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At the end of August 2023, the local government issued an announcement on the "Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Cultural Heritage Museum Scenic Area Ticket Pricing Plan (Draft for Comments)" and proposed a price increase of 48 yuan. At present, the public solicitation of opinions and suggestions has been open for half a year, and the price adjustment plan has not yet been determined. Why?
"After publicly soliciting opinions and suggestions, we will hold a hearing, and the final ticket price adjustment will be further announced to citizens and tourists..." In response to the progress of the ticket price adjustment for the Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Cultural Site Museum Scenic Area, the Development and Reform Commission of Deyang City, Sichuan Province This is what the relevant personnel responded to during the call.
On August 31, 2023, the Deyang Municipal Development and Reform Commission issued an announcement on the public solicitation of opinions and suggestions on the "Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Cultural Site Museum Scenic Spot Ticket Pricing Plan (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the plan), and it is planned to approve the Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Cultural Site Museum The ticket price for scenic spots has been adjusted from 72 yuan/person·time to 120 yuan/person·time. For a time, there was a heated discussion among the public. Reporters recently learned that the public solicitation of opinions and suggestions has been going on for half a year, and the price adjustment plan is still pending.
In recent years, many museum scenic spots have caused heated discussions due to adjustments to ticket pricing. Among them, Phoenix Ancient City in Xiangxi Hunan, Wuyuan Scenic Area in Jiangxi, and Slender West Lake in Yangzhou, Jiangsu were once deeply involved in the whirlpool of public opinion. Why do the general public think that ticket prices for museum attractions are “increasing”?
Planned adjustment of Sanxingdui fares sparks controversy
"The price is about to increase before we even have time to see it, and the increase is too high." In the discussion on the Sanxingdui fare adjustment on the Internet platform, there were many objections, believing that the price increase after its "explosion" became a "rip-off". "Guest" suspicion.
In fact, the Sanxingdui price adjustment is a plan drawn up by the Deyang Municipal Development and Reform Commission after conducting an in-depth cost investigation, taking into account the level of economic and social development and scenic area operating costs, taking into account the affordability of tourists, and referring to the ticket charging standards of similar domestic scenic spots.
The plan also lists the reasons for pricing. For example, the investment in the construction of the new museum will exceed 1.4 billion yuan, and the Sanxingdui Heritage Reserve with an investment of 2.377 billion yuan will also carry out land acquisition and demolition, archaeological site protection, environmental remediation, scenic road construction, greening and landscape projects. and other infrastructure construction; management, operation, and maintenance costs continue to rise, and the financial cost burden of scenic spots is heavy; in accordance with the National Development and Reform Commission's clear "establish a major compensation for the reasonable costs of scenic spot services and ecological environment protection and appropriately reflect the value of the scenic spots to compensate for reasonable operating costs and maintain Based on the pricing principle of "overall balance of revenue and expenditure", the current ticket prices for scenic spots cannot cover operating costs, etc.
The plan also clarifies that after the price adjustment, senior citizens over 60 years old (inclusive) and disabled military personnel will still be free of charge. However, the reporter combed through the comments from netizens and found that most of the public discussion on the Sanxingdui ticket price adjustment centered on the price increase from 72 yuan to 120 yuan. The above-mentioned supporting content related to the price adjustment decision was not taken seriously.
Inclusive sharing has become a consumer psychology stereotype
An insider in the cultural tourism industry said that in recent years, public places such as city parks, museums, and memorial halls have been opened to citizens and tourists free of charge. This has gradually formed a social psychological pattern of free shared consumption, which has made tourist attractions, especially public places, open to the public free of charge. The charging issue of resource-based scenic spots, whether it is changing from free to charged, or the price increases, is easy to be criticized.
In June 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Guiding Opinions on Improving the Ticket Price Formation Mechanism of State-owned Scenic Areas and Reducing Ticket Prices of Key State-owned Scenic Areas", which requires that we reasonably define the cost components of ticket pricing, innovate price management methods, and strictly implement pricing procedures. The ticket price formation mechanism for state-owned scenic spots ensures that significant results are achieved in reducing the ticket prices of key state-owned scenic spots that are relatively high. In September of that year, various localities had implemented or announced to the public measures to make 981 scenic spots free of charge or to reduce ticket prices, of which 5A and 4A scenic spots accounted for more than 70%.
"During short and long holidays, cultural and tourism departments in various places often actively promote the inclusive policy of free or reduced prices in scenic spots. Everyone is 'reducing'. Sanxingdui bucks the trend and talks about 'increasing'. It is indeed difficult for ordinary people to pay for it with peace of mind." Some interviewed citizens and tourists said.
"Speaking clearly and clearly" is an important prerequisite
Some researchers in the cultural tourism industry believe that the charging of public resource-based tourist attractions is a public issue involving public resource management, the interests of tourists and residents, local economic development, ecological environment protection, business demands and other concerns. "The decision-making mechanism and process for determining whether to charge tickets and the amount of ticket prices must be standardized and optimized. In particular, active and proactive guidance is needed for public opinion disputes. Clarity and clarity are important prerequisites."
The reporter learned that there are actually successful cases of price adjustment in museum scenic spots. For example, the Palace Museum in Beijing previously planned to adjust ticket prices to widen the price difference between low and peak seasons. The scenic spot immediately held a discussion on the "Ticketing Policy Adjustment Plan (Draft for Comments)" We will solicit opinions extensively. The scenic spot also announced the agreed procedures for fare adjustment, that is, consultation meetings, hearings, etc. will be held after the first seminar to determine a reasonable plan.
The Jianchuan Museum founded by private entrepreneur Fan Jianchuan currently has 35 museums in Chengdu and 14 in Chongqing. Fan Jianchuan has publicly stated that more than 60% of the expenses of the Jianchuan Museum are labor costs, followed by water and electricity, maintenance, monitoring, administrative and other expenses. As a private museum, it must rely on business operations to survive. Previously, in order to reduce the pressure on museum operations, relevant departments in Chongqing approved government financial subsidies through special meetings and consultations, and realized the universal policy of opening the Sichuan Museum as a patriotism education base in Chongqing to minor tourists free of charge.
In recent years, the excavation results of the Sanxingdui ruins have become more and more abundant. As one of the first batch of national 4A-level scenic spots and the first batch of national first-level museums, the Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Cultural Site Museum has attracted great social attention. "It is hard to get a ticket" has almost become the norm. Some people in the industry believe that Sanxingdui Museum has broad development prospects. The more critical the period is, the more important it is to proceed prudently and strive to determine the best plan with the joint efforts of many parties when it comes to fare adjustment issues that are related to the general interests of the public. In addition, the current museum tourist attractions should also get rid of the path of ticket dependence, give full play to the role of modern industrial development methods such as business planning, creative design, and market incentives to achieve sustainable and efficient development of the tourism industry.
Li Na (Worker Daily)