Standardized pricing gives Pingyao tourism a boost

The county of Pingyao's commodity pricing office has been standardizing prices in all sectors of tourism, since 2007, to protect the rights and interests of consumers, with all of its restaurants having prices clearly marked on menus, under pricing office supervision. And, the authorities have put a ceiling on prices of three local specialties -- Pingyao beef, Wantuoze (wheat food items) and Shanxi fried boiled pork -- while accommodation prices have been standardized, with 82 hotels posting fees and prices.

Hou Zhenshen, head of the local pricing office, says he thinks the needs of both consumers and business people need to be taken into consideration and that the office needs to keep up with the fluctuating prices of raw materials to keep prices at a reasonable level.

The county has in fact had a hotline -- 12358 -- since 2011, for round-the-clock service and dealing with complaints from tourists. Now, the price-standardization has helped make Pingyao’s tourism industry a pillar of economic development and, in 2012, it had 138,000 tourists, bringing earnings of 4 billion yuan ($656 million). And, in ther first three quarters of this year, it received 1,119,300 people, bringing in 3.95 billion yuan, or nearly the same as the revenues for all of last year.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw