Dubious chance for road charge

The scenery of provincial roads in Zhangbei, a small country in North China's Hebei province. [Photo/IC]

The furor over the introduction of a charge to drive on a remote scenic highway in North China's Hebei province will probably come to end now the provincial price authority says the practice is legal and the money is duly collected according to regulations.

Known as "China's Route 66", the 130-kilometer highway received more than 330,000 visitors last year, far beyond its capacity, according to officials in Zhangbei county.

They claim the tourists have damaged the local ecology and environment and disrupted the lives of local residents, and the charge of 50 yuan ($7.7) per person will prevent the situation from worsening.

This sounds reasonable, but also very familiar.

Similar reasons were cited in 2013 when local officials in Fenghuang in Central China's Hunan province started to charge tourists an entry fee to visit the ancient town, despite complaints from tourists and shop owners. In fact, the local government was forced to revoke the fee in April this year as it drove away potential visitors and seriously hurt local businesses.

Turning a public highway into a fee-charging tourist site, not only sets a bad example for other places that happen to boast of similar resources. It also goes against the trend encouraged by the central government to make more roads toll free to cut logistic costs and facilitate unrestricted flow of goods and services.

Though Zhangbei officials said they would charge only tourists, a viable method is yet to be worked out to avoid the indiscriminate charging of all users.

When tapping their tourist attractions, local governments should take a long-term view and broad perspective by improving infrastructure facilities and their management capabilities. Focusing on earning quick money with such fees is simply killing a goose that can lay golden eggs.