. From this, it is not difficult to find that the high ticket prices in scenic spots are the result of manipulation by politics and businessmen.

The above provides a convincing explanation for the high price of tickets to mainland scenic spots. Paradoxically, however, this explanation easily bypasses the iron law of market supply and demand - judging from the author's many years of experience in tourism resource research, China's tourist attractions are clearly oversupplied. When the author was working on the brand promotion of Fujian Dajin Lake Tourist Area a few years ago, I often marveled at the beauty of many undeveloped free scenic spots in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the great rivers and mountains that have not been polished by commercial activities are rarely visited. Xu Xiake is just an anomaly in any era, not to mention that in this mediocre era where sightseeing tours are popular, tourists who have not bought tickets always cannot withstand the scrutiny of vanity. An important consumption feature in the sightseeing travel era is group travel, which often requires the use of a travel service intermediary (usually a travel agency). Tourism sociologists say that the process of travel agencies operating groups of tourists is like the process of delivering packages at the post office - sorting letters and delivering them to their destinations. In this way, the scenic spots and travel agencies have achieved a perfect connection, and tourists have no choice. A large part of the tourists come from welfare tours provided by the company, and they do not pay careful attention to the issue of cost. Therefore, we can find an explanation for the supply and demand laws for high-priced tickets in tourist attractions from the periodic consumption characteristics of China’s tourism market.

China's tourism industry has gone through about ten years. During this period, many tourists have gradually matured and completed the consumption transformation from group sightseeing tours to individual self-guided tours. It can be predicted that in China, a country with abundant tourism resources, scenic spots with high ticket prices will inevitably be eliminated by mature tourism consumers. Those regional leaders with rich scenic spot resources should realize that they must open scenic spots to tourists at a low threshold or for free, just like Taiwan, which seeks to develop the regional tourism economy in the six major links of food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment. Comprehensive benefits.