Noel Hentschel, chairwoman of the inbound operator AmericanTours International, recently returned from meetings in China with U.S. and Chinese government officials about the challenges facing the burgeoning Chinese inbound travel market. Senior Editor Michelle Baran spoke with Hentschel about the safety and quality-control concerns surrounding the Chinese travel experience in the U.S.
Q: Do the concerns addressed during your January meetings in China all stem from the Jan. 31, 2009, motorcoach accident in which seven Chinese nationals were killed?
A: The accident became the call to action because, now, what everyone was worried about happening, happened. And people were killed. The reality suddenly struck that Chinese tourists were killed where it could have been avoided.
Q: How so?
A: The reason it was avoidable is that [the company involved in the accident] used a coach that wasn't even a motorcoach; it was an airport shuttle, which is supposed to be used for airport shuttling, not for going over the road for five-, 10-, 16-hour days. They have a driver who's driving hours beyond what ... you're allowed to drive. Naturally, the risk of having an accident is much higher.
Q: The National Tour Association provides criteria for approved China inbound tour operators, but it's not a law enforcement entity. How should enforcement be handled?
A: From an enforcement standpoint, that is up to our government to enforce laws, but the role that NTA plays is viewed in China as a quasi-government entity. That is part of what is problematic, because we don't have a Chinese National Tourism Administration that is government-owned and -operated. [Instead], we have an association that has been given the power in the mind of the Chinese government and the passengers and the tour operators and the community. They view NTA as having that kind of responsibility and power to enforce. ... Anybody who books is booking on the basis that NTA has approved [a given tour operator], which those in China then believe means that they've got a stamp of approval from the U.S. government.
Q: What would be the fix to ensure that only reputable companies are on NTA's approved China inbound operators list?
A: The first thing would be really strengthening the criteria for getting on the list to begin with. That criteria, in our mind, [is that a China inbound operator] should have at least $8 million to $10 million of insurance and should be in business for some length of time, not just a year or two. NTA should visit these companies. They'll need a quality control enforcer that's out checking what's going on. The fee that they're charging for people to be on the list is so low that they could pay for an enforcer by upping that fee.
Q: You have a vested interest in this market. Is this not just ATI wanting to reduce market competition so that it can get more business from the Chinese inbound travel market?
A: We've been competing for 33 years in 70 different inbound markets, and we've never had an issue like this, where the companies that you're competing with ... are not doing business [by the rules]. Personally, I was very motivated by the death of these seven people. In the long run, it's really: What's in the best interest of the industry overall? Yeah, we have a big investment in it, but so does America and so does the tourism industry. ... We don't want to see ... the reputation already being brought down of what the experience is when people come to the U.S. and how they're going to be treated.