Ticket inspectors work till 11 p.m. in the ancient town of Fenghuang, Hunan province. (Photo/Beijing Times)
(ECNS) -- Some hotels in the tourist destination of Fenghuang ancient town have temporarily shut to boycott a controversial ticketing system.
Tourists need to pay 148 yuan ($23.84) to visit the town in Central China's Hunan province. However, they can effectively bypass the entry system by following staff from hotels inside in the name of checking out hotel rooms. In doing so, tourists can get away with paying only 30 to 40 yuan.
In response, the local tourist authority has banned hotels from bringing in tourists in this manner since June 30. In addition, in order to strictly execute its ticketing system, they have set up at least 12 check posts.
Obviously irritated by such moves, some hotels inside Fenghuang chose to close their doors on July 4 in protest, reopening on July 6. These hotels used to run at full capacity; however, their occupancy rates have been stagnating at around 20 percent since the ban took effect.
Some tourists and local residents say the ticket checking system at Fenghuang is irritating as inspections occur too frequently. One tourist complained he was stopped four times within one hour, which ruined his holiday mood.
Fenghuang received around 5.75 million tourists and generated approximately 480,500 yuan in revenue during the first half of 2015, according to the county's communication director, surnamed Wu. This is an increase of 31.89 percent and 43.05 percent respectively from last year.
