Lingyin Temple Commercial Photography Ban: Uncovering Industry Chaos & Why Refined Administration Is the Final Answer

In current days, the information that “Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou has fully banned commercial photography” has sparked widespread public debate.

According to the “Announcement of Lingyin Temple on Comprehensively Prohibiting Commercial Photography Activities” (hereinafter known as the “Announcement”), Lingyin Temple will totally ban all business pictures actions for profit-making functions.

Lingyin Temple emphasizes that no business pictures groups or people are allowed to conduct taking pictures operations inside the temple premises. For violations, temple employees have the precise to dissuade, cease the habits, and require related personnel to right away stop taking pictures and go away the designated areas.

Is this choice made by Lingyin Temple actually affordable?

The creator of Jinlv performed a small-scale survey inside the trade. Both scenic space practitioners and vacationers largely assist Lingyin Temple’s transfer, with some even calling out loudly: Please fully eradicate unregulated business pictures in scenic spots.

01

Is business pictures in scenic spots actually that detestable?

Absolutely. A few days in the past, the creator of Jinlv visited Qingdao, initially planning to embark on an ideal Citywalk alongside a route connecting in style internet-famous check-in spots. Unexpectedly, all the journey was fully ruined by rampant business pictures actions.

At a newly in style coastal scenic space in Qingdao, a number of business photographers had been lurking across the prime taking pictures spots, instantly pestering anybody who approached with the query “Do you need photography services?”

After politely turning down their repeated presents, the creator supposed to take images on their very own, solely to search out that the majority the spots with good views had been firmly occupied by business photographers. Even when managing to sneak a number of photographs within the gaps, the poor angles and continuously blocked views fully killed the curiosity in taking images.

The most absurd scene was that, whereas crowds of business photographers had been noisily soliciting prospects and taking images, the official loudspeakers within the space had been repeatedly broadcasting: “Please do not trust street-side photographers soliciting customers, to protect your legitimate rights and interests from being infringed…”

On numerous social media platforms, overwhelming complaints from netizens in regards to the rampant business pictures in scenic spots will be seen in every single place.

One extremely upvoted remark from a netizen reads: I used to be pestered nonstop by business photographers within the scenic spot the entire day, with them repeatedly asking “Miss, do you want photos? Do you want photos? Do you want photos?…” These leeches are identical to mosquitoes, buzzing round individuals, which is completely insufferable!

While vacationers vent their frustration each on-line and offline, scenic space practitioners are additionally voicing their grievances.

“I’m fed up with cleaning up the mess left by these commercial photographers,” a scenic space practitioner complained to the creator of Jinlv. They and their staff have put in all of the exhausting, soiled, and tiring work to take care of the scenic space’s surroundings, order, and public areas in good situation, solely to search out that these business photographers have quietly infiltrated the realm. They not solely mess up the surroundings and order of the scenic spot, but in addition trigger a lot of vacationer complaints, disputes, and conflicts.

After inflicting all these issues, they merely go away with no hint, leaving the scenic spot to take care of all of the vacationers’ calls for. Whether it is vacationers asking for refunds as a result of they’re unhappy with their images, submitting complaints attributable to violated rights, or coming to the scenic spot to mediate conflicts with business photographers…

Scenic areas are continuously overwhelmed by all of the troubles attributable to unregulated business pictures. “I fully understand Lingyin Temple’s move. It’s only a matter of time before domestic scenic spots jointly crack down on unregulated commercial photography,” the practitioner said.

02

Theoretically, with rampant business pictures leeching off scenic spots and vacationers, inflicting big losses to either side, these business photographers ought to have made huge earnings, proper?

Interestingly, that is not the case in any respect.

The business pictures trade in scenic spots has been in chaos lately, with practitioners going through widespread hardships. The trade has lengthy been trapped within the quagmire of “oversupply and cutthroat low-price competition.”

According to knowledge from Qichacha, the variety of registered corporations associated to “travel photography” — the biggest phase of the business pictures trade — has skyrocketed, rising from 575 in 2022 to 2,119 in 2023, and additional reaching 2,593 in 2024, hitting the very best level in practically a decade.

Although the quantity has barely decreased lately, the general scale of the trade stays big.

How dense are business pictures retailers round scenic spots? According to a media survey, on the mere 700-meter road part from Donghua Gate to Wangfujing Pedestrian Street close to the Forbidden City in Beijing, there are 89 journey pictures retailers, which means vacationers can nearly encounter a pictures store each few steps.

And this solely counts the formally registered, official business pictures retailers.

The overwhelming majority of business pictures practitioners in scenic spots are unregistered people or small groups, both full-time or part-time — generally identified within the trade as “unlicensed street photographers.” The variety of this group can’t be precisely verified, however it’s far bigger than that of registered retailers.

The unregulated progress of provide has pushed the cutthroat competitors in scenic spot business pictures to an excessive degree, making low-price buyer solicitation an inevitable pattern.

Taking a preferred vacationer vacation spot in southwestern China for example: in 2023, a journey pictures bundle together with costumes, make-up styling, and follow-up taking pictures value not less than 299 yuan or 399 yuan per individual. In 2024, the worth dropped to 199 yuan, and from final yr to now, it has even fallen under 100 yuan, with packages priced at simply tens of yuan per hour broadly accessible.

Even at such low costs, the income needs to be break up amongst a number of individuals, together with gross sales employees, photographers, and make-up artists.

Little identified to the general public, the business pictures trade chain in scenic spots has by no means centered round “photographers,” however round “sales staff.”

The creator of Jinlv as soon as uncovered the gross sales fee construction behind business pictures in scenic spots in that area:

A business pictures salesperson can take away 60%-85% of the whole income from a single order. A make-up artist solely earns a fee of 30-40 yuan from one journey pictures buyer, whereas a photographer’s fee from a single buyer is just 20-50 yuan.

To assist make-up artists and photographers earn extra revenue, business pictures retailers in scenic spots encourage them to search out alternative routes to generate further income, and even set clear costs and fee percentages for numerous supplementary companies.

Some business pictures retailers explicitly state of their make-up artist recruitment notices that make-up artists will need to have the power to information prospects to make extra purchases. If they efficiently generate further income from a buyer, they will earn a 50% fee on that extra spending.

Photographers are additionally required to have the power to steer prospects to buy further digital images (priced at 3-5 yuan per photograph) or add extra taking pictures places (30-50 yuan per location, or negotiated individually), they usually also can earn a 50% fee on any extra spending generated.

When the main focus of scenic spot business pictures shifts from “how to better serve customers” to “how to make tourists spend more money,” the very basis of this enterprise begins to rot.

Ironically, even after exploiting vacationers each brazenly and secretly, many business pictures retailers in scenic spots barely make any revenue after splitting the income throughout all hyperlinks, with 80% of them working at a loss or breaking even.

Scenic spots are troubled, vacationers are exploited, and business pictures operators are dropping cash. The business pictures trade in scenic spots has unexpectedly degenerated right into a “lose-lose business that harms others without benefiting oneself,” which is really unbelievable.

03

While Lingyin Temple’s full ban on business pictures has been carried out, it has additionally sparked one other concern: Although scenic spot business pictures is suffering from quite a few issues, the sturdy demand from vacationers is actual. Is such a whole eradication of the trade overly excessive?

“We fully understand the frustration of scenic spots and tourists, but the relationship between them and the commercial photography industry should not be a zero-sum game of mutual destruction. Instead, it should be a mutually beneficial partnership,” a buddy working within the scenic spot business pictures trade defined to the creator of Jinlv. The demand for high-quality images taken in scenic spots is a inflexible demand for vacationers, and it continues to develop. This is the elemental motive why the business pictures trade has by no means been fully eradicated regardless of all of the chaos.

For scenic spots, the worth of business pictures has really elevated relatively than decreased lately.

In the previous, scenic spots primarily relied on ticket gross sales, with income growing as extra tickets had been bought.

Nowadays, scenic spots are working as content-driven companies. A scenic spot serves as a singular scene, and whoever may also help vacationers generate extra high-quality content material right here can present better emotional worth, thereby attracting extra potential visitors and income.

Among all forms of content material, images and movies are the simplest to create and have the strongest communication energy.

After taking images and movies, vacationers will share them on social media, and this genuine UGC (user-generated content material) is much simpler than any paid commercial.

Except for a handful of top-tier scenic spots that have already got huge visitors, for the overwhelming majority of scenic spots, business pictures just isn’t a trivial, dispensable facet enterprise — it’s a core service that shall be important for his or her future growth.

04

My buddy within the trade believes that what scenic spots ought to do now could be to not fully eradicate business pictures, however to advertise its standardization, proceduralization, and systematization.

Specifically, enhancements needs to be made in three core areas:

First, totally crack down on unlicensed road photographers.

In reality, 90% of the damaging incidents associated to scenic spot business pictures are attributable to unlicensed photographers. Without mounted retailers, official taking pictures permits from scenic spots, or advance on-line reserving methods, these photographers wander round scenic spots or in style internet-famous streets to solicit prospects on the spot, charging for images instantly. Their operation prices for low-price competitors are even decrease, inflicting better bother for each scenic spots and vacationers.

The joint efforts of scenic spots, vacationers, and regulatory authorities ought to concentrate on eradicating unlicensed photographers and their unlawful actions, relatively than eliminating all the business pictures trade.

Second, implement a cooperation entry system for business pictures in scenic spots.

Only business pictures retailers and photographers who’ve accomplished official registration with the scenic spot are allowed to function inside the premises. Scenic spots also needs to set limits on the variety of vacationers utilizing business pictures companies, in addition to the allowed taking pictures time and designated taking pictures areas. Any registered business pictures retailers or photographers who’re discovered pestering vacationers inside the scenic spot, particularly these soliciting prospects at extraordinarily low costs, needs to be completely banned from cooperating with the scenic spot.

Third, set up a whole set of standardized habits tips for scenic spot business pictures.

The practices adopted by Huayan Temple in Datong are price referencing for different home scenic spots. The official “Guidelines for Shooting and Travel Photography” clearly stipulate the next guidelines:

Without prior permission from the scenic spot, journey pictures is prohibited inside buildings such because the Bhagavati Sutra Hall, the Main Hall, and the Huayan Pagoda, in addition to in public entry areas together with steps, staircases, and slim passages inside the temple complicated.

During off-peak intervals (weekdays, non-busy hours within the low season), journey pictures actions will be carried out in an orderly method in designated areas contained in the Puxian Hall, Amitabha Hall, Medicine Buddha Hall, Heavenly King Hall, and Guanyin Hall. During peak vacationer intervals (authorized holidays, summer season weekends, and different occasions when the scenic spot’s vacationer quantity reaches the warning threshold), journey pictures is prohibited in all of the above-mentioned areas.

The following tools is strictly prohibited throughout journey pictures actions: flashlights, tripods, stabilizers, reflectors, fill lights, digicam sliders, and blowers.

“These extremely detailed regulations clearly define the red lines for scenic spot commercial photography. Combined with strict management from the scenic spot, they can effectively eliminate most of the chaos in the industry,” my buddy emphasised. A blanket ban on business pictures by scenic spots is an indication of inaction. Guiding the trade to develop in a regulated manner is at all times simpler than merely blocking it.

05

The low-price cutthroat competitors in scenic spot business pictures just isn’t an remoted incident; it’s intently associated to the general macroeconomic surroundings.

This yr, the Two Sessions of China clearly proposed to “thoroughly rectify cutthroat competition,” indicating that “anti-involution” will turn into a serious guideline for all industries for a very long time to come back.

Although scenic spot business pictures looks like a small enterprise, its market measurement exceeds 50 billion yuan, and it’s associated to the employment, livelihood, and way forward for numerous individuals, so it can’t be ignored.

Fortunately, the scenic spot business pictures trade is progressively breaking away from low-price competitors with the joint efforts of a number of events.

On one hand, regulatory authorities are strengthening supervision. Many areas have launched public discover methods for business pictures violations, and established crimson and black lists for business pictures operators. By supporting high-quality operators and cracking down on unlawful and unregulated ones, they’re purifying the native business pictures trade in scenic spots.

On the opposite hand, main business pictures operators are additionally taking motion, collectively resisting low-price cutthroat competitors. By publicly saying the minimal worth requirements for scenic spot business pictures, they’re guiding the trade to maneuver towards steady pricing, guaranteeing clear consumption for patrons.

At the top of the day, a whole ban is simply an offended outburst. Refined, focused administration is the actual answer. What actually must be fully eradicated are these unethical operators who flip a promising enterprise right into a one-time rip-off.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account “Jinlv Network”, written by Chen Jie tigereat, and revealed with authorization from 36Kr.