High prices & poor service puts Sanya tourism industry at risk

SANYA may boast a massive surge in new tourism infrastructure, but some event specialists have decided to bypass the destination due to its high prices and poor service.

According to Xia Qin, CEO of Zhuhai Sea & Sky International Travel Service, which handles golf and meeting groups out of Guangdong, five-star hotel rates in Sanya could balloon from RMB2,000 (US$317) to RMB3,000 per night during off-peak days to at least RMB7,000 during busier periods.

Xia added that dinners in restaurants outside of hotels were “overpriced”, an observation shared by Sheraton Sanya Resort assistant director of convention sales, Jessie Mar, who said certain venues even require a minimum head count charge.

Bard Medical Devices (Beijing) HR & ADM department executive assistant, Tina Yang, told the Daily that she would not consider Sanya in the near future due to poor service standards and high costs, and would probably choose Malaysia or Singapore if the company wanted to go abroad with the same budget.

Tracy Li, vice president sales and marketing of yoopay.cn, who organises offsite client meetings, said: “The local government is not doing enough to improve the situation.”

Malaysia’s IMR Group director, BP Tan, also hopes the authorities will do more to “ensure there is no profiteering and unfair business practices”.