Like most Chinese people do in the first week of October, I spent my first National Day holiday eight years ago traveling to Xi'an. The ancient capital of China ranks as one of the best tourism destinations in the country. But since I went on a group tour, that visit was largely a bust.

The trip was organized by the university where I taught English during my first year in China for its foreign teachers, and naturally we were all keen to see the terra cotta warriors. However, we spent the entire morning on the day we were scheduled to visit the warriors at the misleadingly named terra cotta restoration center. That place was really an obligatory shopping stop aimed at making us spend money on overpriced merchandise. Needless to say, no one felt like parting with his money despite the coaxing of the staff.

Chinese tourists going on bargained-down priced group tours are not so lucky. Such package tours typically offset the low margins or losses incurred by the travel agencies because of low pricing by forcing tourists to buy goods at designated shops - the agencies get commissions for such purchases - tip tour guides, or pay extra for surprise add-on stops.