Travel agent mistakes woman for a man and tries to tailor holiday schedule around ‘beauties’ who have booked tour at same time. Agency attempts to blame ‘dialect’ problems for ‘misunderstanding’ then fires agent involved and apologises. — SCMP
A travel agency in China has been accused of using female customers as bait to attract male clientele looking for “romantic liaisons”.
An online post detailing the experience of a woman who engaged with the travel agency has caused an angry backlash on mainland social media, according to the media outlet Feidan Video.
On July 26, a woman in Chengdu, the provincial capital city of Sichuan province in southwestern China, shared her experience on the popular mainland social media platform Xiaohongshu, about being mistakenly regarded as a male customer looking for holiday romance.
In the post titled “Avoid lightning, a travel agency in western Sichuan”, the woman posted a WeChat screenshot of her conversation with a sales representative from the travel agency.
The male member of travel agency staff first asked: “What date do you plan to depart?”, to which the woman responded: “Any date in early August would be fine. I need to discuss it with my friend.”
Thinking the woman and her friend were men, the member of staff replied: “There are two beauties signed up on August 3, one born in 1989 and the other in 1991.”
He then added: “There are also two females on August 2. However, they are too old and may not satisfy your appetite.”
This angered the woman who immediately suspected that the travel agency was using female customers as “bait” to sell tours.
She told the agency staff member: “Do you think this is funny? Do the two girls know what you said? You are trying to make money from them while also using them as a tool to attract customers. Do you have any professional ethics?”
It is unclear from the post how the staff member responded to this.
The interaction quickly gained widespread attention, prompting the owner of the travel agency to intervene claiming there had been a “misunderstanding” due to the fact that the member of staff involved spoke with the dialect common only in Sichuan province.
“This sales representative is Sichuanese; there may have been a communication problem. We have never used female tourists to solicit customers,” the agency said in a statement published by Feidan Video.
The travel agency also issued a statement of apology.
“This behaviour was the employee’s personal conduct and does not represent the company’s values. The employee has now been dismissed and the full amount of performance bonus has been deducted.
“Internal training management will be strengthened, and visitor supervision is also welcome,” it said.
Despite the apology, the mainland social media remained critical of the agency.
One online observer said: “Does the travel agency really believe its own excuse?”
Another added: “Dialect cannot be blamed. It’s obvious what was going on here.”
“I have lived in Sichuan for many years and I have never seen someone explain, ‘Don’t satisfy your appetite’ in such a way,” said another commenter.
The incident has also raised fresh concerns about the sexual harassment of female travellers in China.
In October 2019, a woman from Hangzhou in eastern China on a tour to Thailand experienced harassment from the tour guide, who claimed that she had flirted with him, using the excuse that “she often smiled at me”.
In August 2019, a female teacher from northeastern China faced harassment from a tour guide at a hotel while travelling in Mount Emei in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. – South China Morning Post
