Call for legalization of travel-related tipping in China

Major Chinese travel website Ctrip.com recently announced the launch of a “travel tipping project” on all domestic tours.

The new plan will entitle its staff to accept service fees during domestic trips as an official part of their salary.

The Shanghai-based bilingual site hopes to establish an incentive system through the project that will encourage its tourist guides to deliver better services.

The Nasdaq-listed company is also calling for the government to lift the ban on travel tipping in China.

Tips officially prohibited in China

Mainland Chinese travelers aren't in the habit of giving tips. In fact, tipping is officially prohibited by the central government.

According to the Rules for Chinese Tourism Professionals, which was issued in 1999, those tourist guides who hint for tips will be fined between RMB 1,000-30,000 and risk losing their business licenses.

Nevertheless, the ban has led to many unwritten rules in China’s growing travel industry. Some tourist guides profit by accepting kickbacks from shops, restaurants and hotels.

The country is also seeing an increase in the number of “RMB 0 tours” within the mainland and to nearby Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand. Tourist agencies and guides basically live on commissions by forcing travelers to spend money in these “free” tours at selected, pre-arranged venues.

Ctrip’s plan

Under the new “travel tipping project,” Ctrip will provide “transparent groups.” This means the company will tell tourists exactly what the tip is paying for. Travelers can pay extra to the tourist guides based on evaluating their services at the end of the day or the trip.

“Judging from our past experiences, [China] has got the basic prerequisites to popularize travel tipping,” Guo Dongjie (郭东杰), vice president of Ctrip.com, told Youth Daily. “We are very confident to push forward this reformation.”

Ctrip is yet to announce the details of the project, including a launch date and a standard tip rate.

Different public opinions

Chinese tourism experts vary in their opinions on Ctrip’s proposition.

Liu Simin (刘思敏), editor-in-chief of China Tourism News, considers it a way to prevent tourist guides from asking for or receiving kickbacks and is in favor of the plan. 

But Lou Jiajun (楼嘉军), supervisor of the Tourism Department in East China Normal University, said in an interview with Shanghai TV Station that he doesn’t think Ctrip is making a wise move.

“Tips can bring extra profits to tourist agencies and tourist guides, but tipping is also against the existing rules. It’s not proper for a company to initiate this reformation because the tourism market is managed by the central government,” Lou added.

According to a survey conducted by Youth Daily, 90 percent of Chinese youngsters and 30 percent of middle-aged travelers are in favor of Ctrip’s pitch -- on the precondition the tourist guides would improve their services after being tipped.

They also insist that tipping should be voluntary instead of mandatory.