Comment on China's mega-tours draw attention abroad, critique at home

China's mega-tours draw attention abroad, critique at home

The tours are at the intersection of several trends in a country with a predilection for package trips: an explosion in overseas travel, surging national pride and the phenomenal growth in the past decade of direct sales companies. Direct selling cuts out shops to sell products or services directly to consumers, using teams of sales personnel who typically get most of their income from a cut of the sales. Since the ban was lifted, direct marketing has expanded rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of 30 percent. The growth can be attributed to China's economic boom, a rising consumer culture and more favorable government policies, and also that direct selling provides low-threshold opportunities for people to start their own businesses, Hu said. The three mass tours have generated media buzz not only in host countries, but back home where some Chinese see them as part of their country's rise on the world stage. Hu Xingdou, an economics professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, said the mass tours reflect the desire of Chinese to show off wealth after decades of impoverishment, while the uniforms and shouting of slogans reveal the oddly militaristic corporate culture of China's direct marketing companies. Zhang Xiaoyan, a senior business director at Infinitus who went on one of the Thailand trips, recalled local people "gaping" at the travelers who were wearing uniforms, lugging suitcases and carrying umbrellas — all with the company logo.

 

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