Touring in Hainan: Why So Cheap
...tourism has produced? Mr. Chen, a tourist minibus driver says, ¡°Hainan tourism enjoys a good natural background, but the problem is, it is not supported wholeheartedly by the people.¡± People own the characteristic defects of nature: greedy, benefit-oriented, and selfish. Not all, I dare say. But some are profit-driven, absolutely£¡ For some factitious reasons, tourist resources in Hainan are abused. This may be resulted by poor management. First, travel agencies are overwhelming in Hainan, and this results in fierce competitions. According to statistic studies, by the end of 2004, registered agencies had reached to 186. This does not contain those agencies, which by law are illegal, usually called Dark Agencies. In order to survive, they apply low-price policy to attract travelers and tourists. For example, tour items like ¡°3 days and 2 nights of traveling around Hainan island¡± and ¡°1 day of touring in Sanya¡± only cost you about 300 and 180 RMB. These items may attract those who for the first time come to this island, but have no appeal to frequent guests of this island. And what¡¯s worse, agencies do not provide enough services to their guests, since they can make a little profit out of these items. But for these tours, agencies hire drivers and tour guides! Do you think they will provide them with high salaries? Definitely a negative answer! Second, the government has been reconstructing some unnecessary items. Take Buddhism temples for example, in April 25 this year, Boao Buddhism Temple was opened to the world, meanwhile, Guanyin Statue in Nanshan Buddhism Temple was also presented to the globe. You know how much does it cost to finish Guanyin? 800 million BMB! Do you think the government can make it up within 10 years? I doubt it not. And what can these bring to common people like drivers and guides? There are some other reconstructions as well, hotels, tourist resorts, so on and so forth. Another point is, Hainan tourist industry is not well inter-penetrated with the local culture here. Say, what do we know about Li village? And Miao? And Li custom? After tourists have spend 3 days here, they still don¡¯t know what is special about Li, what are the appeals of theirs? They are still wondering! What if their friends and relatives who have never come to Hainan ask them about the attractions here, and they tend to be at loss? Because they are not informed and acquainted the cultures here. How can we be so expectant to believe they can act as messengers and recommenders? If the tourists retain in a certain number, how can those workers who highly depend on tourism make a living? There are other reasons as well. To make the list short, I categorize them into another type¡ªcorruption. Mr. Huang, our driver when traveling in Sayan, has something to say. He bought his bus with a seating capacity of 34 people in 2002. It cost him 210000 RMB, but he had to pay another 150000 for a tourist-driving license. But later, when he spoke his mind in a meeting with the director-general of Hainan Provincial Traffic Department, the director said the government did not receive that money. But who took it? Mr. Huang also informed us: 70% of the drivers have no stable income, because they are hired by travel agencies or tourist car companies but are not waged monthly bu...