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Building a tourist industry that helps foreigners

By Victor Paul Borg (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-24 14:16

These difficulties also force most foreigners to travel in organized groups in China, even though foreigners prefer to travel independently.

Problem is that independent travel is frustrating in China partly because of the language barrier, and partly because many destinations or attractions in China are set up to cater for group travel.

This is because Chinese tourists - who account for the vast majority of tourists within China - mostly travel in groups on short trips. Foreigners travel differently, and they come from afar, so they would spend at least two weeks to justify the hassle and cost of long flights.

But the infrastructure for independent travelers is inadequate in some far-off out-of-cities destinations, such as the outdoor attractions and the ethnic villages of western China, which is the region that's most exotic from a tourism viewpoint. For example, I was in Kanas national park in Xinjiang the other week, and I couldn't find buses from Bu'erjin, the nearest county, to Kanas. I had to resort to taking a taxi, which was expensive given the distance and the drivers' unscrupulousness in prizing a high price from tourists who don't have another choice.

Now the chief of Altai tourism, in charge of Kanas, is meticulous in his job. When I went to talk to him, he rapped out statistics and explained the details of the management plan without consulting any notes, something that shows he's done a lot of research and spent a long time drawing up the plan.

But the infrastructure in Kanas was being planned mostly for the needs and whims of Chinese tourists traveling in groups in buses. There is nothing wrong with this - we are in China here, and Chinese tourists come first - but a successful tourist destination is one that caters for all the different ranges in tastes, whether that's someone doing a fast tour or someone staying longer and seeking adventure.

Most Chinese - like most Asians - don't like walking, so they visit outdoor attractions in national parks or reserves in a bus tour. Foreigners are different: they like to walk or do some other kind of activity.

But in Kanas - as well as elsewhere in outdoorsy landscapes - the emphasis is on travel in a bus. There are walks that people can do in these places; in Kanas, there are two short walks, and another two two-day-each trudges over high mountains.

But the walks are not well promoted; the reason is that officials think from a narrow Chinese viewpoint, and give the walks low priority. This then becomes a self-fulfilling cycle: only a trickle of foreigners visit, hardly anyone goes hiking, and the walks become an even more marginal activity.

So, once again, the end result is a setup that doesn't pander to foreigners' titillations or habits. (On the other hand, Chinese habits are also changing; young people from Guangdong and other coastal cities are increasingly taking to independent and active travel, and this is a trend that tourism officials should nudge along as a way to protect the landscape integrity in wilderness areas. It's better to have people doing more walking than scar the landscapes by roads - and less roads would catalyze the growing interest among the Chinese to go walking.)

One place that caters for tastes across the spectrum is Yanghsuo in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. An increasing number of young Chinese and foreigners visit independently and lodge in town, where staff members in hotels speak English, and restaurants and bars have English menus.

Good maps and bicycles for rent are also widely available, allowing foreigners to go cycling on their own. Rock climbing is another growing activity - climbers can find a guidebook to rock climbing, fellow climbers to team up with, climbing agencies whose guides talk English - and that's why Yangshuo is on the way to becoming the most popular destination for rock climbing in Asia.

Hundreds of thousands of foreigners now visit annually; equally, other provinces can also lure more foreign tourists by developing the infrastructure to satisfy foreigners' needs and tastes.

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