The People’s Daily and People’s Daily Online ran a survey with a simple query: ‘Are you satisfied with travel products?’ Mainly the answer was ‘no. Only 5.8% of netizens voiced pleasure with travel products. 68.6% expressed dissatisfaction. British army cooking had better figures than that.
The comments were severely critical but note they were confined to travel products, not destinations. Souvenirs and that sort of nonsense. This survey suggests that plainly some standards and policing are required.
An example from an annoyed respondent: ‘the souvenirs one can buy from the Taishan and Hengshan mountains are identical or almost the same, such as paperweight stones and beads, with a lack of distinct features, all belonging to category of ‘chicken ribs’.’ (Not a category that springs to mind but that is how it is translated. It does not sound complimentary)
19.3% of the netizens remain uninterested in travel products. Some netizen friends said ‘we are now scared to buy anything at travel resorts. For example, we spent at a site for 300 yuan worth of goods, which can be bought for 100 yuan at another site.’
So basically the complaint was about a lack of sense of culture and a sameness of all souvenirs with the added insult that there was overcharging. If this was one or two disgruntled travelers you would sit up and take notice. But there were 7,002 willing to reply which suggests some immediate action is required. Especially with the Olympics looming on the horizon.
Source: People’s Daily Online