Beijing tourist attractions completely cancel reservations and become a hot topic. Experts: Convenience for tourists is the starting point

On June 21, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism announced that the summer tourist season is approaching. In order to continuously improve the basic services of tourist attractions, all tourist attractions in Beijing have cancelled the reservation requirements, except for tourist attractions such as the Forbidden City and the National Museum and units open to the public. After the announcement, the news quickly became a hot search and attracted the attention of netizens.

The Paper noted that the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism had previously announced that, except for some key scenic spots, popular scenic spots and cultural and tourism venues, all other scenic spots, cultural and tourism venues, etc., had cancelled real-name reservations. This triggered a discussion on whether real-name reservations for tourist attractions should be cancelled at the time, and some media called for "scenic spots to cancel real-name reservations, and it's time to promote it comprehensively."

The original intention of introducing the reservation system was to limit passenger flow and improve the tourist experience. However, as scenic spots in various places have adopted real-name reservations without taking into account the actual situation, it has brought an unfriendly experience to tourists and has caused real-name reservations to be criticized.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said in an exclusive interview with The Paper that, in general, there is no shortage of demand for tourist attractions, resorts, and cultural venues. In this case, reservations are not required for the vast majority of tourist attractions, resorts, and cultural venues, but reservations are required for the top popular tourist attractions and cultural venues. "It is still necessary to make a detailed assessment and not adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. Even reservations should be refined to provide the greatest convenience to the people."

Tourists have different opinions on cancelling real-name reservations

Previously, regarding the question of "whether they support scenic spots to cancel real-name reservations", The Paper learned through interviews that tourists have different opinions.

As a travel enthusiast, Ms. Li from Shanghai believes that the cumbersome real-name reservation process has caused resource squeeze and even the suspicion of excessive collection of personal information, which has reduced the tourist experience. "Now, many places in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have returned to the state of direct entry without appointment, registration or ID card swiping."

Ms. Song from Xinjiang said that the real-name reservation process for scenic spots made her feel more orderly, and it could control the flow of people, so people could choose to avoid crowded places, but it seemed unfriendly to the elderly. If online reservations could be combined with offline ticket purchases, it would be more convenient for tourists.

Similarly, Mr. Li from Shanghai also mentioned that "it is necessary to retain the reservation system for popular scenic spots and cultural and museum sites because there are too many people." However, he suggested that it would be better to increase the number of reservations for visitors and extend the opening and closing hours.

During the interview, some tourists also expressed concerns that scalpers might appear after the real-name reservation was cancelled.

Don’t make an appointment just for the sake of making an appointment. The starting point should be to facilitate tourists’ visit.

Dai Bin said frankly, "Scenic spots and cultural and museum venues should be convenient for tourists to visit. Convenient visits and experiences are the starting point for all work, and the satisfaction of visitors and tourists should be continuously improved. The current reservation is a one-size-fits-all approach. All reservations must be made, regardless of whether they are saturated or not, or whether they are popular attractions. To some extent, reservations are made just for the sake of reservations."

"What is a reservation? Reservations are to make it convenient for tourists and reduce the time they have to wait in line. Now, reservations are required for many scenic spots regardless of whether there is a shortage of supply or not." Dai Bin analyzed, "It was necessary in a specific historical period. People would not travel without reservations. But now that life has returned to normal, if I just want to go to Beihai Park to take a look and take a look, can't I just walk through the gate and go in? This is a problem. The big premise is that whether you make a reservation or not, it is to improve the experience and satisfaction of the majority of tourists."

Ye Lingbo, Party Secretary of Nanjing Tourism Vocational College, said in an interview with The Paper that scenic spot reservations come from Article 45 of the Tourism Law. It is a method to control the number of tourists received by scenic spots and prevent the number of tourists received by scenic spots from exceeding the maximum capacity approved by the scenic spot management department. "After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019, many scenic spots upgraded their reservation system to a real-name system, which can quickly identify risk groups when an epidemic occurs and achieve precise prevention and control. From this point of view, with the downgrade of epidemic prevention and control, the premise of real-name reservations for tourist attractions no longer exists."

The Paper noted that as early as July last year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice requiring "to promote tourist attractions to respond to changes in market demand in a timely manner, optimize reservation measures, implement scientific management, avoid a one-size-fits-all approach, achieve the unity of principle and flexibility, and maximize the satisfaction of the visits and sightseeing needs of the majority of tourists."

Scenic spots that require reservations should be more refined and humane

Dai Bin analyzed that it depends on the position of each enterprise in the market supply and demand relationship. For example, the number of visitors to popular scenic spots such as the Forbidden City and the National Museum in Beijing is limited every day. It is not cost-effective to not be able to enter without an appointment, so an appointment is required. If it is another scenic spot, there may not be many people on weekdays. If you are told that you cannot enter without an appointment at the gate, it will lose its meaning. "Whether to make an appointment or not, it should be based on local conditions, time and regulations, rather than simply answering whether it is better to make an appointment or not."

At the same time, Dai Bin also pointed out that the scenic spots and cultural and museum venues that currently require reservations should be more refined and humanized, and it is necessary to make different reservations for different source markets. For example, the reservation frequency can be adjusted according to whether it is a group or individual tourist, from overseas or from domestic.

Dai Bin gave an example, "Some overseas tourists may need to plan their trips three months in advance, but now some popular attractions can only be booked one week in advance. Since they can't arrange their trips in advance, they can only not come. Therefore, reservations for overseas tourists can also be fine-tuned, such as announcing traffic to overseas in real time and releasing tickets three months in advance. But when releasing tickets three months in advance, we also need to consider whether there will be scalpers, so this is a complete system."

Ye Lingbo also said that the real-name reservation process needs to continue to be adhered to for popular scenic spots and Internet celebrity scenic spots with serious insufficient carrying capacity, cultural and museum venues with high cultural relics protection levels, nature reserves with relatively fragile ecological environments, classical gardens with limited sightseeing space, theme museums, etc. He believes that more optimization should be done in details such as reservation mode, procedures and technical support. In addition, during special events or holidays, scenic spots may face a number of tourists that exceeds their daily reception capacity. At this time, real-name reservations will help maintain order.

Ye Lingbo suggested that scenic spots should implement differentiated management: scenic spots with smaller tourist volumes should cancel real-name reservations, while popular scenic spots or cultural heritage sites should retain or optimize the reservation system; implement a dynamic adjustment mechanism to dynamically adjust reservation quotas based on real-time passenger flow data and seasonal fluctuations, and improve the intelligence level of the reservation system; smooth information, and promptly announce the scenic spot's tourist reception information and reservation status through multiple channels to guide tourists to arrange their itineraries reasonably and travel during off-peak hours.

In addition, attention should also be paid to special groups, and offline ticket purchasing channels should be retained for special groups such as the elderly and the disabled to provide more convenient services; a feedback mechanism should be established to respond to tourists' concerns in a timely manner and continuously optimize reservation management measures; market order should be standardized, and efforts should be made to crack down on illegal hoarding and scalping of tickets to maintain the order of scenic spots and purify the tourism consumption environment.

Tourist information should be collected based on the principles of necessity and minimization.

Another issue worthy of attention is that tourists are worried about their personal information being leaked during the real-name reservation process.

Dai Bin said frankly that tourists' concerns about personal information being leaked during the real-name reservation process are justified. Therefore, scenic spots and cultural and museum venues should follow the law to determine the extent to which they collect tourists' personal information. For example, if a reservation has been made and the ID number has been provided, is it necessary to provide the mobile phone number? Should tourists' WeChat ID and face recognition be collected before entry, or should the ID number be sufficient?

Dai Bin made it clear that "personal information should be collected based on the principles of necessity and minimization. The collection of personal information must be done in accordance with the law and must withstand ethical tests. Scenic spots and resorts do not need to install too many facial recognition devices. It will be very complicated for tourists to make reservations and scan their faces."

Ye Lingbo told The Paper that it is generally believed that the reservation system can strengthen the capacity management of scenic spots, optimize the tour experience, and provide data and analysis for various decision-making, but these functions do not actually require real names. From the previous stage of practice, the core of real-name reservation is to help track the flow of tourists, but at this stage, it gives tourists more of a feeling of reducing the efficiency of the tour and is not conducive to the protection of personal information. "At this stage, the real-name system is no longer necessary."

"In the process of real-name reservation, the risk of information leakage objectively exists. Therefore, as the subject of information collection, scenic spots or reservation platforms should comprehensively strengthen the confidentiality of tourists' personal information." Ye Lingbo suggested that data collection should be standardized, and the requirements of laws and regulations such as the "Personal Information Protection Law" should be followed. Only the minimum information necessary to realize the reservation function should be collected to avoid excessive collection. At the same time, tourists should be clearly informed of the purpose, scope and protection measures of their personal information to increase transparency. Data access should also be controlled to ensure that only authorized personnel can access tourists' personal information, set a reasonable data storage period, and delete or anonymize it in a timely manner after the period expires.

In addition, tourists’ personal information should be encrypted to ensure information security during storage and transmission, and sensitive information should be desensitized, such as hiding part of the ID card number or mobile phone number. Regular security audits should be conducted to check and evaluate the effectiveness of security measures, and emergency plans for security incidents such as data leaks should be formulated to enable rapid response and handling in the event of information leaks. Supervision and industry self-discipline should be strengthened, and relevant regulations on personal information protection should be strictly observed.

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