The first travel agency founded by China.

This article is taken from: Archives Spring and Autumn Annals, No.8, 29 Author: Childlike Star

Tourism has become a fashion nowadays. But looking back at the beginning of the 2th century, China did not have a modern concept of tourism, nor did it have the conditions for new tourism. Nearly 8 years after Thomas Cook, an Englishman, founded the world's first travel agency in 1845, on August 1, 1923, the first travel agency founded by China people-the Travel Department of Shanghai Commercial Savings Bank (hereinafter referred to as Shanghai Bank) (later renamed China Travel Agency) was finally announced. The founder was Chen Guangfu, a famous banker in the Republic of China (the Shanghai Bank he founded was the largest private bank in China at that time).

From the Travel Department of Shanghai Bank to China Travel Agency

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, China's tourism industry was monopolized by a few foreign businessmen, such as Britain's Tongjilong, American Express and Japan's International Tourism Bureau, which landed in Shanghai, but their services were limited to foreigners and white-collar Chinese. Chen Guangfu stayed in the United States for many years and loved traveling. He was determined to establish the first travel agency in China. According to Zi Yaohua, the former manager of Tianjin Branch of Shanghai Bank (who was the general manager of Shanghai Bank after liberation), "The China travel agency run by Shanghai Bank is the first in China. Chen Guangfu's motivation for establishing China Travel Agency was not as a business at first, but to fight against foreigners and compete for our country. The old China travel agencies were run by imperialist foreign businessmen such as Britain, the United States and Japan, and China people had to go through their hands to go abroad and go through the travel formalities. Foreign businessmen are not only expensive, but also arrogant and rude, and they simply look down on China people. Chen Guangfu often goes abroad and often suffers indignities. On one occasion, the insolence of a foreign businessman made him unbearable. He had a few arguments with the other side, and the other side sneered and said,' If you are not satisfied, why don't you China people set up one yourself?' Very contemptuous of Chen Guangfu. In a rage, Chen decided to set up China Travel Agency. "In addition to patriotism and the right to fight for the motherland, Chen Guangfu also believes that in order to let Chinese and people from all over the world know about China's ancient culture and historical sites, it is also necessary to establish and improve institutions that serve tourists, which is another motivation for him to set up China Travel Agency.

In April, 1923, Chen Guangfu, the general manager of Shanghai Bank, formally submitted a letter to the Ministry of Communications of Beiyang Government, requesting to sell train tickets on behalf of others and handle travel business. At that time, the Ministry of Communications was holding a national railway intermodal conference. Once the case was submitted, it was immediately opposed by foreign railway officials who held important positions. The apparent reason is that Britain, Japan, the United States, France and other countries have travel agencies in China, so there is absolutely no need to set them up again. In fact, they are worried that the vested interests of foreign travel agencies in China will be reduced. Fortunately, Ye Gongchuo, then the Chief Transport Officer, Liu Jingshan, the Secretary for Highways, and all the Chinese people in various walks of life gave their full support, so it was finally passed after heated debate. On August 1, that year, the Travel Department of Shanghai Bank was officially announced. On this day, it is a day worthy of a special book in China's tourism history. Because according to international practice, the emergence of commercial travel agencies is a symbol of the birth of modern tourism in a country.

One month after the establishment of the Travel Department, it set up a branch in Hangzhou, and then gradually expanded its scale. In five years, * * * set up 11 branches. In 1927, after a meeting of the board of directors of Shanghai Bank, it was decided to invest 5, yuan (later increased to 5, yuan), and the Tourism Department set up its own business. On June 1, it was officially renamed as "China Travel Agency", and applied to the Ministry of Communications of the National Government for registration. With the approval of the Ministry, it obtained the first travel industry license in January 1928.

The tenet of "customer first, serving the society"

As early as when Shanghai Bank was founded, Chen Guangfu put forward the motto: "Serving the society, assisting the industry and commerce, and resisting international economic aggression". China Travel Agency inherited this slogan, took "customer first, serving the society" as its purpose, and established the 24-word policy of "carrying forward the national light, serving travel, demonstrating scenic spots, improving accommodation, devoting to freight transportation and promoting culture", and started the road of travel agency's entrepreneurship.

At the beginning, the business of travel agencies was relatively simple, focusing on passenger transport. At first, they sold domestic train and ship tickets, and then negotiated with American and Japanese railway companies and American, French, British and Japanese shipping companies to sell tickets for foreign railway and ship companies. After China Airlines was established, they sold air tickets on their behalf. In order to accumulate experience, Zhu Chengzhang, the first manager, wore a receptionist's uniform to greet passengers at the station many times or personally drove to buy tickets for passengers, and put forward a series of convenience measures.

China Travel Agency lost money at the beginning of its establishment, and it will not be profitable for a long time. Therefore, many people in Shanghai Bank opposed this business, but Chen Guangfu insisted on it all the time. He once said to everyone: "Everything in the world is more important than money, and it is also good. It is far better to win one's favor than to win one's money. Today, the travel agency has won a lot of goodwill from the public. Why is its surplus good? " At the same time, Chen Guangfu believes that this "tangible loss" can also be transformed into a "tangible surplus" by accumulating experience, improving management and increasing services. Chen Guangfu finally won the praise of many customers with the service attitude and practical actions of "people strive for near profits, I strive for far-reaching achievements, people are too subtle, and I would rather be cumbersome". Travel agencies also stood firm in the competition with foreign businessmen and gradually turned losses into profits. In 1936, it made a profit of 6, yuan. This is just as Mr. Hong Jiaguan, an expert in financial history and vice president of Shanghai Finance Association, said: The most important thing for Chen Guangfu to finally create a miracle of success is that he put forward the concept of serving the society.

Great development of travel agency business in China

The fastest development stage of travel agency business in China was from 1931 to 1937, with 45 branches and offices added one after another. Its expansion has a characteristic, that is, it keeps pace with the newly opened traffic lines in China. The business scope of China Travel Agency is very extensive, both for passenger transport and freight transport. Hostels, hotels, restaurants, and catering on the train; Organize both domestic tourism and foreign sightseeing; Handling the formalities of going abroad and issuing traveler's checks; Not only set up travel agencies to visit groups, but also directly invest in the development of scenic spots; And firmly seize the opportunity of large-scale meetings to carry out business.

Organizing tours is the main business of China Travel Agency, which has a special tour department. Every spring, it negotiates with the Railway Bureau to set up a special train to visit Hangzhou, and timely organizes Haining to watch the tide, Huishan to visit the lake, Chaoshan to explore the plum blossoms, Fujiang Range Rover and visit various places of interest. Among them, the long-distance tours, such as hosting an overseas Chinese industrial delegation from Java to visit Beijing and Shanghai in 1933, and organizing a tour group from Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in 1937, are all deep. Since August, 1935, China Travel Agency has also sponsored a regular tour group-"China Travel Service Tour Group", which aims to create a collective tourism atmosphere and appreciate the scenic spots of the motherland. All participants can get various discounts, and a special room has been set up in the head office for members to get together, relax and contact their feelings. By the spring of 1937, the number of members has increased from 15 at the beginning to 9. This kind of group has played a certain role in stabilizing and developing tourists and enhancing the cohesion of the tourism sector.

in p>1929, the first West Lake Expo was held in Hangzhou, with unprecedented pomp. China Travel Agency organized groups from Hongkong, Nanjing, Tianjin and other places to visit Hangzhou. During the meeting, it provided hostels, rented cars, hired guides, etc. It also specially edited the book "Xizi Lake" to distribute and erected signboards along the way to the Expo, providing visitors with tour guides, which was widely praised by people. Since then, CTS has been seen in many important meetings and activities, such as the North China Games held in Qingdao in 1933, the 12th National Congress of the Chinese YMCA held in Shanghai in 1934, and the 6th National Games held in Shanghai in i935. Even the "Litton Investigation Team" sent by the League of Nations in 1932 (that is, the League of Nations, an international organization established after World War I, was replaced by the United Nations after World War II) (named after the head of the British Sir Litton, composed of representatives from Britain, the United States, France, Germany and Italy, and went to China to investigate the "September 18th Incident" at that time) was also sent by China Travel Agency.

in the late spring of p>1926, China Travel Service organized a cherry blossom viewing group in Japan for the first time. Since then, overseas markets have been continuously explored. Since 1933, Chinese Islamic believers have been organized to make a pilgrimage to Mecca every year; In 1936, China Travel Service also handled the formalities of going abroad, ticketing and pre-departure guidance for China's delegation and visiting group participating in the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin. In the spring of 1931 alone, in cooperation with the Japan International Tourism Bureau, China Travel Service received more than 2 groups of Japanese tour groups with more than 3, participants, who spent more than 2, yuan in China, which was a considerable figure at that time.

China Travel Service handles the formalities of going abroad, which is very popular among overseas students. Because from the introduction of the articles of association of famous universities in Europe and America, to the registration list, handling the certificate of studying abroad, passport for going abroad, entry certificate, booking space, replacing foreign currency, until the other country sends personnel to meet at the dock, and then put them on the train to the school where they take the exam and study abroad, all this is handled by China Travel Agency. As for the Chinese and foreign traveler's checks issued by China Travel Service, it not only provides convenience for passengers, but also adds a demand deposit for Shanghai Bank, which is also worth reading in the financial history before liberation.

strict management and publicity and education

China travel agency has a strict management system and unique publicity and education methods. Chen Guangfu once said to the staff of the travel agency: "We have to pay attention. We run our business with the purpose of assisting industry and commerce to serve the society. We should be courteous and courteous in dealing with people at ordinary times, be respectful and self-reliant, and strive for the favor of tourists and the goodwill of the society." He asked to greet customers with a smile, dress neatly and clean his hands. All employees will be recruited, and they will be arranged after reaching a certain level through training and internship. After work, they will take turns to work in various departments, and after many years, they will become a versatile tourist industry. As for the promotion and demotion of personnel, all are based on their ability and knowledge, and their academic qualifications are only for reference. However, for tour guides, they are required to be basically liberal arts graduates from universities, receive training after taking up their posts, and send them to Britain and the United States for further study, and often invite foreign experts to give lectures.

When people come into contact with China Travel Agency, they can feel its uniqueness everywhere. All the staff members wear iconic uniforms, and the receptionists at the ship and boat terminals also wear special uniform hats. The word "brigade" on the hats shines brightly, and the five-pointed star flashes red and attracts attention. The service of the staff is extremely thoughtful, and they don't judge a book by its cover. In order to widely publicize the significance of travel to social life, China Travel Agency founded Travel Magazine in 1927, which was the first travel magazine in China. At first it was a quarterly magazine, and later it was changed to a monthly magazine. It was written by famous writers and specially contributed, with rich contents. Each issue was printed with dozens of beautiful photos, which were publicly released and distributed to Chinese and foreign transportation agencies and their senior staff, in order to strengthen the impression of China Travel Agency from all walks of life.

in order to strengthen the publicity abroad, in 1931, China Travel Agency sent 5, letters of invitation to all walks of life in the United States through the news agency set up in Seattle, USA. The stationery was fragrant, beautiful and pleasing to the eye, which was an excellent publicity. In 1933, Si Nuo, an American journalist, was hired to write five English booklets of scenic spots in China, which were distributed to overseas agencies, shipping companies, railways and airlines. At that time, many celebrities wrote to China Travel Service, cooing and praising. Chen Guangfu thinks: "For the convenience of society and the publicity of our bank, this kind of publicity is very powerful. Everyone knows that there is a China Travel Agency, that is, there is a Shanghai Bank." He is a shrewd financial entrepreneur.

Chen Guangfu initiated China Travel Agency, with the concept of serving the society, carefully managed and developed, making it the first large-scale tourism service enterprise in the history of the Republic of China and among the world-class travel agencies. As the first regular travel agency in modern China, China Travel Service was founded in 1923 and ended in 1953. With its extraordinary journey of more than 3 years, it left behind valuable ideas and rich experience for future generations to serve the society, which is worth learning and imitating.