What's going on?, The e-commerce platform has opened an appointment, but the tickets to the Forbidden City have not been released yet. Travel agencies | Tickets | What's going on
After the rainstorm in rainstorm, the "people follow the crowd" mode was restarted in all tourist attractions. On August 3rd, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism issued a notice stating that six travel agencies were investigated by the public security department for allegedly reselling tickets to the Forbidden City through team ticket purchasing channels. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism stated that it will work with public security and other departments to strictly crack down on illegal activities such as scalpers selling tickets to hot scenic spots, illegal "one-day tours," false advertising to attract tourists and groups, which disrupt the order of the capital's tourism market in accordance with the law.
Tourists have recently reported to our website that ticket snatching services are still popular. The reporter searched multiple e-commerce platforms using the keyword "Palace Museum tickets" and found that there are still multiple travel agencies providing ticket snatching services, and most travel agencies package and sell tickets in a "ticket+explanation" manner. The original ticket price of 60 yuan, combined with explanations, is generally priced above 200 yuan. Some tourists have bluntly stated that the problem of difficulty in purchasing tickets is still quite prominent. Individual travelers find it difficult to grab tickets, and travel agencies have a high hit rate. In order to get tickets, they have to purchase tour guide services.
Ticket grabbing services are still ongoing
Official ticket sales require a 7-day advance booking, but the reporter noticed that travel agencies can book dates that are 7 days later and have not yet been invoiced by the official. On the afternoon of August 8th, the reporter attempted to make an appointment to purchase tickets through the mini program of the Palace Museum. Except for the display of "suspended" on the same day and "closed" on Monday, August 14th, all tickets from August 9th to 13th were in a "fully booked" state, and tickets have not been issued since August 15th.
At the same time, the reporter randomly opened several travel agencies selling "tickets+explanations" for the Forbidden City on e-commerce platforms. All ticket packages from the day to the 14th are grayed out, indicating that orders cannot be placed, and can be purchased immediately from August 15th onwards.
As a consumer, can we only buy tickets without explaining the service? The reporter consulted several travel agencies and generally responded that "it is possible not to follow the group, but the price difference will not be refunded.". One company said, "If you don't explain to someone, you can get a discount of 20 yuan." In this way, even if you don't need explanation services, the cost of a ticket to the Forbidden City is still as high as 198 yuan.
The reporter continued to search using the keyword "Palace Museum tour does not include tickets" and found that the minimum cost of purchasing tour services is 68 yuan, which means that in the general quotes of travel agencies priced at "200 yuan+", the cost of buying tickets on behalf of others still accounts for the majority.
In addition to the Forbidden City, free venues such as the National Museum and Military Museum are also quite popular. Due to the difficulty of booking, there are also many group following services available on e-commerce platforms for these venues. A package ticket product with "National Museum Ticket+Mobile Intelligent Explanation+Jingshan Park" is priced at 75 yuan, while the original National Museum ticket was free and Jingshan Park ticket was only 10 yuan.
Why is the hit rate of travel agencies high when it comes to competing for tickets? Several travel agencies consulted by reporters generally promise to "have a 70% to 90% chance of receiving a full refund if the ticket is not issued." Some travel agencies have stated that "we have specialized equipment and a gigabit network," while others have stated that "there are many people and strong forces, and we have several ticket grabbing groups.".
Is this behavior of raising prices and robbing on e-commerce platforms suspected of being illegal? According to the provisions of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, those who forge, alter, or resell train tickets, ship tickets, air tickets, cultural performance tickets, sports competition admission tickets, or other valuable tickets or vouchers shall be detained for not less than ten days but not more than fifteen days and may also be fined not more than one thousand yuan; Those with minor circumstances shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and may also be fined not more than 500 yuan.
On July 13th, according to a report from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, six individuals were criminally detained and three were administratively punished in accordance with the law for scalpers selling free tickets at increased prices around the National Museum. The police stated that some of the ticket scalpers used online platforms as a means of proxy sales. They recruit individual tourists to Beijing through the internet, form tour groups, and charge group fees. In addition to tour guide fees and meal expenses, free admission to the National Museum is also included in the admission fees for scenic spots.
Tourists call for innovative management services
Half of the summer vacation has passed, and various scenic spots are also trying new ways to solve the problem of difficult reservations. It is understood that the Palace Museum has taken interviews and corresponding measures against some travel agencies that seriously affect on-site order. In addition, it has also implemented strategies such as upgrading and expanding servers to suppress machine ticket grabbing and manual bulk ticket grabbing.
In order to further compress the scalpers' ticket trading space, the National Museum has also further optimized the reservation rules: if the audience fails to fulfill their reservation account three times in total, the account will be restricted from making reservations for 30 days. The previous regulation was that "if the same account makes multiple appointments within a week and the non fulfillment rate exceeds 50%, the account will be restricted from making appointments for 30 days."
However, the effectiveness of these methods is still limited at present. The head of a travel agency admitted, "Sometimes we are busy for a long time and cannot guarantee to get tickets for all tourists, resulting in the cancellation of team tours. The most fundamental issue is to solve the imbalance between supply and demand."
According to reports, during this year's peak tourism season, the total number of visitors to Beijing, the number of team visitors to Beijing, and the number of hotel guests have all increased significantly by 50% compared to the same period in 2019. The daily average passenger flow of 221 scenic spots has reached 1.1 million, with over 5000 daily tourist groups and 130000 tourists visiting Beijing. The relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism stated that it is required that all hot spot scenic spots and units open to the outside world scientifically calculate the daily and instantaneous maximum carrying capacity. While ensuring safety and comfort, further explore and expand the external booking volume of summer hot spot scenic spot tickets, simplify the booking process, and maximize the satisfaction of tourist ticket booking needs.
Tourists call for the continuous promotion of high-quality development in the tourism industry, which requires joint efforts from multiple parties to continuously integrate high-quality supply and innovate management services.
