Consumers voice approval for using height and age to determine child ticket exemptions

More than 60 percent of consumers agree with the new rules related to ticket exemption for children at major tourist attractions in the Yangtze River Delta region, according to a joint report released on Monday by the consumer councils of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.

About 240 scenic spots including Shanghai Disney Resort, Zhouzhuang town in Jiangsu province, Xixi Wetland Park in Zhejiang province and Mount Huangshan in Anhui province have agreed to adopt the new policy which exempts children from tickets based on their height and age.

During the news conference to announce the report’s findings, the consumer councils of the Yangtze River Delta urged enterprises to adopt the fair practice of using height and age restrictions, meaning that a child would be eligible for exemption or discounts to tickets as long as he or she satisfies one of the factors.

The Shanghai Tower also announced that it would adopt this policy starting from July 1.

The consumer councils surveyed over 1,000 tourist attractions in the region before releasing the report. They found that most of the attractions provided exemptions to children based only on height. Only 6.2 percent of the attractions did so based on height and age.

Generally, attractions with high visitor numbers, such as the Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower in Shanghai, only use height as a standard, while attractions with smaller visitor numbers only have an age requirement.

Parents have long complained about using height as the determining factor. The Guangdong Consumer Council even sued the Chimelong Group on Feb 18 on behalf of parents, claiming that the use of height violated the legal rights of underage consumers.

Last year, a judge at Guangdong High People’s Court also brought Shanghai Disney Resort to court after he was made to buy an adult ticket for his 10-year-old child, who was taller than the stipulated height limit.

A report by the National Health Commission released in June shows that the median height of 12-year-old Chinese boys and girls have exceeded 1.5 meters, the limit at most theme parks.