Tourist trap (3)

Massive rebates

"The problem of rebates is serious in Hainan, with rebates of 30 percent to 70 percent for goods such as crystal and pearls and as high as 100 percent for some scenic spots," Wu Jingmin, a tour guide with 16 years' experience, told the Global Times Monday.

These scenic spots are willing to pay such high rebates as they rely on money spent by tourists on shopping and entertainment, Wu said.

Tour guides earn low or even no base salary, and need to pay management fees to their companies, so they rely on rebates, he said, noting that taxi drivers and even bus conductors earn rebates by guiding tourists to particular areas.

One taxi driver earned 770,000 yuan in rebates from crystal stores in 2011 as his passengers spent 1.1 million yuan on buying crystal products, Wu said.

However, high rebates constitute commercial fraud, said Wang from the HTA, citing legal experts.

The rebates are caused by zero- or negative-fare tours, which are common in Hainan, accounting for more than 80 percent of the tours in the province. Travel agencies in Hainan pay as much as 1,600 yuan to travel agencies in other parts of China to "buy" tourists, chinanews.com reported on February 25, citing an unnamed official from Hainan Administration of Tourism Quality Supervision.

Zero- or negative-fare tours appeared in Hainan over 10 years ago, and started to spread around the country. They refer to tours offered by travel agencies at or below their costs and are designed to attract tourists. They make money by pressuring tourists to purchase goods or services during the tour.

Meanwhile, underdeveloped public service facilities and a lack of shopping choices in Hainan are also reasons for rampant rebates in the local tourism market, Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy, told the Global Times Tuesday.