Opponents

Yu Jing (www.voc.com.cn): Generally speaking, tourists who can afford to travel will not care about the 10-yuan pollution fee. But no matter what amount the fee is, the charge is somewhat unreasonable.

Visitors will inflict a certain impact on the local ecological environment, but the pollution of the lake is mainly caused by local people's daily wastewater and industrial sewage. It is ridiculous to levy pollution fees on visitors from afar while the pollution is caused by local forces.

Besides, it's not easy to locate every tourist in big or small hotels in the area around the lake, and so how can local authorities successfully implement their plans? And how to ensure that the collected pollution fees will be spent on the protection of the lake?

My suggestion is that the local government should examine themselves and their own motivations before collecting so-called pollution fees from tourists. It is the priority of the locals to refuse any practices that might cause pollution to the lake.

Ding Zhaolin (www.cnr.cn): If the so-called pollution fee is really spent on protecting the ecological environment around the lake, most people will not refuse to contribute some money. However, we have found that in the past decades China has spent about 20 billion yuan ($3.17 billion) on ecological protection. What is the result of the huge financial input? Where is the improvement? When such huge amounts are unable to do the job of ecological protection, who will be willing to contribute their hard-earned money to invisible programs? The public needs to know where the money is spent.

On the other hand, the pollution of the Dianchi Lake is not done by tourists, but clearly by nearby factories and the overdevelopment of the scenic attraction. Isn't it unfair to charge the tourists for damage they didn't inflict?

Fan Zijun (China Business Herald): When tourists come to the Dianchi Lake, they are already contributing to local hotels, restaurants and scenic spots. They are the source of money for the local tourism, so it's unreasonable to ask them to pay extra money when they have already paid for every service they've got.

In the name of protecting local ecological environment, the fee collection plan covers six counties and districts around the lake. Every tourist is supposed to pay 10 yuan for each day's stay. Such an ambitious fee collection program is astonishing.

The local government should not use environmental protection as an excuse to make money. They should allocate some of the tourism incomes to local ecological and environmental improvement, so that they can attract more tourists in the future. Now, however, they want to transfer the environmental cost to tourists when it is the locals themselves who should be responsible for the result. Such a short-sighted plan could drive potential tourists away.

The deterioration of the local ecological environment is caused by illegal commercial development and improper disposal of wastewater by some companies. If the local government targets tourists instead of the real troublemakers, it's unfair and will do nothing to help the local ecological environment.

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