4·4 Impact of the accident in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

If the Taihu tugboat cables can be clearly marked, if college students riding speedboats can wear life jackets, if speedboat drivers can be more careful, if travel agencies can be more professional... neither can the two Shanghai college students. He died young yesterday, and the other two college students who fell into the water will not be missing either. On the evening of April 4, some college students in Shanghai called online: "The Taihu speedboat chaos needs to be rectified urgently" and "the student tourism market needs to be rectified."

The Municipal Tourism Bureau stated that the routes organized by travel agencies must have absolute safety guarantees, and safety should be correctly and fully assessed

A person in charge of the Taihu Search and Rescue Center said yesterday that the accident The Shanghai college student tour group is organized by Shanghai Scarecrow Travel Agency Company.

Scarecrow Travel Agency obtained industrial and commercial registration in 2009 and obtained a tourism license. It is located on Handan Road, Hongkou District, and its business scope is domestic tourism business. However, the company’s website shows that its predecessor was the Scarecrow Outdoor Sports Association of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and many team leaders are also part-time college students.

Yesterday afternoon, a reporter from the Morning Post called Scarecrow Travel Agency, but no one answered. According to its website, Scarecrow is neither a traditional travel agency nor an outdoor club focusing on adventure. It declares that it "does not go to crowded scenic spots; does not sleep in bland hotel double rooms; does not arrange return transportation. Tourists will continue after local disbandment." New exploration..."

Scarecrow was formerly known as the Scarecrow Outdoor Sports Association of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. It now shares online platforms and travel information with university societies, and has launched class travel and other projects for university students. The tour leader information on the company's website also shows that many tour leaders work part-time as school students. On the one hand, this can reduce costs, and on the other hand, it also highlights the difference between this travel model and ordinary travel models, that is, making friends.

Among the class trips recently launched by the company, only one is related to Taihu Sanshan Island, namely "Top Secret Mission Qionglong Mountain & Sanshan Island", which is priced at 350 yuan per person and comes with free travel accident insurance.

In response to the "non-traditional and unconventional" travel routes frequently organized by Scarecrow Travel Agency, Yang Fan, Director of the Market Management Office of the Shanghai Tourism Bureau, said yesterday, "The routes organized by travel agencies must have absolute safety guarantees. There should be a correct and adequate assessment of safety to control risks and strengthen management. In the future, the tourism management department will also make requirements and reminders for travel agencies from these aspects."

Scarecrow, a senior travel friend, said yesterday. He is not well-known among outdoor clubs in Shanghai and may mainly do business with college students. At present, in similar travel projects, some tour leaders do not have professional tour guide qualifications. They are just senior travelers. They may not be as good at implementing some precautions as the tour guides from professional travel agencies. The tour guide fees of these part-time tour leaders are not as good as those of full-time tour guides, and most of them only cost more than 100 yuan per day.

A student at Jiaotong University who was injured in the tragedy said that the outing was organized by the class itself to enhance the relationship between classmates, and there was no teacher to lead the trip. The "4·4" Suzhou Taihu Lake accident sounded a wake-up call to the upper reaches of the water. Affected by the suspension of the Taihu Lake water speedboat operation project, the Sanshan Island tourist attraction was temporarily closed to the public on April 13 and 14.

On the 13th, Suzhou City also held an emergency meeting on water traffic safety and proposed that special cleanup and rectification work will be launched in the waters around Taihu Lake in Suzhou. At the meeting, the Suzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau reported on plans to delineate special tourist waters and water tourism channels in Tai Lake, conduct centralized management of docks, and install electronic monitoring equipment.

Drunk driving, suspected dangerous driving, passenger and cargo ship channel crossing, passengers not wearing life jackets and other factors all contributed to this accident. The "4.04" ship collision in Taihu Lake provides a profound lesson. How can we draw inferences from one example to avoid similar accidents from happening again? On the 13th, Suzhou held a city-wide tourism industry safety management meeting, and news came out that Wuzhong District will integrate Taihu Lake cruise ship resources, standardize cruise ship operations, and ensure the safety of tourists by increasing the number of large ships.

According to relevant departments’ recent investigation of the operating status of water yachts in Taihu Lake, a total of 221 speedboats have certificates and licenses, and they are affiliated to three travel companies. However, they are still actually It exists in the form of personal business.

Feng Jianrong, deputy director of Wuzhong District in Suzhou, said in an interview with the media that the next step is to carry out special clean-up and rectification of the waters around Taihu Lake. One of the most important items is to normalize all types of vessels on the water of Taihu Lake. Clean up and tidy up. The general idea is: first, corporate management of ships, so that there is only one company operating water projects in the entire Taihu Lake waters; second, by adding large cruise ships between points in the scenic area, regular flights between the scenic areas will be carried out. To a certain extent, safety hazards must be avoided; thirdly, joint law enforcement efforts must be intensified and some ships operating without licenses must be resolutely banned.

Huang Qin, deputy mayor of Suzhou City, pointed out that Suzhou's tourism industry still has problems such as insufficient investment in facilities and insufficient safety mechanisms, and requires all departments to tighten safety at all times.