Dai Bin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Tourism Academy:
Tourism needs internet celebrity effect but it is not all of tourism
Dai Bin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Tourism Academy.
Photo by Beijing News reporter Zhou Bohua
In the past winter, Harbin, a well-established tourist city, exploded out of the circle. Previously, Zibo in Shandong and Luoyang in Henan became popular with the help of Internet traffic, and Quanzhou in Fujian also attracted the attention of tourists because of hairpins.
With the support of traffic, how can tourist cities become popular?
Dai Bin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Tourism Academy, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News that tourism needs the Internet celebrity effect, but it is not all of tourism. Each tourist destination city should improve its infrastructure, public services, and business environment. Work hard on many aspects.
In addition, regarding the "problem of excessive use of facial recognition in tourism scenes", Dai Bin suggested canceling the requirement that tourists must "swipe their faces" when checking into hotels.
Talk about development
Efforts should be made in infrastructure, public services, etc.
Dai Bin said that the development of tourist destinations has its basic rules and it is a systematic project.
If a tourist destination city wants to build its popularity, it needs marketing.
"There are 343 tourist cities that we monitor normally across the country." Faced with so many cities, how do tourists choose?
In Dai Bin's view, "it makes sense to quickly increase the city's popularity by building an Internet celebrity city." But he also said that Internet celebrities are not everything about tourism, and tourist destination cities also need to build complete transportation infrastructure.
If a city's transportation facilities such as buses, subways, stations, airports, online ride-hailing, and shared bicycles are not perfect, it may affect tourists' destination choices.
In addition, it is necessary to create complete public services, such as who should tourists go to if there is a problem during travel; how can tourists seek help when encountering forced consumption, etc.
At the same time, tourist destination cities should work hard on developing a good business environment and cultivating market entities.
Dai Bin gave an example: "Tour guides, drivers, restaurant waiters, hotel receptionists, if these practitioners do not have a good sense of gain and professional dignity, how can they provide satisfactory services to tourists?"
Dai Bin believes that from the above-mentioned aspects, the Internet celebrity effect brought by traffic is just a chain in the process of building a tourist destination city. "This is just the waves rolling on the river, but we must pay more attention to the depth of still water." riverbed. If the infrastructure, public services, and business environment of tourist destination cities cannot reach the level of modernization they should be, then Internet celebrities can only be fleeting fireworks rather than flowers that will never fade."
Talk about recovery
The development of tourism economy in each city must follow its own path
What role do the emerging internet celebrity tourist cities play in promoting the recovery of the national tourism industry?
How should other tourist cities view the "out of the circle" brought about by traffic?
Dai Bin analyzed that the development of tourism has economic value, practical value and emotional value.
"Whether it is the snowflakes in Harbin, the flowers on the Yellow River Road in Shanghai, the hairpin flowers in Quanzhou, Fujian, or the waves in Sanya, Hainan, one Internet celebrity city after another has brought very good emotional value and promoted the recovery of tourism, which is very important for the recovery of the tourism market. It has a positive effect.”
He also reminded that the development of tourism economy in each city should follow its own path and not be led astray.
"This is just like our lives. Most of the time, still water runs deep. We don't have to beat gongs and drums every day. Therefore, cities must be more determined and have more patience to improve transportation and other infrastructure, public services, The business environment and the quality of employees are gradually improving."
Dai Bin suggested that each tourist destination city should scientifically grasp the basic laws of the tourism economy and give more consideration to tourist needs and market feedback.
"No matter how famous the city is, Harbin, Zibo, or the 'Village Super' or 'Village Evening' in southeastern Guizhou, it conveys goodwill, sincerity, warmth, especially sincerity, which is crucial." Dai Bin said that many young people People can accept flawed sincerity, but they will not accept an overly perfect "performance".
"So if the online publicity is better, but tourists do not feel this good atmosphere in reality, there will be a huge gap, which will actually cause harm to the development of tourist destinations." Dai Bin suggested that it should be clarified The relationship between the development laws of the tourism economy and local cultural promotion, "Tourism requires Internet celebrities, but Internet celebrities are by no means everything in tourism."
Discuss suggestions
It is recommended to cancel the requirement that you must “swipe your face” when checking into a hotel.
Dai Bin pointed out that the survey found that facial recognition systems are currently installed in guesthouses, hotels, B&Bs and other tourist accommodation institutions in almost all provinces and cities in China. In addition to showing their ID documents and having the reception staff check them, tourists also have to go to a special facial recognition system. You must "swipe your face" before identifying the device to check in.
This measure not only reduces service efficiency and easily causes dissatisfaction and complaints from tourists, but also increases the operating costs of enterprises.
Investigations show that the unit price of facial recognition terminals used in hotels such as Oudao, Zhongan, China Television, Fertile Land, Blue Demon Queen, Hikvision and others ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan, and the hotel needs to arrange 1 to 4 terminals. The manufacturer also charges an annual system maintenance fee.
Further investigation found that it has become a common phenomenon to install facial recognition terminals at tourist traffic entrances and consumption scenes such as resorts, ski resorts, ropeways, theme parks, museums, libraries, airports, docks, and train stations, and their use is also mandatory. more and more.
Dai Bin said that places that now ask tourists to do facial recognition are implemented according to the principle of "inform and consent", that is, the public security department informs hotels, hotels, and B&Bs, and then the hotels, hotels, and B&Bs also agree to do it.
In order to optimize the tourism market environment, facilitate tourism consumption, promote the development of inbound tourism and domestic tourism, and improve the modernization of the governance system and governance capabilities for managing and developing tourism in accordance with the law, Dai Bin suggested that the Ministry of Public Security impose mandatory regulations on hotels, resorts, B&Bs and other tourist accommodations. Conduct a comprehensive investigation of the purchase and use of facial recognition terminals by institutions, including the legal basis for installation, the department and level required for installation, whether the manufacturer brand is specified, whether it is parallel to the original ID card verification system, and whether simultaneous uploading is required Information, etc., and promptly guided local public security departments to cancel the requirement that tourists check in to hotels by "swiping their faces" and recall related software and hardware equipment.
Dai Bin said that at present, except for Article 6 of the "Hotel Industry Public Security Management Measures" promulgated in 2022, which stipulates that "hotels must register to receive tourists for accommodation. When registering, the passengers' identity documents should be checked and truthfully registered according to the prescribed items. Receiving overseas tourists In addition to submitting an accommodation registration form to the local public security organ within 24 hours, according to the principle of "it is not feasible without legal authorization", tourists are no longer required to perform the obligation to "swipe their faces", and tourist accommodation agencies cannot be required to perform inspections In addition to identity documents, it also fulfills the obligation to collect biometric information and privacy data related to tourists.
On this basis, further special investigations will be conducted on similar situations in resorts, theme parks and transportation companies.
At the same time, Dai Bin also suggested that the Central Cyberspace Administration of China implement the "Safety Management Regulations on the Application of Facial Recognition Technology" as soon as possible and strengthen supervision and inspection of Article 9 of the Draft for Comments.
This article clearly requires that “hotels, banks, stations, airports, sports venues, exhibition halls, museums, art galleries, libraries and other business premises shall not use facial recognition technology to verify personal identity, except where laws and administrative regulations stipulate that facial recognition technology shall be used to verify personal identity.” "Forcing, misleading, defrauding, and coercing individuals to accept facial recognition technology to verify personal identity on the grounds of business, service quality improvement, etc."
Provide clear reminders of suspected infringement alternatives such as "inform and consent" and make rectification requirements.
On this basis, specific, enforceable, and verifiable requirements for special data and privacy protection are proposed for equipment suppliers, information collection departments, and management departments, and together with the National Data Administration and other departments, we will focus on personal privacy and business mechanisms in the tourism process. and data security, and establish an effective legal management system.
If the infrastructure, public services, and business environment of tourist destination cities cannot reach the level of modernization they should be, then Internet celebrities can only be fleeting fireworks rather than flowers that will never wither.
——Dai Bin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Tourism Academy
Beijing News reporter Wu Tingting and Wang Zhenzhen