Peking University Photos: VCG

Peking University announced it was banning 46 alumni from registering for campus visits after they were found to have booked visits for 139 participants of a study tour on campus for a "whopping price." 

The announcement on Tuesday further added fuel to heated discussions about study tours for students of varying ages, a trend which has been rapidly developing but has also witnessed some problems and chaos. 

The alumni involved were banned from registering visits for themselves and their companions, per the university announcement published on Monday. It also stated that alumni who register for others but do not tour the campus with them will also be stripped of the right to make reservation. 

The university has a registration system for free visits, but the quota for the public is far outstripped by the demand from study tours, which usually bring students on trips covering museums, cultural relics, universities and research institutes during summer vacations. The rising demand for these tours has prompted people to use their status as alumni to bring student groups on campuses. 

The organizer of a tour with a stop at Peking University charged participants 10,800 yuan ($1,513) per person, collecting 1.5 million yuan for the entire tour group of 139 people. The itinerary of this tour is unclear but study tours are usually more expensive than sightseeing tours of similar duration and service standard.

The Global Times learned from a junior student at Peking University that travelers have crowded the campus since early July. Public enthusiasm for visiting the top Chinese university is "unimaginable," perhaps because the campus has been shut off from the public over the past three years due to COVID-19. 

"Some enrolled students also bring travelers in during vacations. Before, the price was no more than 100 yuan, but I heard it increased to 300-400 yuan this summer," the student said on condition of anonymity.  

Tour organizers also recruit top school students to "tutor students and share their study experience" as part of the tour. 

But such tours are sometimes poorly organized. Guides are not certified and can provide incorrect information at museums; tour members, usually teenagers, are also placed at inadequate accommodations far from the city center, which means they have to travel by bus for a long time to reach tour sites. 

Safety is also a concern. One study tour guide died of heat stroke at the Summer Palace in Beijing on July 2. A 16-year-old also died for the same reason during a desert hike, another type of study tour that focuses on nature exploration and self-challenges. 

China's education authorities, along with other departments, defined for the first time in 2016 that a study tour is any activity based on tourist resources that targets primary and middle school students, aims to enhance students' comprehensive abilities, and focuses on experiences and study. 

The sector is of great potential. After China issued bold policies in 2021 to ease student pressure from homework and study, such study tours have become an alternative way for them to spend their vacation.

The number of study tour-related companies more than doubled from 13,000 in 2019 to 31,700 in 2021, and 322 new companies registered for business in the first five months of 2023, up 80 percent year-on-year. It is predicted that the market could reach 100 billion yuan in three to five years. 

For the sustainable development of this booming market, it is important to streamline industry standards and regulations, so as to attract talents that can enhance the quality of personnel and services, education observers said.