On May 22nd, Xinjiang reported the malicious "desertion" of two travel agencies, which led to the detention of hundreds of tourists, and mentioned that the two travel agencies were actually responsible for the specific business. Yesterday, a former employee of a travel agency involved said in an interview with Beijing Youth Daily that the travel agency where she worked at that time published the "lowest tour fare in the whole network", and sometimes the tour fare for inter-provincial tours was only 98 yuan. After tourists pay the first tour fee, the travel agency will not only take shopping to earn kickbacks, but also use various reasons to make tourists "pay the tour fee". Dumping customers is also one of the means to force tourists to pay more.
"Leaving the group" caused 270 tourists to stay
The travel agency was notified last October.
On May 22, the Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Department reported that since mid-April this year, there have been many malicious "group desertions" by travel agencies in Xinjiang, resulting in the detention of 270 tourists from Urumqi, Changji and Turpan.
According to the circular, the incident was caused by Xiongle International Travel Service Co., Ltd. and Xinjiang Junyi International Travel Service Co., Ltd. refusing to perform the contract during the trip, instructing the tour guide or accompanying the whole group.
A man named Xu Dandan was mentioned many times in the bulletin. On the one hand, Xu Dandan is the head of Xiongle International Travel Service, and on the other hand, Xu Dandan has provided relevant documents and materials for Xinjiang Juncheng International Travel Service and paid the registration fee for the agency. Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Department said that it has been basically confirmed that Xiongle International Travel Service Co., Ltd. and Xinjiang Junyi International Travel Service Co., Ltd. are actually responsible for the specific business of the same group of people.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily noticed that in July last year, the Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Department had informed the travel agencies related to Xu Dandan about the abandonment of the tour group, which also involved hundreds of tourists.
Who’s Xu Dandan? Why did she leave the group maliciously, causing so many tourists to stay?
Attracting tourists with "extremely low price" tour fare
After that, it is required to continue to "pay the tour fee"
"She just attracts people to pay the registration fee with a very low tour fee, and then tries to ask for further money." A former employee who worked in a travel agency in Xu Dandan told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that she went to work in a travel agency opened in Xu Dandan two or three years ago, and soon she found that the tour fare offered by the travel agency was surprisingly low. "It can be said that you can’t find a lower tour fare in the whole travel circle. For example, if you travel from a province in the east of China to a province in the west of China, the tour fee is only 98 yuan, and the prices of other tour groups will be as low as 199 yuan and 398 yuan. Although such a group fee is difficult to cover even the cost of round-trip travel, it will still attract some people to sign up. " The former employee recalled that once the tourists paid the tour fee, the travel agency would ask the tourists to pay the tour fee further for various reasons. Many tourists had to continue to pay for the group because they had already paid the first tour fee. Even if tourists offer refunds, they will be rejected by travel agencies for various reasons.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily noticed that this routine was repeated in the recent case of Xinjiang Travel Agency. According to the circular, some travel agencies involved in this case released Xinjiang tourism products for a minimum of 1980 yuan /18 days and bought one get one free. On average, the tour fee for each tourist for 18 days was less than 1,000 yuan (the actual cost was more than 4,000 yuan). In one of the dumping incidents, after Xu Dandan arranged for tourists to arrive in Xinjiang, he asked each tourist to pay 800 yuan on the grounds of bad weather in Kanas, but the tourists refused, and then the tour group was dumped.
In addition, arranging tourists to shop for kickbacks is also one of the ways for travel agencies to make profits mentioned by former employees. This has also been confirmed in the briefing of Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Office. On April 16th this year, a Shanghai departure tour group hosted by Xiongle International Travel Service was abandoned in Urumqi because of insufficient team consumption.
Former employees admitted that the reason why the group deserted may be that the travel agency tried to force tourists to pay more money and shop more in this way. Sometimes, although tourists pay the registration fee, the travel agency will not arrange transportation and accommodation in time, and it will not be arranged temporarily until the last moment, which will lead to the failure to guarantee the travel conditions. In 2022, the circular issued by Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Department showed that 37 Gansu tourists traveled to Xinjiang, and the tour guides and vehicles were all appointed or contacted by Xu Dandan. However, the tourists were stranded because Xu Dandan did not pay the tour fee to the tour guides for the follow-up trip.
Another person in charge of a travel agency who had worked with Xu Dandan said that he had organized tourists to travel to Hainan before, and Xu Dandan was responsible for the reception. He had previously made an appointment with tourists and other parties. The trip was a pure play group, and he could arrange his own play after Hainan. However, after the tourists arrived in Hainan, Xu Dandan asked the tourists to join a group to go shopping, otherwise they would not provide accommodation. "The tourists expressed their dissatisfaction and complained to me." The person in charge said.
Hainan cooperation peers "eat melons and fall children"
The supplier claims that the ticket has been owed for nearly 3 years.
"When we joined the company, Xu Dandan sent us a mobile phone for work. In many cases, the job we handled was to meet the supplier’s debt collection." Xu Dandan’s former employees said that the victims of low-cost tours included not only tourists, but also some service providers.
Mr. Liu, the head of a travel ticketing company, told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that in August, 2020, he supplied a team train ticket to a travel agency operated by Xu Dandan in Shenzhen, and paid more than 8,000 yuan in advance, but up to now, there are still more than 7,000 yuan outstanding. At that time, Xu Dandan once delayed on the grounds that the tour group who bought the train ticket lost money and the customer didn’t pay. In the end, it was even more because the ticket was bought by the employee, so Mr. Liu refused to pay the ticket on the grounds that he asked the employee for money.
As a last resort, Mr. Liu filed a lawsuit with the court. According to the judgment obtained by the reporter of Beiqing Daily, the court ruled that the travel agency operated by Xu Dandan at that time paid the ticket and the corresponding interest. However, according to public information, the travel agency went bankrupt and liquidated in 2022, and the public notice showed that the travel agency also owed wages and economic compensation to several employees.
Many branches under its name have no business license.
Public Security and Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau intervened in the investigation.
In the above, a former employee who worked in this travel agency in Shenzhen admitted that after joining the company, she found that the travel agency did not obtain a travel agency business license at all.
According to the notification from Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Department, Xiongle International Travel Service Co., Ltd., which is in charge of Xu Dandan, holds a Business License and a Travel Agency Business License. However, due to malicious "leaving the group" for many times, it has been stopped by Haikou City from using the electronic travel itinerary system in Hainan Province, and the company has also been listed in the business exception list. At present, Xiongle International Travel Service Co., Ltd. has set up 14 branches nationwide, and none of them has obtained the Travel Agency Business License. Xinjiang Juncheng International Travel Service Co., Ltd. also has no business qualification to operate a travel agency.
At present, the Xinjiang centralized case handling team has filed an investigation on two travel agencies involved in the case through the evidence. Due to the huge amount involved and the large number of tourists involved, it is suspected of constituting the crime of illegal business operation. The centralized case handling team has handed over the case clues of Xiongle International Travel Service Co., Ltd. to the relevant departments of Hainan Province where it is registered, and plans to hand over the suspected illegal business operation of Xinjiang Juncheng International Travel Service Co., Ltd. to the public security organs for acceptance.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned from the local tourism department of Haikou City, Hainan Province that the local comprehensive law enforcement bureau has been involved in handling the situation of Xiongle International Travel Service reflected by Xinjiang.