| On China's Pre-Packaged Tourism by Tom Carter | | | | provincial capital city of Xi'an, home of |
| | | | terracotta warriors, waiting indefinitely for |
| "What could possibly compel them to do | | | | train tickets back to Beijing, often |
| something so… wrong?" | | | | resulting in missed return flights home. The |
| | | | blame for this calamity lies with the tour |
| This was the question posed by a group of | | | | group companies themselves, who purchase |
| expats sitting around a youth hostel in | | | | large blocks of tickets (often in advance |
| scenic Huangshan Mountain, China's beloved | | | | through personal connection with train |
| mountain range in Anhui Province, discussing | | | | station officials), leaving nary a hard seat |
| the legions of tourists who had disrupted | | | | available for the independent traveler. |
| their 72-peak excursion. | | | | |
| | | | And what of the more noticeable effects of |
| As the foreign travelers retell it, what was | | | | those traveling en masse to China's |
| supposed to have been a heavenly respite | | | | wonderland attractions. To be sure, |
| turned into an out-and-out circus replete | | | | Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan is a site |
| with megaphones, flags and the congestion of | | | | not to be missed, where emerald lakes |
| untold numbers of tourists with the | | | | reflecting a vertical alpine forest blazing |
| inopportune desire to see the same thing at | | | | in the autumn with crimson and gold make this |
| the same time. | | | | protected region the country's premier travel |
| | | | destination. |
| "We could barely walk up the narrow steps | | | | |
| because there were too many tour groups, we | | | | Unfortunately, what visitors will dauntingly |
| couldn't see the view past their florescent | | | | meet with at the park's entrance is a concert |
| hats and we couldn't even hear the birds | | | | of tour buses piercing the surroundings with |
| because of all the noise," complained the | | | | deafening blasts of their horns and vomiting |
| foreign travelers. | | | | black exhaust (contributing to Jiuzhaigou's |
| | | | own environmental downfall), while streams of |
| Such a scene is of course commonplace in | | | | red and yellow hat-wearing, litter-tossing |
| China, where 1.3 billion people must contend | | | | tourists noisily follow a flag-waving guide |
| with both limited time and space during the | | | | shouting instructions into a loudspeaker. |
| country's few and far between national | | | | |
| holidays. | | | | When pressed for an elucidation of the social |
| | | | and ecological consequences of collective |
| But where Western travelers, not unlike their | | | | traveling, a local tour operator rejoins |
| world-exploring forefathers, pride themselves | | | | fiscally, "I provide guaranteed |
| on independence, requiring little more than a | | | | transportation, accommodations and discounted |
| backpack and a point in the right direction | | | | entrance tickets, all in one package. Without |
| to circumnavigate exotic new countries, the | | | | tour group companies like mine, traveling in |
| historically communal Chinese tend to have | | | | China would be impossible!" |
| quite a different perspective on travel. | | | | |
| | | | To the foreign observer, such logic is the |
| "We like to go where everybody goes," said | | | | bane of China's heritage, with intrusive tour |
| one Chinese tourist when prompted to explain | | | | groups appreciating neither the splendor nor |
| the disorder of collective travel. "If there | | | | history of the site but rather in a seeming |
| are no crowds it means it's not a good place | | | | rush to take a snapshot in front of a |
| to visit." | | | | character-engraved stone before dashing back |
| | | | on their buses to the next site. |
| An alternative explanation of the chaos that | | | | |
| orbits China's favorite attractions is the | | | | But for the Chinese, the constipation and the |
| government's authoritative instruction of | | | | urgency are indicative of a culture |
| where and when the populace may travel, | | | | categorically limited in both time and space, |
| preferring brief, intensive bursts during the | | | | where itinerary replaces independence and |
| national holidays rather than a steady flow. | | | | processed convenience is preferred over |
| | | | pleasure. |
| This quarterly policy may make for impressive | | | | |
| economic reports (though Xinhua News Agency | | | | "The national holidays are my only chance to |
| reports a growing disfavor with the | | | | spend with my family and see my country," |
| eight-year-old Golden Week holiday system), | | | | exclaims a Chinese businessman from Beijing |
| but it creates a havoc that is all of | | | | on his way to the Yunnan old town of Lijiang, |
| dissuading foreigners from extensive travel | | | | China's third most popular holiday |
| in China. | | | | destination. "With a tour group, I don't have |
| | | | to plan, I don't have to worry, I don't have |
| Indeed, every summer scores of Western | | | | to think. |
| backpackers are stranded in Shaanxi's | | | | |