Should scenic area children's ticket prices be based on "height" or "age"?

“My child is 9 years old and 1.49 meters tall. The child ticket requires a height below 1.4 meters, but student tickets are only for college students. When going out, I can only buy full-price adult tickets.” Recently, Ms. Liu from Henan took her child to a scenic spot, but she encountered an awkward situation: “The ticket price for a 9-year-old kid is even more expensive than for a college student!”

This year, the government work report proposed supporting the promotion of spring and autumn holidays for primary and secondary schools in eligible areas. As family travel becomes increasingly popular, questions about the thresholds for purchasing children’s tickets at scenic spots are becoming more common among parents. Interviews reveal that current policies on children’s ticket discounts vary widely, confusing parents and affecting the travel experience, as well as limiting the improvement of service quality at scenic spots.

Experts believe that the discount policies for children’s tickets at scenic spots need to keep pace with the times, considering actual conditions such as children’s height and scene characteristics, to make scenic spots more “child-friendly” destinations.

“Exceeding height limits” means no longer being considered a “child”?

“My son is growing fast. At 7 and a half, he’s already over 1.4 meters tall. Recently, I took him to a nearby scenic spot, but because of his height ‘exceeding the limit,’ I was asked to buy an adult ticket,” said Ms. Hou from Xiangyang, Hubei Province. “That scenic spot is just a regular natural landscape area with no height restrictions. Why do children’s tickets have to be based on height?”

Ms. Hou’s experience is not unique. Many parents have told reporters that some scenic spots’ standards for purchasing children’s tickets are unreasonable.

Should it be “based on height” or “based on age”? Different scenic spots have different standards. “Some require children to be under 1.4 meters tall, others require children to be under 14 years old. Every time I take my kid out, I have to research the ticket policies in advance,” Ms. Hou said helplessly.

A review of ticket information from multiple scenic spots shows that standards for children’s tickets vary greatly: most traditional scenic spots and amusement parks still use height standards, with “free for under 1.2 meters, half-price for 1.2 to 1.4 meters”; theme parks like Disney and Universal Studios offer discounts based on age, with children aged 3 to 11 eligible; some scenic spots adopt a “choose one” policy, where meeting either “height between 1.2 and 1.5 meters” or “age between 5 and 10” qualifies for a children’s ticket.

Additionally, some scenic spots impose “double thresholds” for purchasing children’s tickets. “A certain scenic spot in Henan requires children to meet both the height under 1.4 meters and under 14 years old standards simultaneously,” Ms. Hou told reporters.

“Height standards” are out of touch with reality

Among various ticketing standards, those based on height are the most controversial.

“My child is tall. Every time we buy a children’s ticket, the staff keeps checking his height and verifying his identity, worried we might cheat,” said Mr. Xiao from Hebei. To avoid trouble, he has obtained an ID card for his child to facilitate verification.

With identity recognition becoming more convenient, why do many scenic spots still rely on height as the core standard for children’s tickets? Associate Professor Peng Chao from Wuhan University Law School explained: “Before the implementation of China’s Resident Identity Card Law in 2004, minors could not obtain ID cards, so many industries adopted height as a simple criterion for discounted tickets for minors, which was easy to enforce at the time.”

“Now that children can get ID cards at birth, using age to verify identity is more convenient and accurate. Continuing to use height standards is no longer reasonable,” Peng said. More importantly, as living standards and nutrition improve, the average height of children in China is increasing. The old “1.4-meter threshold” is now outdated.

The “Report on Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)” shows that around age 12, boys’ heights range from approximately 151.9 cm to 169.8 cm, and girls’ heights from about 152.4 cm to 164.3 cm, both surpassing the “1.4-meter threshold” set by scenic spots. This means that the old ticketing standards based on height are now excluding many children who meet age criteria.

“Minors are entitled to free or discounted policies, which are clearly stipulated by law,” Peng emphasized. Service providers like scenic spots have an obligation to offer free or discounted access to minors and cannot solely require full-price tickets based on height.

Children’s ticket discount policies need to keep pace with the times

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Office of the State Council Women and Children Working Committee jointly issued the “Opinions on Promoting Child-Friendly Development in Society,” encouraging scenic spots with conditions to appropriately raise the height and age limits for free tickets.

“The original purpose of setting height standards was to make travel easier for parents and children, improving the experience,” said Yin Jie, a professor at the School of Tourism at Huaqiao University. “Since children’s height and ID verification methods have changed, scenic spots should update their policies accordingly.”

Research shows that, although there is no unified mandatory regulation on children’s ticket pricing at the national level, the 2012 “Notice on Further Implementing Ticket Price Discount Policies for Youth” issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments proposed a “dual-track system” based on age and height—for example, children under 6 years old (inclusive) or under 1.2 meters (inclusive) are exempt from tickets, emphasizing more flexibility in youth ticket standards.

“The most important thing now is to specify detailed discount standards,” Peng said. When establishing specific policies for children’s discounts, the principle should be “age first, height second,” to better reflect children’s actual growth.

Furthermore, discount standards should consider different scenarios. “For example, in dining venues, children’s food intake is related to height and weight, so both should be considered; in theme parks, height directly relates to safety, so height standards can still apply,” Peng explained.

“Apart from ticket prices, scenic spots can also improve the family travel experience through service design, content innovation, and emotional connection,” Yin suggested. For example, providing rental services such as free strollers and child safety wristbands can make scenic spots truly “child-friendly” destinations.