A tourist can "sell" 100 dollars.
With the increasing affluence of life, more and more people in China can travel abroad, while the cost of traveling in Thailand is getting lower and lower, which makes Thailand the first choice for China people to travel abroad. But do you know: attracting your cheap tour fee will make you and your group members "sold pigs"; In fact, all your advantages may have to be designed and spit out during the trip, or even pay a higher price?
According to the convention of the tourism industry, the expenses for China people to handle outbound travel are composed of four parts: license fee, long-distance transportation fee (usually air ticket), tour fee paid to local reception travel agency and profit. However, in the current "Thailand Tour", some Thai travel agencies don't accept the tour fee from China (also known as "zero tour fee"), and even pay "head fee" (also known as "negative tour fee") to China travel agency. In other words, the relevant domestic tour groups charge tourists for traveling abroad, but they are not responsible for the expenses of food, accommodation and transportation in Thailand (borne by the Thai side), and can even charge a considerable "headcount fee". It is understood that only tourists from Chinese mainland enjoy this kind of treatment. Visitors from Hongkong and Taiwan Province Province have to pay about HK$ 65,438+000 to the tour guide every day when they come to Thailand.
The reporter recently learned from in-depth interviews that tourists from some provinces in China were "sold" to local travel agencies by domestic travel agencies at the price of $ 100- 120 per person.
Tour guide strike uncovers the inside story
The practice of "Thailand tour" is no longer news in the industry, but laymen still feel surprised: Is there such a cheap thing in the world? The demonstrations, rallies and strikes of licensed China tour guides in Thailand since this month 1 have uncovered the inside story for us.
According to a "big brother" among Chinese tour guides in Thailand, these 30-40 Chinese tour guides took the lead in launching the attack, not for China tourists, but to safeguard the interests of more than 2,000 Chinese tour guides in Thailand, hoping that the travel agency would cancel the "zero tour fee" and "headcount fee". Because Thai travel agencies will charge China tour guides a "head fee" after waiving the tour fee or paying a "head fee" to China tour groups. In order to earn "headcount fee" and profits, tour guides have to find ways to "add some fees" (add new items) or force China tourists to earn high kickbacks when shopping. With more and more complaints from tourists in China, they are worried that the China government will close the door-preventing China citizens from traveling to Thailand. What's more, many Chinese tour guides in Thailand are of China origin. In good conscience, they don't want to hurt China tourists like this.
These tour guides think that the current practice is tantamount to a gamble for them: if tourists don't add some food or don't want to shop, the tour guides will lose their money. If you meet a tour group from Northeast China, Shanxi, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia and other provinces, you will generally earn a lot of money, because tourists from these provinces have a large amount of shopping (some tours have spent more than 600,000 this year); If you meet a group with mature consumption concept and weak shopping will, the tour guide may lose all his money.
It is reported that tour groups in Northeast China, Shanxi, Qinghai and other provinces are called "first-class groups" because they shop a lot, and it is often these groups that "sell pigs" and ask for "head fees". However, most tours in Guangdong have low tour fees, and it is rare for tour guides to force tourists to shop. However, due to the lack of kickbacks, the enthusiasm of tour guides is often not high.
It is reported that the phenomenon of "zero tour fee" and "headcount fee" for China tour groups has appeared for five years, and the "headcount fee" has increased from 1700 baht to 4,700 baht in the past year and a half. With the increase of "head fee", the income of China tour guides in Thailand is declining. In the past, when tourists from China did a lot of shopping, their annual income could reach more than 6.5438+000 million baht (about 200,000-300,000 RMB), belonging to the local high-income class. At present, their annual income is only over 300,000 baht, belonging to the middle-income class. And there are more and more complaints about forcing tourists to shop, which may cause job insecurity.
The protests of tour guides from China in Thailand have had a certain impact on the local tourism industry. It is reported that from June 1 day to June 65438+6, local Chinese tour guides only received more than 500 tourists from Chinese mainland/KLOC-0, which was 50% less than the normal situation.
Two big jewelers monopolized the market.
It is understood that if tourists stay in a three-star hotel, the cost of food, accommodation and transportation in Thailand is about 18-22 USD a day. In fact, the tourists paid for it themselves, but they didn't know that they had paid for it during their shopping spree. If they don't shop, the only loser is the tour guide.
According to reports, it is not difficult to open a travel agency in Thailand, as long as there are 20,000 baht. Because there are two local jewelers occupying more than 90% of the tourism market in China. As long as you find a customer, the jewelry store can lend you money and provide transportation vehicles and drivers free of charge (the two jewelry stores 1.200 vehicles). Tour guides only need to take China tourists to the jewelry, leather goods, Chinese medicines and other shops opened by these two major jewelry stores in major scenic spots. These shops will give 30%-40% of customers' shopping amount as a rebate to travel agencies and tour guides, and some shops are said to have a rebate rate as high as 70%.
This is strange: tourists from Europe and America go to the only jewelry store in Thailand with ISO9000 quality certification, while China people often wander around the stores opened by these two major jewelry stores. European and American tourists will tip tour guides, while China tourists with "zero tour fee" will be slaughtered.
A China tour guide told reporters that they gathered to change the status quo in order to get rid of the control of the two major jewelry stores. Because, if they have enough tour fees, they can also give China tourists enough freedom of choice like European and American tourists. Moreover, when they take a tour, the pressure is much less, so they don't have to worry about tourists losing money because they don't shop enough.
The "headcount fee" is about to be cancelled.
It is reported that with the efforts of tour guides, more than 40 Thai travel agencies held a meeting on July 28th this year, and 13 of the requirements put forward by tour guides has been agreed. From 16 this month, the "head fee" was reduced to 1500 baht; From September 1 day, travel agencies will no longer charge tour guides "head fees". As for the issue of "extra points" and shopping, the travel agency in Thailand has discussed with the tour groups in China.
From 2/kloc-0 to 22/this month, the tourism bureaus of China and Thailand will sign a memorandum in Kunming, China, and both sides will jointly ban "zero tour fee" and "headcount fee". After taking this measure, China tourists will need to pay an extra 1 1,000 yuan-1, 500 yuan. This should be regarded as the return of normal prices, which is helpful to improve the quality of China tourists' "Thailand tour". After all, it's better to mark the price clearly than to kill it secretly in a foreign country. This move also protects the interests of Thai tour guides.