Slowly, American Tourists Returning to China : CHINA: Discounts Lure a Few Back to China

The tidal wave of American tourists that deluged China every year of the last decade dissipated abruptly after the murderous suppression of the democratic movement that galvanized China and the world last spring.

No longer were panda bears, ancient terra cotta soldiers and the Great Wall the universal symbols of China. Instead, China suddenly summoned up visions of soldiers shooting people in the streets, of the white plaster Goddess of Democracy being crushed under tank treads and, perhaps most poignant of all, of a single man blocking the passage of a column of tanks.

Tourist numbers shrank dramatically as a result. In the four months preceding the June, 1989, crackdown, U.S. tourists streamed into China at the average rate of 23,636 a month. Suddenly, that number crashed to 10,000. From June to the end of the year, the number of U.S. tourists climbed only slightly to about 13,800 per month.

Yet the shocking Tian An Men images, so acute just six months ago, are beginning to fade as bargain basement fares lure some travelers to China once again.

“People mostly ask two questions,” said Jerry Chang, head of the Trans China Holidays’ New York office.

“One, ‘Is there a travel advisory?’ ” The answer is, ‘Yes.’ The other question is, ‘If I go now, do I have a moral problem with going?’ We tell them to take advantage of a good price. The travel business has nothing to do with the leaders in China. We have to keep contact with the Chinese people.”

In January the state department revised its travel advisory for China to note that martial law in Beijing was lifted Jan. 11. The advisory cautioned travelers that some areas of China remain closed to foreign tourists. In Tibet, the advisory observed, Lhasa remains under martial law but has been opened to some tourists who visit with tour groups from Hong Kong.

Finally, the advisory warned, “Americans should be cautious about carrying into China documents, literature and letters that might be regarded as objectionable by Chinese authorities. Authorities have seized what they deemed to be religious, pornographic and political materials.”

Eli Milbaur, managing director of Orient Flexi-Pax Tours in New York, contends that only extraordinarily low tour prices have gradually wooed people back to the Middle Kingdom. For example, a 10-day China tour that cost more than $2,500 before Tian An Men now costs $1,499, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles.

“We wanted to test to see whether it was a matter of price, of fear or political protest,” Milbaur said. “Between October, 1989 and March ’90 we were completely sold out.”

But, Milbaur acknowledged, there was a direct connection between the June crackdown and the rock-bottom prices his agency offers.

“CITS,” he said, referring to China International Travel Service, the Chinese government-owned body that supervises most group tours in China for foreign travel agents, “lowered their prices. They came forward and said, ‘We are willing to do something to stimulate traffic.’ We said, ‘Unless there’s a 50% discount there is no point.’ So they did it.”

Still, Milbaur said, he is continually asked about safety. “We relate our personal experience,” he explained. “You don’t see soldiers on the streets. You are not intimidated. The people are very friendly. You can go anywhere you want.

“The only sign of tension I saw in December was in Tian An Men Square, where we had to pass through some guards to enter the square. But I have been told by someone who just returned that the guards are no longer there.

“I would say that people who have political qualms should reconsider their position based on the fact that not going to China is going to hurt the Chinese people more than it is the government. Arthur Frommer, on his cable television travel show, said it was completely immoral to go.

“But we are not politicians. Traveling is supposed to enhance understanding. It’s the people who need the contact. They wouldn’t have gotten where they are today without the personal contacts as well as the economic benefits.”

While most Americans who visit China do so from the cocoon of a tour group, intimidated by the forbidding prospect of wrestling with an unfamiliar language and culture, there is still a steady stream of individual travelers who insist on seeing China on their own terms. It is possible, but not always easy, to obtain a visa for individual travel from a Chinese consulate in the United States.

It is easier, however, if one first visits Hong Kong, where a visa can be obtained from most good travel agents. My favorite is Jebsen Travel at 12 Pedder St.; they can produce a visa in a few hours.

For those who feel more comfortable traveling in hordes, the easiest way is a group tour offered by a reputable agent. Orient Flexi-Pax’s $1,499, 10-day tour includes visits to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai and a day trip to Suzhou.

All these cities have been on the tourist caravan since China opened its doors to Western visitors. In general, it is difficult for the untrained visitor to notice effects of the current politically repressive climate or of the violence of last June.

On Tian An Men Square, visitors can see the scars of tank treads. And in the middle of the square the stone steps of the Monument to the People’s Heroes, a granite cenotaph memorializing communist martyrs and the former headquarters of the spring student movement, remain chipped by the weight of armored personnel carriers that assaulted the square in June.

Elsewhere in China, political slogans are visible almost everywhere, although Chinese guides, many of whom abhor the current regime, may be reluctant to translate some of them. In Chengdu, the vestiges of a city block, burned down during the spring demonstrations, are still visible.

David F. Lee, who runs Lee’s Travel Service in Los Angeles, said, however, that he believes life has largely resumed its pre-June tenor and that the time is right for tourists to return to China.

“There are still people who are concerned about human rights. They do ask. But everything is back to normal now. I tell them it is as safe as going anywhere in the world. I think the security is better than before. Every three or four years, they tighten down. They let a kite fly only so far, then every so often they have to yank the string a bit. The Chinese have always been that way.”

Lee’s company offers two-week trips from Los Angeles for about $2,800.

Although the number of Americans visiting China remains fewer than it has been, Lee said he expects an increase during the spring and fall, the best months to visit China. And, he said, he thinks it will be good for both China and the United States.

“I hope the more people travel, the more they will understand,” Lee said. “They have to see for themselves. One billion people are not starving. That is the most important thing for me.”