According to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, except for a small number of major tourist attractions, including the Palace Museum (the Forbidden City) and the National Museum, all scenic spots in Beijing have ceased requiring real-name online advance ticketing. Other cities, including Shanghai and Suzhou, have also announced they are scrapping advance ticketing.

Real-name online ticketing has been widely adopted in China's tourism sector in recent years, originally aimed at capping the daily number of tourists visiting each scenic spot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all tourist spots required real-name advance ticketing during that period, which met the intended goal of reining in spread of the virus.

Since China adjusted its pandemic control policy in late 2022, more and more scenic spots have abandoned this now outdated policy, owing to its increasingly clear drawbacks. For instance, the potential risk of personal information leakage in real-name online ticketing has long been a source of public concern. Nevertheless, a tourist spot should always see to it that the number of visitors should not exceed its maximum capacity, no matter whether advance ticketing is required or not.

Feng Shou (Beijing Youth Daily): Thanks to the popularity of online payment, online ticketing allows scenic spots to predict tourist volumes in advance, so that they can take measures to effectively protect their tourism resources. When it comes to tourists, online ticketing can help save queuing time and prevent the unpleasant experience of overcrowding.

While announcing a sweeping cancellation of the online advance ticketing system, Beijing is clear that the Forbidden City, the National Museum and several other major sites will have to maintain the old practice for the time being, as these spots are always overcrowded, whereas other sites are not. In these less crowded sites, maintaining the stringent ticketing system only causes trouble for tourists, as real-name online ticketing is time-consuming, and it's also unfriendly to the elderly, who are usually not adept at online ticketing and payment.

Every tourist spot has its maximum capacity for visitors. Once the number of tourists exceeds the limit, not only will tourists feel terrible, but there are also safety risks like trampling. Thus, after the advance ticketing requirement is scrapped, scenic spots should maintain a close eye on inflows of tourists and release information in time so that potential visitors can use it as a reference. Tourism authorities should also urge scenic spots to monitor visitor numbers, particularly during students' summer holidays and other long holidays.

Zhang Shuo (Economic Daily): In recent years, the real-name online ticketing system has played a big role in preventing congestion in tourist hotspots. However, booking tickets online is becoming an increasingly torturous experience. To grab a ticket, tourists have to compete not only in terms of speed, but also in luck. Meanwhile, some elderly people and foreign tourists are unable to visit certain spots due to cumbersome online procedures. In fact, real-name online ticketing also has its limits in its ability to alleviate overcrowding during holidays, while in less popular spots, the system does nothing but add to the burden on tourists.

In this sense, the system should be applied in accordance with the actual situation at each site. For example, in some special and popular spots, for the sake of safety and the protection of cultural heritage, the system should continue. Visitors should be allowed in as long as numbers remain under the maximum capacity of the venue. At the same time, the system should be dynamically updated regularly to offer canceled tickets to those on waiting lists in a timely manner. Issues involving scalpers grabbing tickets should be solved through improved technical measures. BR

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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