Ticket controversy cools business in popular tourist town

For bar owner Zhang Fei, the return of the Chinese tourist town of Fenghuang to its traditional serenity was no good news.

Running a Western-style bar named "Flee to Utopia," Zhang had grown used to the annual May Day holiday sending crowds of tourists into the town in central China's Hunan Province, and his bar bustled with revelers, beers and live music.

With this year's holiday about to conclude, however, having seen his customer numbers down 70 percent and much of the bar's seats unoccupied, Zhang has been in no mood for holiday carnivals.

"The song I've played most these days is 'Empty City.' Many bars and stores have no customers -- it is like in the slack season of December," Zhang said.

Many inn keepers and store owners like him in the 300-year-old Fenghuang are struggling with a lackluster tourist season after local authorities introduced a policy to levy entrance fees which they said were meant to better protect the town.

The new policy, which required tourists to pay 148 yuan (about 24 U.S. dollars) upon entry from April 10, sparked fury among Chinese netizens, and the ensuing decline in the number of visitors upset local business owners.

On Monday, the start of the three-day holiday, only a smattering of tourists roamed the old-style streets of Fenghuang, and some vendors were seen dozing off at their unfrequented stores.

"We used to earn 400 yuan a day in the busy season, but now the income is down to 30 to 40 yuan," said a woman who rented Miao-styled costumes for tourists to wear while posing for photos.

According to official data, the town received a daily average of 6,000 visitors in the aftermath of the ticket policy's introduction, down from 20,000 when the site was free to enter.

Facing strong protests from local businessmen, the Fenghuang county government said it would exempt ticket fares for tourists from nearby counties and offer preferential prices for students.

Days prior to the national May Day holiday, however, entry charges didn't seem to be being enforced at all, and individual tourists were allowed to enter without tickets. While the situation hinted at a quiet climb-down from the admission fee policy, officials said it was mainly because of a lack of ticket-checking staff and machines.