Research on the countermeasures to the phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours"

The phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours" is an external manifestation of the prominent contradictions contained in my country's tourism industry at a specific historical stage. It is closely related to problems that disrupt the industry order, such as "zero or negative tour fees", tour guide rebates, and vicious price competition. Its root lies in the "high rebate business model" of the travel agency industry - that is, the Chinese travel agency industry generally obtains high rebates through tourists' travel shopping consumption and secondary consumption in the operation of group tourism products. "Tour guides buying tours" is one of the important forms of realization of the "high rebate business model" of the travel agency industry. The phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours" has its own specific historical stage, that is, under the macro background of China's economic and social transformation, the phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours" is very prominent. It is a phenomenon associated with many hot tourist areas and has become an industry chronic disease that disrupts the tourism order, seriously affects tourists' satisfaction, and endangers the labor rights of practitioners. In industry research, we noticed that the "high rebate business model" of the travel agency industry represented by the phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours" is not only more diverse in form, but also rapidly expanding in space. In addition to the Beijing area, it has also become a common phenomenon in hot local cities across the country. Through empirical research on hot tourist areas such as Zhangjiajie and Kunming, we found that "tour guides buying tours" is a form of realization of the "high rebate business model" in China's travel agency industry. With the development of tourism, the phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours" has continued to expand and spread geographically, forming a solid short-term equilibrium in the tourism industry and gaining a certain degree of legitimacy in various aspects such as administrative management and industry operations. Even after "tour guides buying tours" seriously harmed the welfare of consumers and the issue of tourism rebates became the focus of public opinion, this non-standard operation model still showed us its tenacious vitality. It constantly adjusted, consolidated, coordinated and improved itself, gradually became deeply rooted, and finally became the mainstream business model covering China's travel agency industry. The reality of the industry has put forward missions and problems for academic research. The phenomenon of "tour guides buying tours" is not simple or shallow, but a comprehensive and profound problem involving the inherent business model foundation of China's contemporary travel agency industry, and even one of the most important issues in the development of China's contemporary tourism. Research in this field can discover unprecedented problems, help record and answer the special reality problems of the contemporary Chinese travel agency industry, and provide theoretical references and management suggestions for industry practice. The "Study on Countermeasures for Governing the Phenomenon of Tour Guides Buying Group Tours" funded by the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau provides an opportunity to systematically sort out this research proposition and explore practical solutions. It can also play a role in exploring and leading the governance of this national and industry-wide problem.