"Running away" and "finding no such person", why has travel agencies become the favorite of summer scammers?
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Fields | travel agency
Column | Cultural Tourism Business Review
01
This summer, there is a strange phenomenon in the tourism industry: travel agencies that do serious business are complaining that there are no customers, and some professional fraudsters make a lot of money in the name of travel agencies.
Yesterday, the Chengdu Yejie Travel Agency thundered and tore the scar of the industry again, and hundreds of victims complained on social media that the travel agency had received money, but was "pigeoned" in various names before the trip.
Judging from the information of the victim's rights protection group, the amount of fraud has exceeded one million.
The victims of the "Wild Realm" are still crying and wiping away tears, but compared to the "Jia Lan Incident" that also happened in Chengdu some time ago, it is drizzle.
At the beginning of July, a number of international travel agencies such as Chengdu Haiyou Holiday successively issued solemn statements: some people claimed that Jia Lan collected money from direct passengers or group groups, and then said that they could not travel according to the original plan for various reasons, but refused to refund the other party, and the amount involved was relatively high.
How high is the amount?
According to netizens, the number of deceived people has exceeded 1,000, involving more than 30 million yuan.
It is a shame to say that in the current operating environment, how many normally operating travel agencies can collect more than 30 million passengers in a summer?
As a result, the industry was stunned, "This 'Jia Lan' is really a fucking talent......"
These black sheep of the travel industry are swaggering around in the summer, making serious travel agencies miserable.
A travel agency in Chengdu and I said with a wry smile, after the "Wild Boundary", "Jia Lan" and other incidents, some car users and scenic spot resources directly refused to cooperate with us, this is the sequelae......
Bad guys do evil, good guys take the blame, and this summer, the ripple effect of travel agency fraud will not easily dissipate.
02
Behind the frequent fraud cases related to summer travel agencies, some media have pointed the finger at social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu, believing that the "lightning protection posts" on these platforms have enabled some illegal travel agencies to exist and commit fraud for a long time.
Yes, not entirely.
In fact, even in the era of social media such as Xiaohongshu, all kinds of travel agency fund-raising fraud cases are not uncommon, just like the thunderstorm of travel agency stores was a nightmare for many tourists, and the funds swept away by a store are often in the millions to tens of millions.
For another example, in the era when WeChat public account sales were prevalent, the homestay and tourism prepaid card models such as Hermit Crab Travel and Future Good Accommodation that had been exposed in the travel industry were also thriving, and the victims' funds easily exceeded 100 million.
At that time, no one would question why the official account platform promoting prepaid cards in the street community and office building where the store was located did not take responsibility, which shows that the problem is not only caused by the emergence of social media platforms, but there have been some deeper reasons for a long time.
For example, I am concerned that the "Chengdu Yejie International Travel Service Co., Ltd." involved in this case is a regular listed travel agency, and even such a seemingly compliant travel agency has come out to engage in fraud, does that mean that the threshold of our industry is lower?
The answer is really.
For example, in many places, the financial requirements for setting up a travel agency are now about none.
Looking back at the epidemic, it is completely understandable that some cities have refunded the warranty money of travel agencies in order to tide over the difficulties and give travel agencies who are struggling to survive a respite.
However, in the past two years, in order to encourage the development of the cultural and tourism economy, some cities have canceled the warranty of travel agencies, and changed to travel agency insurance or travel agency insurance + letter of guarantee, etc., the original intention was to reduce the burden on enterprises, but it was "broken" by some people with ulterior motives.
To put it bluntly, fraud has existed since ancient times, and there used to be a 200,000 travel agency warranty, but now there is no such hurdle, so that their trial and error costs become very low, and they can keep sending out false news phishing, screening out potential victims, and relying on poor information to induce and deceive them.
From the perspective of Sichuan Province, where "Chengdu Yejie International Travel Service Co., Ltd." is located, you can now apply for travel agency qualifications by means of travel agency policy + letter of guarantee.
As a result, no one knows whether a person is a ghost behind a network cable, which is undoubtedly a new test for the current travel agency supervision system.
03
In addition to the number of travel agency fraud cases brought about by the lowering of the threshold, I will tell you another heart-wrenching fact: the more important point of the success of scammers who pretend to travel agencies is not in the scammers, but in ordinary people.
Recently, there are a lot of tourists who have been deceived, but there are also a lot of peers around them to applaud the voice, many of the industry think that the deceived tourists are not worthy of sympathy, after this time I know that the coming-of-age ceremony of young people is not a graduation trip at all, but to buy a lesson.
I think of some friends around me recently consulting about relevant travel routes, and when I give them some high-quality routes from regular travel agencies, the other party often pouts.
The implication may be that it is "too low" to find these traditional societies.
Some would ask me, "Why don't you recommend a niche, boutique travel agency?"
In the post-epidemic era, the way of signing up for travel through traditional travel agency stores and OTAs is considered "outdated".
So, why do those who engage in fraud repeatedly rely on travel agencies to succeed? Many people really don't listen to persuasion, and it is not until they are about to go out after the money that they suddenly wake up whether they have been deceived.
In fact, from the point of view of Chengdu Yejie fraud methods, the contracted travel agency and the travel agency operator shown to consumers are not the same at all, I believe that those who have a little social experience will be sensitive to realize that there is no "catty" in the middle?
In fact, as long as you carefully inquire about the contracted Chengdu Yejie, you will find that as early as before this runaway, this travel agency has been "notorious" and has been listed on the complaint list of the local Bureau of Culture and Tourism all year round.
Therefore, in my eyes, the focus of tourism anti-fraud has always been to intercept in advance, rather than recourse after the fact.
This is like preventing AIDS, the real core is to popularize safe sex and pre-emptive protection measures, and if you really get sick afterwards, there is really no way.
Many things are just not taken precautions beforehand, and there is no reason to talk about them afterwards.
04
Nowadays, small-group, customized, and decentralized travel methods are more favored by consumers, especially young people, who tend to trust their own emotional judgments.
Perhaps, this is life, after this "beating", I believe that more young people will realize the "sickle" hidden around them: what you think is not necessarily what you think......
There are a few things you really can't ignore before booking a travel product:
Are the account operators the same as the contracting entities?
Check the enterprise to see if the company has public opinion and is sued?
The account of the local cultural and tourism bureau to see if this travel agency has been complained about all year round?
In short, whether it is on social media or online travel platforms, you really need to do your homework before placing an order, and using search well can help you avoid a lot of pitfalls and save a lot of money.
At the same time, is there anything worth reflecting on for our travel agency? There are also.
At the moment, for young people, as long as the content is interesting and can create emotional value, they will take the initiative to help you spread the word, and if a travel agency's product is not interesting, even if the product is really good and correct, they are not willing to say it.
In the era of information overload, everyone pursues fun more than correct.
Perhaps, what is more painful than being made by scammers is that those of us who do serious travel agency business can't make money from tourists on social media, which is a problem that we need to think deeply about.
Today's topic: What do you think about the high incidence of summer travel agency-related scams? Welcome to interact with Travel Traveler in the message box below.