Visitors have been attracted by the cozy tour trail on the Tourism Expo held in South China's city of Guangzhou.
(Ecns.cn)—The latest Tourism Expo?held in South China's city of Guangzhou has amazed locals with Recreational Vehicle (RV) exhibitions, as well as the comparatively new lifestyle of roaming around in a vehicle.
"Chinese are getting more and more into the idea of renting or even purchasing a trailer. It's a promising market here," said Mr. Sun, a sales manager of Burstner in Guangzhou. According to Sun, the sales for RVs made by the German company have increased on the Chinese mainland since 2008 with more than 1,000 travel trailers being sold in the past three years.
However, compared with the cheerful manufacturers and dealers, customers remain much more reluctant about the product.
One man, surnamed Kong, from Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, complained about the complicated procedures for purchasing a travel trailer. "I tried to order one directly from America, but the mountain of paper work and costly tariffs was frightfully complicated," Kong muttered. Due to quality concerns, Chinese customers prefer costly trailer brands from abroad over domestic ones, thus complicating the whole purchasing process. Kong gave up the whole “international order” idea that would have cost him 2 million yuan ($0.3 million). Instead, he bought a domestic trailer with 170,000 yuan ($26,612).
As a new trend in China, owning a travel trailer poses even bigger challenges than buying one.
According to a report from the Nanfang Daily on September 14, vehicle licensing for RVs remains a controversial problem since very few people in the country own one. It's stipulated by law that drivers have to obtain a special driver’s license for trailers only, which curbs many potential customers from buying one.
Moreover, arbitrary charges have become added troubles for those who attempt a trailer tour.
"I was charged four times more last year on the highway from Beijing to Tianjin," an irritated Ms. Fu told the newspaper. According to a circulator released in 2008 by the country's Transportation Ministry, RVs have been categorized as type II vehicles with a carrying capacity ranging from 2 to 5 tons and should be charged accordingly. However, toll stations on highways seem to ignore the regulations to keep overcharging the rarely seen giants on various items.
