深圳职业技术学院 何丹霞

    He Danxia Shenzhen Polytechnic

    I recently heard some discussions on encouraging the Palace Museum to adopt an appointment-only policy. Personally, I don’t think the Palace Museum should necessarily adopt an appointment-only policy. My reasons are as follows.

    For one thing, such a policy would reduce people’s enthusiasm to visit the museum, thus resulting in lower ticketing income, which accounts for a large part of the management expenses.

    Some people claim that making an appointment online or by phone is economic and easy. In fact, however, it may cause more problems for tourists. They may be unfamiliar with online information for the scenic spot or they may not receive such notice beforehand, thus, they would get turned away from entering the museum. Besides, the fixed schedule may inconvenience those who linger at one particular place. No one likes a journey with a strict timetable. The vested tour would definitely depress visitors’ desire for sightseeing.

    Another reason is that if this policy were put into practice, museum management would have to invest money to purchase necessary devices, set up a network and recruit more staff to maintain such services. Accordingly, the cost for the Palace Museum would increase sharply.

    In conclusion, there are many other ways to solve the problem of overcrowding, and an appointment-only policy is not the best. It is necessary to think twice before making such a decision.